Ial Or Salt?

[RandomWiktor]

I just got in a new rescue from a local petshop. He is a plakat who got out with another male, suffering some EXTREMELY bad injuries to his underside... as in, I'm not even 100% confident he'll survive without getting some kind of infection kind of injuries. There is no evidence of "fuzz" or inflammation, so I'm wondering (and maybe some of you betta fighting folk could help me), what is more essential for recovery? IAL, or salt? I have Addison's BettaSpa, which states on the bottle that it can not be used with salt. BettaSpa has IAL and other water additives that make the environment "more like home" for bettas, and I want to give it to this little guy to give him a boost; all the bettas I use it on really seem to show a difference. But, I'm wondering if I should just use blackwater extract (which is not quite IAL but works fine) instead, with which you can use salt. Either way, I will be adding stress guard, bioprotect, and maybe some bettafix since his bottom fin is destroyed as well (though looks to be growing back allready in one spot).

Any input valued! Thanks.

Oh and P.S. - Good news! I got him for free since the store did not have anywhere to put him for treatment, and didn't like the fact that no one was buying these "stupid ugly short-finned bettas."

 

[sukie]

Freebie! Sweet!!

I would use both IAL & aquarium salt. . .

 

[RandomWiktor]

As mentioned above, the IAL-havin' product that currently use is non-compatible with salt, hence my asking . I DO have blackwater extract, which is compatible with salt, but it doesn't have IAL in it and frankly doesn't do as good of a job with the pH especially.

edit: I wonder, does anyone think doing a daily salt bath then putting him back in the nice IAL water would be good? Or would a salt bath be bad with a gaping, open wound?

 

[sukie]

As mentioned above, the IAL-havin' product that currently use is non-compatible with salt, hence my asking .

I can't read!!!

I put both in. . . I haven't had a problem. ***running out to get some betta spa!***

But if I had to choose it would be salt.

 

[RandomWiktor]

Thanks for the advice

I hope this guy lives. He is awfully pale and his side looks like hell, but he is active, hungry, and very charming; extremely friendly towards people. He came wiggling right up to me the second he got out of the bag, and follows me across the room from inside his tank wherever I move. How fricken cute.

 

[Animation]

I think you should use salt and melafix?
Should help him heal
James
EDIT: Make sure you get some photos

 

[Betta_Lovex3]

I don't know how to help, but I hope the little guy survives!

 

[splashluff]

I really think the salt will just sting his open wounds horribly and stress him out much more, as would a salt bath for sure! Imagine swimming in the ocean with a huge open wound, it wouldn't feel good.

For me, I just use Betta Spa for any tears in my girls/boys and they heal up very quickly. IAL with a bit of Bettafix, to me, would be the best option!

 

[RandomWiktor]

I did BettaSpa and BettaFix, no salt, because I noticed the scales around the wound are a little distended, which can be made worse when salt causes the fish to retain water.
I do have some bad news on the little lad though. I noticed the sudden development of a white patch on his face... the kind we see with columnaris lessions. Since he is allready so compromised, this has me concerned. So, I've started treatment; the water temp is down to 74, I have a bubbler going as fast as he can handle it, Maracyn-2 is now in the water, and I've fed him his first round of anti-biotics. I also added collodial silver for good measure. The only thing I've not done is salt (important to columnaris treatment, unfortunately) because of the worryingly distended scales around his wound, which would be made dramatically worse by the salt from my experience. If he does not look better in a few hours, I will re-change the water and risk the salt since columnaris is a much greater danger, but I'd prefer not to because of the pain and the nature of the wound. It is a very nasty wound - he practically looks flayed. As I said, I have sincere doubts about his survival simply due to the severeity of the wound and how compromised he seems.
Now, good news is, since I started treatment, the white patch is allready diminishing. He hates the current passionately, but is hiding his his plant to stay out of it. I'll see if it was caught early enough; sometimes if you catch it right off (I think it only happened because the tank he was in was so dirty, and he had to be in a cup of that water for a long time while I readied the tank since he was a bit unexpected. The temperature spike matches too; it was about 68 in the store, and about 76 in my room), you can treat it easily with oral anti-biotics, clean water, plenty of oxygenation, and lots of hope.

I'll keep you posted. Keep your fingers crossed everyone; for some reason, I've formed a very immediate attachment to this little dude, and would like to see him survive.

 

[fawnmodel]

As mentioned above, the IAL-havin' product that currently use is non-compatible with salt, hence my asking . I DO have blackwater extract, which is compatible with salt, but it doesn't have IAL in it and frankly doesn't do as good of a job with the pH especially.

edit: I wonder, does anyone think doing a daily salt bath then putting him back in the nice IAL water would be good? Or would a salt bath be bad with a gaping, open wound?

I would do the salt baths but keeping him spa/ or do the spa baths, and keep him in salt/blackwater.

I am very guilty of being a salt believer. I use blackwater more than IAL as it is more convenient. Works well for me but my ph is great.

 

[RandomWiktor]

Well, last night, I thought I was going to lose him; he got very swollen around the wound to a point that I was concerned that he was starting to develop dropsy. He was very pale and lethargic, but at least willing to eat medicated food.
Today, however, he is doing much better. The patch that looked like it was potentially columnaris is gone, though I'll keep up with the anti-biotics. His side still looks like hell, but yesterday he seemed hesitant to even swim; I believe he was in pain. He is a very friendly fellow, and willing to eat just about anything, so hopefully the fact that I can watch him closely and feed him medicated food will lend itself to recovery. He is definately in very bad condition compared to most of my standard rescues though; really more like the fish I typically hospice.