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Fin Rot - continued
What to do About Fin Rot?
1) Immediately do an 80% water change with water that has been treated with a water conditioner and is
the same temperature as the old water in the tank. Change 80% of the water again two days later. Be
sure to really stir up the gravel and get the tank clean. If you have plastic plants, submerge
them in a 10% bleach solution, scrub them clean and run them under clean water for a few minutes. Even
live plants would benefit from a gentle scrub and being rinsed in clean water. Consider removing all the
gravel until the fin rot is under control. You might also want to net your fish and put
him in a safe place, as the last thing he needs right now is to be "home" during this violent housecleaning. If
your fish has just started showing the smallest symptoms of fin rot, you might get away with just doing
a major cleanup of its tank.
2) Increase the temperature of the tank (slowly please... use a proper aquarium heater) to 80-82 degrees.
3) Get some mercurochrome - the kind of old medicine cabinet remedy some of us older folks
used to put on cuts and sores. Put 3-5 drops of mercurochrome in a tiny dish, then add the same number
drops of water. In other words, dilute the mercurochrome by 50% with regular tap water. Get a few qtips.
Now net your fish and dab the mercurochrome-moistened qtips on all the affected parts of his fins or anywhere
else that looks burned. Just leave his eyes alone - they can't handle the treatment. Your fish will be OK
out of water for a minute or so - any more than 90 seconds is too long, so be sure to have everything you need
ready to go. After you're done, release the fish back into the water.
Doing the mercurochrome treatment after
you've isolated your fish in a temporary container and thoroughly cleaned out the tank seems to work well. That
way there's less chasing him around with the net, and he gets released into nice clean water, instead of
being re-exposed to that old acid broth. Repeat the mercurochrome treatment again in 3-4 days if necessary.
4) If you don't have mercurochrome, you can also use the old salt treatment: 1 teaspoon of aquarium or kosher
salt per gallon added twice a day for five days. If the fish isn't better by then, you can continue to
keep adding salt, 1 teaspoon twice a day, for three more days. If you have live plants, get them out
of the tank before you start the salt treatment.
When the fish is well, get rid of all the old salt water,
but add 2 teaspoons per gallon of salt to the new water. Keep the fish in this solution for another week
to make absolutely sure he's in the clear. With a severe case, you might want to combine the salt treatment
and the mercurochrome treatment, but I'd reduce the amount of salt added by half to reduce the strain on the fish.
5) There are a lot of over-the-counter fin rot treatments available at pet stores as well, and you
can certainly try them, though most of the breeders I've spoken to just use the mercurochrome cure. Most of
them are anti-biotics, which may mean you have to "re-seed" any biological filters you're using. Also be sure to follow the directions exactly. Don't double the recommended dose
just because you think more is better - you may kill your fish.
Look for products like
"Jungle Fungus Eliminator" and "Maracyn". "Melafix" is a good treatment, but some people report its too strong
for bettas - maybe diluting it just a bit would help. Seriously consider treating the fish 2-3 times
as long as the medications recommend (up to 2 weeks), as fin rot has a tendency to return. Keep up
those water changes, too.
Bonus: If you've got a community tank, I recommend you take the sick fish out and put him in a hospital
tank on his own. He needs as much rest and quiet as possible. Also, while the salt treatment is very effective, but it can stress fish unnecessarily if they aren't sick.
Catching one fish in a small hospital tank is also easier than from a busy community tank, and finally,
keeping the really sick fish isolated may prevent disease spread. Fin rot is not contagious, but all the fish
in your tank have been exposed to
the conditions that created it in your sick fish.
Will the Fins Ever Grow Back?
Yes! Keep that water super clean and maybe give your betta some different foods to build up
his immune system, but the fins will grow back over time. Many people want to know exactly
how long it will take for their betta's fins to grow back. That depends on how well you
pamper him during recovery, but some people have reported that after using the mercurochrome
cure, their fish regrew its fins in a week.
Unfortunately, its unlikely
the fins will ever be quite as beautiful as they were before. The fins may also be a different color than
they were before. Note that fin rot recovery is harder on a fish than if their fins were just torn.
When fins are torn, they will grow back the way they were before.
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