# Betta Fish with Fin Rot



## Luxornv (Jul 5, 2009)

Hello, I'd appreciate any help I could get in the following matter. 

Some background about the general conditions the fish is kept in:
It's a betta fish currently kept in a 1 gallon fish bowl with no heater. I can't get a bigger tank right now since I would have no place to put it. I also do not have the resources to run a heater. The reason behind these limitations is that I am a college student and usually keep the fish in my dorm room (I won the fish in a game at school and I'm beginning to think this wasn't such a good idea for a prize considering the well being of the fish). Anyway, I try to feed it with betta pelets 2 or 3 times a day, and only about 2-3 pelets at a time. I have not been very good at keeping the water clean, but I am going to try changing a percentage of the water every few days from now on. 

It had been a while since I had cleaned the bowl and changed the water, and I noticed the fins of the fish appeared to be a little stringy and ratty looking. I think the fish may have a (currently) minor case of fin rot. Right now it still seems fairly active and still eats, and I have not noticed any large chunks of the fins breaking off. I read some threads here other aritcles and they all suggest to try methylene blue, and malachite green to try to disinfect the water and promote healing. I'm planning on going to find some later this weekend or in the week. Another thing also said to bring the pH down to 6 to also help kill the bacteria. My question though is, what do I have to add to do that? 

One final question: what items and chemicals should I keep in a kit to help me care for this fish? Right now I am at home and can easily run out and buy things as needed. When I return to school though, I won't have easy access to a store, let alone a pet store to get supplies. Right now I do have a net, water conditioner, and test strips that test the nitrate, nitrite, pH, KH, and GH of the water. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

hello and welcome.
if you could change the water more frequantly,that would help him,
good to hear he's eating well,does he eat all the food you feed him,if any is left over
it will rot.
there are fin rot meds on the market,so i think you should find one easily,just watch the doses
as you have not much water there.


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## Luxornv (Jul 5, 2009)

I went to the store today and bought some aquarium salt and an fungus med. The fungus med was a green powder and I'm not sure how much to put in. The package said 1 packet for every 10 gallons. I have a 1 gallon bowl, so I tried to put in approximately one tenth of the contents (which I approximated as the tip of a spoon) and it turned the water a very obvious shade of green. I removed some of the water thinking that I added way too much, but I'm really not sure if that was the right amount or not. 

The stuff I bought was API Fungus Cure. The box says it can be used to cure fin rot. It lists the active ingredients as 3mg of Victoria Green B and 30 mg of Acriflavine per packet. 

I also got some aquarium salt and added some to some hot water to help dissolve it. I have not yet put it in the tank since I am waiting for the water to cool down, but is it alright for the salt and the fungus med to be used at the same time?


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

hi
personally i don't know...sorry...let me see if i can get someone to pop in and help.


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## sunkissedinCA (May 7, 2009)

hi there, welcome to the forum 
i'm currently treating one of my bettas for fin rot, so i hope i can help somewhat. unfortunately i haven't used the API Fungus cure, so i'm not sure about that. after you put it in, how has your fish been acting? have you noticed a change? and aquarium salt is very helpful, it works as a stress reducer, and helps with diseases and what not. so far i've been cleaning my bettas bowl every day, and have added crushed up(till it's like powder)aquarium salt along with Bettafix. clean, warm water is very important. and since they don't really make heaters for anything under 2 gallons, i put his bowl under a light on my entertainment center, and it's kept his water at a steady 78*. do you have a light that you could maybe put him under maybe? i hope this helps a little bit, and if you have anymore questions, feel free to ask


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## neenjar (Jun 19, 2009)

For Fin rot I highly recommend a salt bath, there is a link in my signature to a how to I wrote.

Clean water is the most important though. While treating him I would do daily water changes,when better, every couple days will be fine.

He does need a heater though, you can pick up a 7.5w Hydor heater made for small tanks and bowls at petsmart, petco, etc.


