Can I Put Kanaplex And Aquarium Salt Directly Into The Water?

[Nelisa]

I'm a newbie. I just got my first crowntail betta, along with a 5gal tank, filter, heater, plants, the whole deal, everything is new. I treated the water with the water conditioner and put Pechi in 24 hours after treating the water. A few days ago I started noticing that his colors were fading just a bit and that his gills where a little swollen, would not close all the way in and looked red from the outside (when he was not flaring). I thought it was probably because he had been flaring non-stop, to the point that I had to turn off his light and move him to a less dark spot because he would not stop. I still researched it tho, and I got a little spooked by all the possible diseases and sicknesses they can get including, inflamed gills. I ran to the local aquarium shop and they sold me Kanaplex, which pretty much treats for everything.

My question is, can I put the Kanaplex directly into the water? I did this last night because I did not have any frozen food like the directions say (to blend one spoonful with his frozen food). After doing this I freaked out again because I wasn't sure if I could just add it to the water like that and if it would hurt him. They seem to be so delicate these fish!

I also added aquarium salt but I have doubts about this. The fish guy at the aquarium shop told me to add half a tablespoon to the water, but then after doing just this, I read in some forums that you have to dilute it with the next water change because if you add it directly to the tank, the salt will just stay there at the bottom of his tank forever and the next time I add salt it will be a salt overload. I am confused. Can anyone clarify these things? How to add Kanaflex and aquarium salt?
Thanks!


Tank size: 5 gal
pH: Umm...the lady at the store told me I was never going to actually need a water testing kit as long as I added the water conditioner religiously and did not put the water immediately in. I.E. prepare the water 24hrs before I actually change it. In other words, I have no idea.
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp: 74 degrees Fahrenheit

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): His behaviour is fine as far as I can tell. He's flaring WAY too much but he's swimming around and going about his business. His scales look a bit faded on the top of his head. I think he has a clamped fin, one of the long ones in the torso.

Volume and Frequency of water changes: Not yet. It's my first week and the fish guy at the aquarium shop told me to not change his water until after his three doses of kanaplex. I did add 1/3 of a gallon (with 2 drops of Prime conditioner) because the current on his filter was too strong for him so I tried to fill the tank to the brink.

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: Kanaplex, aquarium salt and Prime/Tetra conditioner. When I first bought the tank, I treated the water with 5 drops of Tetra water conditioner that came with the tank, and then a few days later I added the water as said above with Prime conditioner that I bought because I don't trust Tetra too much.

Tank inhabitants: He is the king. The one and only.

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): I'll just add a picture. Everything in there is new and the plant on the left is a live plant.

Exposure to chemicals:

Digital photo (include if possible):

 

[Nelisa]

Here are those pictures. Now that I look at them it looks like velvet...I don't even know if Kanaplex treats velvet. Bah. I am also noticing that he is kinda freaking out. He will eratically swim around and then stop. Swim again super active and stop. He also spit out his food earlier. I have also seen small white balls (the size of his food pellets) floating in the water. All of this is ENTIRELY new to me. I have never had fish so I am quite lost.

P.S. Please let me know if this should have been on the Bettas section. I wasn't sure.

EDIT: Picture does not want to load. It says Bad Request. Ah well.

 

[Curiosity101]

You have to upload on another site like photobucket or imageshack and then link to them.

First things first though, the symptoms you're describing sound alot like ammonia poisoning. Before you try adding anything do at least 2 large (70% or more) water changes. That way if it is ammonia poisoning you can dilute it down and hopefully stop any additional damage before you get a chance to get the water tested.

So second (after water changes), I'd recommend buying a test kit ASAP. API master test kit is a good one. You could also buy the seperate bottles if you wanted. Right now the most important thing you need tot est for is ammonia.
Check out the links in my signature about cyling and fish in cycling and you'll realise why I'm saying ammonia is the one that needs testing for.

Then once you've done that you could add Kanaplex if you want... however I'd suggest diluting/dissolving it in a litre of water or so before adding it to the tank. Dissolving meds / adding liquid ones slowly is normally the best thing to do as it avoids the fish getting a full blast of it as it gets distributed around the tank.
Imagine if you jumped into the swimming pool at the end where they'd dumped all the chlorine. The concentration is fine once it's all mixed, but if you jumped in where they added it all then I can't imagine it'd be very pleasant.

 

[Nelisa]

Thanks. I went ahead and did a 70% water change. I wasn't sure if I could add the water immediately or if I needed to wait a day but I figured he could not live in 30% ammonia infested water for a day so I just went ahead and added it with the water conditioner and a bit of aquarium salt already in it. The water was neither too cold nor too hot, it felt about the same temperature as the one in his tank, maybe warmer. I washed the carbon pouch from the filter with cold water, all the gravel, his little coral rock that he has, the plants, everything. I realized another mistake I made, grr it made me so mad at myself. I never washed his little rock....and when I did today it had SO much dust particles from the same rock, gah. Same with the gravel. I don't know what I was thinking.

