Betta Fin Rot Case

[Devyn Nagy]

My male betta has a fairly bad case of fin rot. He has recently became rather lethargic and his fins are almost transparent and I'm afraid he won't last much longer. How do I treat it? I've been doing weekly water changes and been putting aquarium salt in but it doesn't seem to be helping. I have 5 guppies with him and they poop a lot and I think that may be the issue.
Thanks.

 

[JemZ]

Welcome to the forum!

Please post some photos of the fish

I would suggest doing a large water change and moving him to a quarantine tank if you have one until we are sure what it is.

 

[Ellie Potts]

Definitely quarantine tank, constant water changes, and treatment
Aquarium co-op has some good advice (Click me)

 

[HoldenOn]

Constant water changes only if you're not treating, also make sure there is no activated carbon in the tank while treating. How big of a tank is it, is it cycled, and can we see some pictures?

 

[EmmaTheCabbage]

If it’s super bad (some people may disagree with me here) I’d recommend using hydrogen peroxide. I did this with my Betta and it worked amazing. You wanna use something at about 3%. What you do is take your fish out of the tank and lay him on a surface that won’t dry up (glass or plastic). Use a q-tip to spread out his tail n such. If he flops around u can put a wet paper towel over his body while u do this to keep him down. Then apply the hydrogen peroxide on the edges of the tail with a q-tip. Be careful not to get it on his body and escpecially his head. You don’t wanna damage anything. Wait like 10 sec once you do that for the peroxide to do it’s work then plop him back in the tank. Make sure u have everything set up beforehand so he’s not out too long. It can be quite stressful for them but it works. I’d do this every 24 hours 1-3 times. (I did it twice with mine) Defo no more than 3 I’d say. It basically just kills off the top layer of cells where you apply it so kills the rot and encourages the tail to grow back.

 

[EmmaTheCabbage]

Also guppies have a tendency to nip bettas fins (and sometimes the other way around) that’s how mine got finrot. Not sure what your doing in your tank but I’d say ur size tank needs to be a minimum of about 5gal and there should be a filter and heater (unless you live in a tropical climate). Water changes I’d recommend about 20% every couple o weeks (maybe more or less depending on how much you feed n if you got live plants n such). Never change more than 50%. Also if it’s a new tank I’d recommend getting some bacteria from the store. This helps get things cycled if it’s not done already.