How much salt should I use [6 gallon tank]?

Hello Everyone,

I'm relatively new to the wonderful world of Bettas. I have two siblings: Turquoise Single Tail Halfmoons, male and female in one 6 gal. Eclipse tank with a divider. And I have a cute blue/red male Veiltail in a 2 gallon tank.

I have both tanks heated and keep the temps around 80 in both tanks. I'm able to circulate the heat using the Penn-Plax Smallworld Filters. They don't disturb the water too much and seem to help keep the tanks clean, in between my weekly water changes.

This seems to keep all three fish happy since both males blow nice bubble nests. I have java moss in the tanks along with Banana plants. My males LOVE the Banana plants and often 'sleep' in them at night. It's very cute.

At any rate, I wondered if anyone here in the Betta forums uses salt on a routine basis in your Betta tanks. I've been adding 1/2 teaspoon per gallon. Is this okay or should I drop the salt altogether? The reason I'm asking this is because my Halfmoon male's fins are always all torn up and I wonder if the salt might be the cause.

I use Melafix for his fin problems: 1/2 teaspoon per day. Lately, his fins are so bad that I'm using Maracyn 2 because I saw some 'red' at the edges of his ripped up fins.

Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do to fix his fins? They seem to heal for awhile and the next thing I know, they are torn to shreads again. There's nothing in the tank to really tear them up, I don't see him biting them. The plants are very soft. One of my fish friends suggested it might be the fact that I use salt in the water on a routine basis. Is that possible?

Any suggestions very appreciated.

Salt is a very good healing agent. I use it when there are problems with fins or ulcers or lesions, something like that - otherwise it's not really necessary. I don't think the salt could be causing your fin problems- it's actually probably helping rather than hurting.
MelaFix continually added could be a problem, however.
It's to be added at 1/5 the dosage on the bottle for bettas, and from what I understand you shouldn't redose without giving them a water change in between-it doesn't lose it's potency over time.

Is his tail shredded like he got it caught on something or are there hunks taken out like he might have chewed it off- taken a hunk out w/his mouth?

The salt I have says 1 tbsp/5 gallons, so if you did say, one slightly heaping tbsp, that should be appropriate.

Thank you so much for your input. I'll do a complete water change today and will be careful NOT to add Melafix unless I've just done a water change i.e. not adding more and more everyday, since it stays in the tank.

I've attached a picture of my male betta. Poor guy. He HAD such gorgeous fins but the back fin is a mess now. Just in case he has a case of tail rot, I'm dosing the tank with Maracyn2 at the moment.

Thank you again.

Dorothy

P.S. Here's a picture of him when I got him. Awk, what on earth is he doing to his fins?! He doesn't chew them. I don't really have anything in his tank he can tear them on...

does he flare a lot at his neighbor across the divider? i have found that when my boys can see another fish through that type of divider, their tails get very raggedy like that. so i put an opaque divider up (leftover background paper) and the fins started to heal.

Yes, he's very playful with his neighbor!! What a good idea. I'll get an opaque divider and see if that doesn't help. That's the only thing I haven't tried.

Thank you!!

-D

Can't really add anymore advice to that already given, but just wanted to say what a lovely boy he is

I hope his fins heal soon