I'm still trying to treat Augustus's tail rot - which is rapidly getting worse by the day - and I think I've added too much salt.

According to the manufacturer's instructions his tank is 5 US gallons. However, if I do the standard volume calculation - length x width x height in inches / 231 it comes out at 4.15 US gallons (call it 4). Subtract 1 gallon for displacement caused by gravel, ornaments and filter and that gives a volume of 3 US gallons, max.

But I have been adding 3 tsps of salt per gallon for four gallons (working on the assumption of a 5 gallon tank, less one gallon for displacement). Which means I now have 12 (heaped) teaspoons of salt in there when I should only have 9 teaspoons at most. That's what, a .6% solution? Plus a teaspoon of Melafix.

Is that safe for a betta or should I do another water change to remove some of the salt? Bearing in mind the tailrot is now getting seriously bad.

Thoughts please?

Personally, I would remove some of the salt. I would probably take out about half of the water and leave a .3% solution. I have seen salt actually cause harm to my long finned goldfish.

What have you tried for the fin rot? I would maybe try an antibiotic. I have used Jungle Fungus Eliminator (which also has antibiotics in it) for fin rot and it worked.

I don't know if that is available where you are. Fungus Eliminator contains salt, so if I were you and I did add it, I would make sure to get the salt solution reduced.

just like goldfish - in an emergeny, do a water change *lol*

no, seriously now, i would do a water change. if the tank is not cycled ( i can't get my 3.8gallons tank to cycle) then do 100% change and start again.

JMHO

yes i would do a water change as well but not a 100% water chnge tht would be a huge shock on the guy right now. if the medicine he is on isnt working try another medicne but make shure its an atibacterial one. u can also take your betta out of the water and cover his body with a wet paper towel and with a VERY soft paint brush put on a "salt wash" on his fins. let him sit for one or 2 min( he wont die he wll get air from the air. and put him back in his tank. i wouldnt suggest doing this inless your comfident that the fin rot isnt getting better and there is sevral ways in doing this as well im shure googel will give more info on it or somthing like it.


salt wash: simply put salt into water till it no longer disloves.

dun worry, I have seen worst cases happening to my friend who topple over his TUB (1-2kg worth of aquarium salt) in the tank!! WOOPS both of us shouted and he was cursing and swearing while I laughed and of course WE GOT TO WORK ASAP...

first thing, turn off the power supply (tat's to switch off any pump or powerhead) to have lesser water circulation.. and scope excessive salt out SLOWLY.. not to forget to remove that tub or container.. thirdly, remove plants and any weaker fishes or all fishes.. lastly, (oh, you may turn on the power supply now) introduce several 30% water changes till the water doesn't TASTE that salty.. now plant go in then follow by fish..

for your case, u may want to change 30% of the water constantly till you think the taste is right.. there is no proper indicator of how much salt is right but tasting it will tell you whether is the water burning your tounge.. of course, dun swallow it.. spit out the water la.. lol

three teaspoons per gallon is like...a lot. I'm surprised your bettas have tolerated such high amounts for this long! I go by the instructions on the box and by what other betta people tell me and I never over medicate. I would Change a lot of that water really quick!

sorry your little guys not doing so well, emma.

i would definitely do a waterchange to get the salt level down somewhat. do you have a salinity meter of sorts? what kind of filtration do you have for his tank? are your water params off at all? could your ph probs be the a factor?

sorry you had to find out about tanks (not holding the amount of water that they claim). ive calculated every tanks measurements that ive seen and not a single one was precise! i posted a thread about it in the tanks forum a few months back. maybe it should be pinned in that forum. i, for one, think that it is pretty important to know the actual capacity of ones tank for this exact reason.

i do hope your little betta comes around for you!

The best thing to do is to do a water change and romove the
most possible of the salt.

May i ask a question.....

I though that salt only stoped the grouth of fin rot for awhile
but it won't get better.
It only slows the grouth down right?
I remember someone telling me this,and im guessing that
they are right it never helped my betta.

What medicine are you useing for you fin rot?


(good luck emma )

Hey guys, thanks for all the replies.

I changed 50% of the water so the salt level should be back down to tolerable levels again. Too late though - the nitrites are going up already, sigh. Though there is only a very slight increase (not even 0.25 yet).

Alex love: you know your wonderful shop? I don't suppose you could do me a huge favour and send me a salinity testing kit like the one you recently bought could you? I'm fed up with not knowing exactly how much salt is in the tanks. Please let me know if that's possible.

However, just to make everything 10 times worse, I now have a problem with the pH in his tank - I tested it just now and it was somewhere around 8.4, possibly higher. Bet he just loves that, not. I think it's my old friend the CO2 at work again, but Augustus's tank has virtually no surface agitation, so technically if the CO2 isn't being driven off then the pH should be down, not up, due to the carbonic acid it produces. When I did the water change, it dropped to 7.8 (now that IS the CO2 at work), but I just don't know what the core problem is here.

I'll think I'l be lucky if I manage to keep this poor little fellow alive frankly.

His tail is no worse but no better either. And no, unfortunately I can't get either Jungle Fungus or Bettafix. All I have is Melafix, which I already added (though only half the recommended quantity because he is so small and fragile and I know it can be harsh). As for antibiotics, I have a little bit of Maracyn and Maracyn 2 left, which I just know is going to crash the cycle completely because it always does. Would Maracyn be any good for a betta? He won't eat Medigold (tried it, not that I had much hope on that one!). I suppose I could try a UK antibacterial med, but I've never had much luck with them. Drats! I hate it when my fish are ill and I don't know how to get them well again.

B/Oranda - salt will actually cure finrot, as long as it is not too severe, as long as no internal infection is present and as long as the water quality is perfect.

Any other thoughts guys?

Can't You just do another water change
to lower the ph and the water levels?

emma,

how about trying this:



you know how bettas can live very well in a gallon sized jar (with water changes, of course), right? well, why dont you try medicating him in a gallon jar? your med usage would be lowered drastically and youll be able to salvage what is left of your cycle. just perform a 100% water change and re-medicate daily. all the while you know that your params will be in order. i used this method when i treated/healed my rescue bettas popeye. im sure itll work for you!

a good tip...........when you go to measure out such a small amount of liquid, you can get a small hypo-needle from the drugstore and break the end off. the kind i use are 5cc or 50 units. they also work great for measuring out small amounts of dechlor or other additives.

hope this helps you some!

The active ingredients in Fungus Eliminator that I think would be taking care of the bacterial problems would be nitrofurazone and furazolidone.

I am wondering if you could find anything where you are with either of those products in it. Another one to look for is kanacyn. I haven't tried that, but I have heard good things about it treating fin rot.

I think if you are to try either of the maracyns, I would try maracyn 2.

Kanacyn is a good Antibacterial. Maracyn 2 is good but Kanacyn is better. It cured one of my fish that had an internal bacterial infection...but than she got dropsy.

As far as Fin Rot goes I'm pretty sure that the Kanacyn can take care of that easy.