He looks so bad today He's redder. After the water change he spent a good half hour in a little corner with out moving, I thought for sure he was dying but then all of the sudden he started swimming around and he seems somewhat fine now in terms of behavior. Now and then it seems like he'll take a gigantic breath and sometimes he will just lay still, I don't know. I hope he will be fine. The water is a little warmer than he's used to, it's at 80 degrees.

Here are those pictures. I uploaded them on photobucket but everytime I tried to paste the url it would paste it onto the text and photobucket will not let me read the entire thing in order to write it so I'm just linking you to the album. They are from today. Not pretty http/s1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff405/Nelisa3/

 

[Nelisa]

So he's doing much better after that water change. His colors are coming back, not quite so pale anymore and he looks a little less red. However, his tail still has the beginnings of tail rot and he still could be sick with something. Since he was doing so much better, seemed so much more at peace I decided to administer kanaplex again (diluted in some of his tank water this time instead of straight into the water). The instructions say that I need to turn off my filtration and take off the carbon in the filter. BUT I have been reading in this forum about Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates and how it all works, and how if I turn off my filter for more than a few hours my levels of ammonia could spike (correct me if I'm wrong). So what do I do? The instructions clearly state to turn it off, it's been off for a few hours now. I wouldn't want the medication to not work because I turned on my filter but I don't want to have an ammonia spike again! It is a 5gal, do you think I'll be fine to keep it turned off for at least 24 hours? Should I turn it back on? Greatly confused again.

 

[Curiosity101]

Does it say it's safe with a 'biological filter'? If so take the carbon out and turn the filter back on. I can't see any reason for leaving the filter off unless it's going to kill all your bacteria.

 

[Nelisa]

Okay. I realize my first and biggest mistake (because I did not research before buying) was that I did not cycle my tank. I HOPE that the tank is cycling now, just a lot slower and it will probably take weeks since I can't very well add ammonia with my Pechi in there. I can't say he's doing better in appearance other than maybe less pale, but he looks much much much happier. He swims around happily, is never lethargic and he just seems generally happy. He does seem to be hungry an awful lot. I have been changing his water almost everyday since last I posted here. I have since gotten both Ammonia and Nitrate+Nitrite+PH+Alkalinity+Hardness kits. My Nitrates and Nitrites are always at 0 but my Ammonia is always at 0.1…I guess I still have a few weeks till my Nitrites and Nitrates appear. #41####. I have also been treating him with BettaFix, which might not do much but seems to calm him some. I add 1/4 of a tablespoon of aquarium salt in every water change and I make sure to dilute it in the new water before putting it in the tank. Using Prime as a water conditioner and making sure his temperature stays between 78-80 degrees although this is hard because I have a crappy heater from Walmart. Here is where my questions begin. Prime. It is a very good product I've read, is it enough however with my Ammonia levels the way they are? Should I add something like aqua safe, novAqua, betta complete water conditioner, stability or betta safe in ADDITION to the Prime (I don't mean ALL of these together, I mean one of these plus the Prime)? Should I also add stress coat on top of all this? Or should I only use ONE of these be it the Prime or the stress coat or one of the others? Will these products affect the cycling process? Is the tank cycling? Is it EVER going to cycle? I read how to cycle with fish already in there and I do NOT want to put him through days without water changes, this will stress him out too much and most likely give him more ammonia poisoning and burns.




The ends of the fins do not look black or white so I'm not sure if it is fin rot but just a lesser case, or if it is part of whatever was bothering him originally but he does have small wholes in his fins and tail and the ends look frayed and very very thin, almost translucent so I guess it is fin rot? I've heard that three aquarium salt baths of 5minutes a day for a week might help with any infections and tail rot that he might have. He is pretty strong so I think he could take it, but I do NOT want him to go through something if it isn't absolutely necessary.




Do I put him in a "sick ward" bowl? Would a 1 gal be enough? If so, how are the water changes going to be? I assume everyday of course, but how much water? Half? I usually change out 2 gals of my 5 gal tank. Please keep in mind that I can't get a 10gal tank because I am an out of town college student that has to leave her stuff in storage during summer breaks. The least amount of stuff I get the better, unless absolutely necessary. If a bowl is gong to harm him more than cure him then fine, but if a bowl (even a1 1/2 one) will do fine just more water changes then great.




What would be better to treat him with, Melafix, Tetracycline, Maracyn, or tabs? What kind of tabs? I assume I would dilute it in some of his water first and then put it in the tank? Do I mix any of these or would that be too much? Do I use one of these plus the salt bath or just one or the other? I have already used the three doses of kanaplex recommended twice and it might have helped him but then again it might have been the bettafix also. He seems a LOT happier but his skin still looks reddish in some spots and one of his gills has what looks like a slash?




I realize these are a lot of questions in one sitting but as you can tell, I am attached to this little thing and really want to help him. I just don't know how. I am coming to you experts because I have no idea what would be best for him and I don't want to just experiment.