Spartacus has fin rot again

I'm really, really disgusted right now. Woke up this morning to see him swimming with his tail finds all torn and ragged again, and something hanging from his side, which looks to be a scale.

I added some AmQuel+ and Novaqua+ to his tank since I couldn't do a water change right away, but I'll do a small water change tonight and just try to keep his water as clean as possible. I don't know why or how he got it again, but I'm really getting frustrated at people who say Bettas live longer and healthier in bigger tanks. Not one of my Bettas has ever lived more than a few months, 6 months tops, in a larger tank, yet all my Bettas who lived in 1 gallon vases have lived 7-8 years. So far, I'm not finding any evidence of them doing better in bigger tanks........but I'm still going to give that theory the benefit of the doubt since I don't know the factors causing it.

So, my course of action this time is to just keep his tank as clean as possible and go from there and try not to medicate. If, after keeping the water clean and/or medicating, he still does not get better or gets better but keeps getting fin rot off and on, I'm pulling him from the 5 gallon and into a smaller container he goes. He came out from the vase healthy, vibrant, and beautiful showing his magnificant, perfectly healed fins and looked like a show Betta and after a few days in my cycled tank, looks like he's half Crown tail now.

 

Eskielvr I am so sorry to hear that Spartacus's tail frayed again. I can certainly empathize with your frustration! I just don't know what the answer is but we are certainly all keeping the meds companies in business!! I was almost tempted with Storm if he had been healthier, and after reading your thread about Spartacus's progress in the vase to put him into the 1.66 ( which was big for him) with no heat or filter ( well heat comes from light) and see how he did until the 3 gallon was empty, since at this time he shows no sign of illness, although he lays around most of the time and doesn't eat. There is a small tear in his fin which I am not sure is a tear or fin rot. Anyway, when I saw the sad shape he was in, I couldn't do it. Yesterday I put 1/8tsp of bettafix in his tank however, since you had luck....that is way, way under the prescribed dose, so I am sure isn't going to hurt him.

I know it is such a contraversial topic....just using bettafix is a contraversy enough...but I believe you also had used all the usual meds to treat Spartacus with no luck..........Sometimes I just think - whatever works, that isn't harmful to the fish and enables them to be healthy and happy.

You certainly have my support and best wishes with whatever you decide to do.....I know his health is your main concern. Hang in there! Val

 

You don't need to dilute the Bettafix, since it's already diluted. It's the same ingredient as Melafix but is diluted to a safer dosage for Bettas. I know others on here would say it's all bad, but if Bettafix killed Bettas wouldn't you think the manufacturers would stop making it? If you think about it, if it was so dangerous to Bettas and killed them all, the company would go under because you can't treat a dead fish. I believe it's perfectly safe. You're only using about 1/4 the amount as the Melafix, and, it's been the only thing that has worked.

Spartacus was doing better and healthier when he was in the 1 gallon, unheated, unfiltered vase! I was doing 100% water changes every other day but it didn't take long since I didn't have a lot of water to change at once.

If you're interested, there's another Betta forum you may want to consider looking into called Unique Bettas. The people on that forum breed Bettas and have stunning show quality ones. They do a lot of things opposite of what this list says to do, for instance they use Melafix, add salt to the water to treat sick fish, keep their bettas in what they call "beanies" which are probably about 1/2 gallon containers, and they have gorgeous healthy fish! And, they won't yell or scream at you if you for doing likewise.

 

Just to clarify..I didn't dilute the bettafix actually, I just use half the amount called for in a 1.66 g tank. I have to agree that if it kept killing fish, they wouldn't have a market for their product.

 

So sorry to hear about Spartacus I have been following your posts and I was so happy to see that he was all better and going to his big home.

I agree that there is so much conflicting information on the web that it is hard to know what to do. Cujo seemed perfectly happy in his one gallon tank (no heater, no filter - just some gravel, a plant and a light on the lid). I believe now that his fin rot probably started because I didn't keep his water clean enough. I was only doing water changes once a week and not 100% because different people told me that I would lose my good bacteria if I changed it completely, and changing too often caused even more stress :-\  And now he seems perfectly happy in his 2.5 gallon tank, with only two gallons of water, just a few marbles, a whisper filter and a small plant.

I don't know, I want to give him a try in his 5 gallon once it cycles... but if his fin rot re-occurs maybe I'll just keep him in the two gallon and get some guppies or something for the big tank...

Anyway, keeping my fingers crossed for you and Spartacus...

 

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. I'm just so disgusted. And guess what? You won't believe this! I did a 100% water change and stirred up the gravel to get all the debris out (which there was a lot of), and, I'm baffled. My Mystery snail is GONE! I've looked everywhere for it and it just disappeared! I checked along my desk, the floor, etc in case he somehow crawled out and I can not find him! ARRRGGGG! I thought maybe Spartacus ate him, but I can't even find his big huge shell! What on Earth is going on? ???

I took Spartacus's big cave out, just in case he did manage to bump against it and hurt himself. I looked underneath the cave and no Mystery snail. I guess that's why they're called "Mystery" snails for. I'm just stunned, and baffled, and just in awe of what happened to him.

I'm going to take the blame for this case of fin rot, since I did forget to do a water change. I did a water test before I cleaned the tank and there were ammonia and nitrates present (even after I added the AmQuel+!) So who knows how high the ammonia reached. I figured if I changed his 1 gallon vase water every other day his 5 gallon tank would be able to go longer....but apparently not.

So, to give the big tank theory the benefit of the doubt, I'm going to take the blame for this one.

 

RJ last week got a few frayed fins on his tail, so I increased the vitamin I give him. Ever since I received him I was put a product called vitachem in the water and was even dipping his food in it every few days, but I don't do that anymore. Now I just put it in the water insrtead. Anyway, when he started getting the frayed fins I increased his vitamin and started to put 5 drops in everyday. Within a couple days the fraying came to a halt and as of yesterday new growth started to show. It's only been 2 weeks now and it's already came to a stop and growing back. I never used any meds. The reason he got it in the first place was because I didn't get the chance to do a water change in his tank till a week and half later and that was the day I discovered his fins were fraying.Everything was at 0, but the nitrates were almost at 40. From now on if I can avoid using meds for finrot I am. Now that I have this vitachem that will help better then any meds.

I have an oto cat Barney that must've got into RJ's private space and RJ bit his tail 3/4 off. That was 2 weeks ago. I put him in the hosp. tank as soon as I saw it and given the amount of damage that was done to it I thought for sure he was going to get finrot. He never did. Again, al lI used was the vitachem and it healed and it was fully grown back in 2 weeks. I put him back in the 5 gallon last night.

Maybe you should consider getting some of that. It strengthens there immune system and fights against a lof of disease. It's a suggestion. Trying to help. This is where you can get it if you are interested.



Natalie

 

I love how you can treat finrot without medication, Natalie. I hope it works for you too, Eskielvr.

CherryRose

 

Chin up Eskielvr.....I also use the 'Vita Chem since Rose first suggested it back in Jan. I think now that Neptune has finished his Maracyn 2 tx, had a water change, I will just use that instead of meds also and see how it goes.

Good luck. We all really are like a 12 step support group!! We certainly share a common cause.

 

I'll look into the vitachem. I've been using Novaqua+ which is supposed to also help boost their immune system.

I do remember reading a while back that someone posted once your Betta gets fin rot, it's more sucseptible to getting it again. Boy I'm sure believing it!