Fin Rot progressing...

[cutechic]

One month ago. Used Melafix (one-third dosage) every day for a week, but she got worse. I started doing every-other-day water changes and adding aquarium salt instead of Melafix.

One week ago. Halfway through first treatment of BettaMax. No improvement, and she's lost the pigment in the front half of her body.

This morning. Halfway through second BettaMax treatment. No improvement yet.

She's in a 4g tank. Up until yesterday, it wasn't filtered. She's eating fine, but when she gets started she races uncontrollably around the tank.

Should I do a salt bath or an indian almond leaf treatment. Or should I use stronger stuff like Maracyn?

 

[ral]

At some point, if I was getting worried that the finrot was not controllable I would see whether it is possible to isolate the rotten portions and slice them off.

A salt bath can't hurt though I guess.

 

[poindexter]

Hi there....thats really sad....thats wierd that mela fix isnt working....it usually does.....but not always....i have lost a fish even through using melafix....do what u can, keep the water clean and give the right amounts of meds......i think they sell antifungals....i'm not sure of the names though.....i think that its worth a try at this point though....just do a good water change or two. so the tank is filtered now eh? that would be a good thing.......
just some thoughts! i'd never have the heart to slice off my bettas fins though....i just couldnt do it......i would def try the antifungals before that anyways... not to say that it wouldnt work, thats just me!

~dEx

 

[ral]

I have unfortunately had 4 cases of finrot in my short stint as a bettakeeper. The outbreaks all started with Ich first. I ran out of salt and could not get iodine free salt for a period of three weeks

Anyway. I had to cases where the rate of fiin loss was high, but they cleared up in 3 days or so. I had one case where fin loss was very slow, but it took two weeks before it started to grow back. I had one case of fin bleeding (and what looked to be blood clotting as there were two "bulbs" at the end of his fins), this fish was looking really sick after two days of this. This is the one I opted to do surgery on (on Christmas day if I remember correctly... he has fully recovered.

 

[cutechic]

I was actually just looking at the fin trimming post... I don't know if I'd be able to do it because this girl's fins are so short already. What do you guys think?


Ral- I've had a couple cases of fin bleeding before, but it slowly went away with regular water changes. I think trimming would, in that case, be favourable.

 

[smithrc]

I'm just wondering why your not putting the full dose in??

 

[cutechic]

Of MelaFix? I heard it's more concentrated than BettaFix, so you should only put a partial dosage in. I've tried using the full dosage with another fish, and I used the partial dosage with this one, but both treatments were ineffective.

 

[smithrc]

ok - I have never used it - does it have a dosing guide

I always follow them and have never had problems (but then again i've not had fin rot - thankfully)

 

[ral]

The loss of coloration in the body though is worrisome. Maybe you should PM julie, sorrel, wav, bettaman or caution. They have not posted here yet and finrot is not usually accompanied by loss in body coloration AFAIK.

 

[cutechic]

smithrc- There should be for normal directions on the bottle. For bettas, you should only do a partial dose of MelaFix. I'm not sure what the exact ratio is, but if you do a search there should be a couple threads that come up.

ral- good idea, I'll do that now. I've never seen this kind of colour loss before. It's weird that it's exactly half her body that's lost its colour.

 

[ral]

A bit worried since SRC has a fish that suffered loss of body color. Here is the thread:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=72276

Sorry, I dont know where my mind was. Was just thinking about the finrot.

 

[cutechic]

Thanks for the link ral. I know Julie said SRC's betta may have NTD... I don't think that's the case with mine, since she's had fin rot problems for a little over a month, and colour loss for several weeks. (I'm trying to be optimistic.) I think the colour loss is somehow associated with the fin rot, either directly or indirectly. Maybe it developed because of her weakened immune system.

 

[bkk_group]

thats a tough case cutechic, we have used maracyn-two by mardel successfully in the past, it's quite potent. hopefully you see some positive development soon, best of luck.

 

[cutechic]

Thanks bkk. I'll try to pick some up in case she doesn't improve with this second round of BettaMax.

 

[ral]

Darn, Karl, had a relapse... after three days of showing signs of regrowth, I came home to find a tear is fin and more finrot. Don't know how he tore his fin since he is in a clean (no gravel ot plants no decore) tank.