Shandy has fin rot :(

[Shandy's_Mum]

I've recently inherited a friend's fish becuase she moved overseas. He is a red betta and I gather from the posts at this great forum he is a veiltail.

My question is: when was given him he was in one of those 'Peace and War' vases. He looked prety sad so I went on google and found the Bettatalk site. I learned that those are a dodgy setup so I bought him a 1 gallon Kritter Keeper. He is in my bedroom now and I bought a themrometer. His water is at 26 degrees celcius. But I noticed he has pretty bad fin rot (probably from tthat stupid vase!) and I was wondering:

How do you cure it? I'm doing half-water-changes every other day.

 

[BettaMomma]

Do you have any gravel in the bottom? If you do, you will want to do 100% water changes, too, to get rid of the poo, excess food and junk down on the bottom.
Next time you're at WalMart of a fish store, pick up some Doc Wellfish's aquarium salt. Put a couple crystals of it (you won't need much at all for a tank that size) into a small solo cup with some tank water to dissolve. Then add it to his tank.

Clean water and the salt should do the trick.
If not, you will need to medicate, but see how he does with the water and salt.

 

[Shandy's_Mum]

Thankyou BettaMomma I am using a home-made syohon for water changes. It sucks the poo right up. I never knew bettas were so messy! lol! I pity him so much for spending so long in that vase.

He has alot of trouble swimming - and I am worried that 100%water changes would stress him. WHat if I did 50% daily?

 

[BettaMomma]

AAaah, very good then!
That schedule should be perfect!
How's he swimming weird? Like tipping over maybe?

 

[Shandy's_Mum]

No he's not tipping, just seeming uncomfortable swimming. I bought him a fabric plant an he rests on it for a while then swims around a bit but when he swims he just seems like it's a huge effort for him.. his little fins at either side have to work really hard and he wiggles his bum a fair bit. But he's way more acitve than when I got him and he is making every attempt to swim properly. I added aquarium slat too. I think daily water changes and salt are what I'll do now.

Thanks a heap for your help BettaMomma!

 

[daudy_dojo]

the lil clear fins?? they move fast and alot?? well thats ok cause bettas fins are heavy so they have to work those fins REALLY REALLY hard like i had a betta named velvet who had been in a tiny cup for soooo long his lil fins couldnt move and after a week of trying he finely got the bloodrunning in them again so they started moving again... but then i found out he had dropsy but yea is there black edges around his fins?? if not then it may be gravel... my angelos fins got torn up from his plant (i thought it was fin rot) then after that it was the jagged rocks that were tearing his fins

 

[Shandy's_Mum]

Thanks daudy_dojo! I think I over-rected about the little fins. He is more active now that I did the water change. But I have another question: (sorry ) )

I read it is normal for betas to take short rests every now and then, but Shandy takes 10-15 second breaks about every 50 seconds. Is this okay? (By breaks i mean he stops swimming and rests on a leaf of his plant with his little clear fins drooping.