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## Luchi (May 20, 2009)

Yes, the heater helps maintain a warm temperature but won't heat your bowl up too much. You could always plug it in for some portion of the day and unplug it other times. He's only in a 1 gallon bowl so you MUST STAY FAITHFUL to changing his water. Otherwise, he will not thrive. I used Jungle Fungus Clear tabs, which is probably pretty close to what you used. It absolutely DOES change the water colors. I put my fish's little cave in the treated water and it turned it from grey to blue. Didn't bother me at all, but if you have decorations you don't want to change colors take them out. I treated my fish in a 1 gallon bowl because the changes are so much easier and I only used 1/8 of the tab. Using less is probably better than using more. Good news is, the Jungle Fungus did help A LOT. Just leave the medicated water for the recommended number of days (on the instructions) and perform the water changes when necessary.

I agree with neenjar though, if you think it's the beginning stages of finrot, salt bath gets two thumbs up!
I use bettafix everyday because my fish's fins are growing back and it's helping tremendously.

Hope this helps & welcome to the forum!:-D


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## Luxornv (Jul 5, 2009)

I went to Petsmart yesterday and someone there told me I really don't need a heater for something this small. I did get an LCD thermometer that sticks to the side of the bowl and found out that the temperature is about 76-78 degrees anyway. I will get a heater though because of where I will be keeping the bowl in the winter. 

When I added the medicine, the fish acted normally and didn't seem to mind. However, I didn't add a lot, it only gave the water a greenish tinge. The first time when I thought I added too much, the water looked like the Chicago River on St. Patrick's Day. 

I tried the salt bath last night while I added more medicine. I planned to keep him in a large cup with treated water for a salt bath while I added the meds. However when I put the fish in the salt bath, he seemed disoriented at first (swam upside down for a few seconds), and then began scraping his nose on the bottom of the cup. I've only had this fish since March, but I have never seen him do anything like this when I remove him from the bowl. I have used the same cup as a holding vessel when I do a 100% water change, and he never does this. Needless to say, I removed him from the salt bath immediately. I suppose it is possible I added too much salt since I'm working with very small proportions. I did add some salt to the bowl with the meds, and he seemed fine with that. 

The package for the medicine recommended adding a dose initially, adding more 2 days later, then 2 days after that, changing 25% of the water. That full cycle is considered 1 treatment. I just did a 100% water change on Saturday, so the water should be decent right now. I'll probably change 25% tomorrow and again on Saturday.


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## neenjar (Jun 19, 2009)

The people at petsmart also think bettas do not need heaters. They are not a very good source of information.

As far as getting the salt amount correct, get a gallon of water form the grocery store, drink it all (not at once), fill it with tap water, add dechlorinator and mix 1 tsp of dissolve salt into the gallon jug, shake it then fill your treatment container from that.

Some betta's do not get on well with salt baths, most will though.


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## dr2b (May 31, 2009)

Everything the people at Petsmart told me is wrong. I don't believe a single thing they tell me anymore. They DO NOT know what they are talking about....


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## sunkissedinCA (May 7, 2009)

grrr i really wish pet stores like petco and petsmart would educate their employees on the correct way to care for the animals they work with! i hope your fishy is feeling better.


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## LiyahsGrandma (May 29, 2009)

Don't listen to Petco people, get a heater for your pet.


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## Luxornv (Jul 5, 2009)

I've been monitoring the temperature without a heater and it's staying around 74 degrees now and went up to 82 when I did a water change. Looks like I'll have to let the water cool down a little more next time I change the water. I will get a heater because I am fearful of how cold that water will get in the winter.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

You'll definitely need a heater for winter. 2 of mine have heaters and the rest don't but my room stays very warm during the winter.


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## Starbright (Apr 26, 2009)

I'm really glad you were the one who won that betta! 
Just imagine if some person got the betta, kept him in that 1 gallon bowl and let him sit on the desk for months without water changes? He probably would have rotted his fins off and died ;[
It's a good thing you found this website! I swear... it's the best and most friendly betta website/forum I have ever stumbled across! ^o^


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