FishProfiles.com Message Forums

I'm so silly. I have a roster of what fish gets changed when and somehow I forgot about one of my little females. So, her water change was 2 days late, and of course she got fin rot. Let this be an example to everyone. 100% water changes in a 5 gallon every 7 days isn't really even enough. But, as well as the fin rot, she has a redness in her tail. Kinda like streaks. One of her tendrils (is that even the word?) is also completely red. Her tank was at 24, but I've turned it down to 22, just because I know how reapdily bacteria multilies in those lovely conditions. The fin rot doens't seem to be getting any worse, but the redness is still there, and perhaps there is more of it now. I'm treating with triple sulfa. I tried MultiCure with Methylene Blue and Malachite green but it didn't improve. I'm changing her water every 3-4 days. She's still eating. But she is all stressed, and has lost colour, and gets all those horrible horizontal stripes when i change the water. So... my question is... what exactly is the red stuff? And am I tresting it correctly?

I switched from the triple sulfa to wardley's fungus aide and was treating her every four days for the last two weeks. But she's just gotten worse. She hardly has any dorsal fin left, and it's started to eat away at the scales. Also, her right gill has the same thing. It looks like the scales have been eaten away and her mouth looks like it's stuck open. She stopped eating last night. I've got her here with me, but have a towel over her so it's nice and dark and it's fairly quiet. She has a heater too. She has horizontal stripes constantly and just does not look happy. I've switched back to the triple sulfa... I was thinking maybe I should try tetracylcine. I dunno. Help?

without sounding unconcerned, don't fret about the red too much. what colour is she normally? any particular [pattern?

the 'tentril fins' (ventrals) are often a red colour in pet shop fish, and often you wont notice until they fade or are stressed, same for the tail.


stick with the trisulfa. My fingers and oes are crossed for you.


For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Yep Triple Sulfa would be the best, melafix and a bit of salt couln't hurt either.

If the big water changes are stressing her out, why not change half every 3-4 days? Honestly I keep bettas in 5 gallons and do a 100% change every month, and 20% at least every week. I don't get an ammonia reading and have never had problems like the ones you're describing..

maybe it's just coincidence?

Anyhow, watch for fungus and necrotic tissue. Fingers crossed.

Um, the red parts are now all gone because everywhere she had red, the fin disappeared in a few days. She basically has no fins left, at all, and I looked today and the fungus has started where her dorsal fine USED to be, on her tail and on her mouth. She is really lethargic today. I've been adding salt and melafix as well, sorry I didn't mention that.

Calla, it was the one with the white dorsal stripe. No red, remember? She looks worse today. Does this mean the triple sulfa isn't working and i should switch meds or should I be patient?

[span class="edited"][Edited by elisecroft 2004-08-02 05:54][/span]

how long has she been on the triple sulfa and how long is the course, a week?

You could try Jungle Fungus Eliminator, but generally it's not good to mix meds..hmm..


MaracynII combined with any other Mardel product that claims to target fungus would be good. Sorry I don't know the actual name of their med.

Sounds like septicemia . I suggest Maracyn 2 .

We cant get them, its TC or nothing i think.

Keep at it, my fingers are crossed... and my toes.



For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

She has no fins left, just some rear tail. The fin rot seems to be eating into her flesh, and she is covered in fungus. Should I switch back to Fungus Ade or keep on with the Triple Sulfa? I have a product here with tetracycline in it. Should I try that? I don't know what to do! She looks horrible and has stopped eating. I can't even watch her becuase i have uni all day every day.

I'm sorry to say it, but without seeing her it really sounds like she might be past the point of no return. Fin rot can be a real pain with bettas. . . you get the innocuous kind that can stay for months and just never seem to get any better or worse, or you can get the kind that will consume a fish in days. If she's really having that hard a time you might want to think about ending it for her. I hate to advocate it because I know it's never pleasant, but a little clove oil really goes a long way in situations such as these. It doesn't sound good to me, the fin rot has started spreading to her body and the antibiotic isn't helping at all, leaving her covered in fungus and suffering. I would do her a favour and put her to rest.

So sorry to say it.

I'd love to, and I've thought about it, I just can't do it. The redness has gathered around her other gill. I"m so sad. I can't believe this all started because of my recklessness. She's still swimming around fine she just looks horrible. My poor little baby girl. I'm going to do another water change now and see if anything happens by morning.

I know how hard it is, I hate euthanizing my pets but I would rather do it than let them suffer when I'm sure they won't make it. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Well, I didn't need to euthanize her. She died sometime today. This should be the prime example of "change your fish water every week ON TIME!"