# A whole bunch of questions...help!



## leporea (Jan 30, 2013)

Hi all,

I am new to fish keeping! I bought a betta last Sunday. Unfortunately, I have determined he has fin rot. I did my research and realized that I need to cycle my 10 gallon tank and treat him for fin rot. I did as follows, today I bought a 2.5 QT tank with a heater and a filter and moved him to that tank. I plan on doing 100% water changes and using aquarium salt to treat him. Now, as for the 10 gallon...is fin rot contagious? Should I scrap my filter cartridge, gravel and plants? --or--

Now that I know about the fishless cycle, I plan on doing that. Can I continue to cycle my tank using pure ammonia or fish food using the same water, filter cartridge and gravel that is already in there? My readings as of yesterday were as follows:

pH: 8.4
Temp: 80 degrees
Ammonia: *maybe* .25ppm...it looks somewhere between 0 and .25ppm
Nitrites: .25ppm
Nitrates: 5.0ppm

Eventually, I want to put my betta back in my 10 gallon and possibly divide it to house another betta but I don't want to put them back into contaminated water (filter, gravel, etc). Please help? Thanks!!


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Moved to betta section


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## tbub1221 (Nov 1, 2012)

In my opinion if it was me I would not drain the tank as there are already beneficial bacteria in the tank . A fishless cycle takes 3-4 weeks properly. With a fish can speed it up but its very stressful on them. If you can go buy some good liquid bacterial booster or cycle. Booster. It definitely does speed things up. Iv moved a 4ţG tank and set it up same day with new substrate and 100% new water and had the fish go back in. I can't garontee it will save the Betts but as for the fin rot , as long as his damages are not down to exposed bone it should all grow back in time. Giving the fish a good hand full of aquarium salt will greatly increase healing and overall health of the fish. Also products like melafix have tea tree oils and other natural meds that are good for there slime coats and fin health but its not needed. The healthier the water is the faster the recovery is. Wile your cycling your 10G run the filter and do not remove the old or pre activated carbon and never wash off the bio filteonge unless its really Grosse and snotty looking and only rinse off the large debree in. Aquarium water (i do this about every 3-5 month's as needed at a water change in the old water.tap water will kill it.) If it was me and I only had one fish in the 10G. I'd not isolate but treat the fish in its home , it will take as long or longer to isolate it in an uncycled tank regardless of the size really so just stick with the one unless your concerned to infect another fish. Hope this helps you good luck with your Betts. (sorry for this hard to read run on sentence I'm on my phone at the dr's office.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

For fin rot in bettas the best thing is plenty of water changes. Meds that contain tea tree oil is not the best for bettas as it can coat the labrynth organ causing more problems. Salt isn't needed either. Just give plenty of water changes which will also help him during the cycle.


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## chipmunk1210 (Jul 3, 2012)

susankat said:


> For fin rot in bettas the best thing is plenty of water changes. Meds that contain tea tree oil is not the best for bettas as it can coat the labrynth organ causing more problems. Salt isn't needed either. Just give plenty of water changes which will also help him during the cycle.


+1 for this.

For fin rot all you need is heated, clean water as it really is because of a water quality issue. It should heal on its own pretty quickly that way. Technically it is not contagious but I think having it in the smaller QT container is a good idea just make sure and keep up with the 100% water changes. Oh and for the QT container-I would remove the filter as there is no need for it since you will be doing 100% water changes. I would leave all the stuff in the 10 gallon and continue dosing with some form of ammonia. I don't really trust those "bacteria in a bottle" products myself.



> Giving the fish a good hand full of aquarium salt will greatly increase healing and overall health of the fish. Also products like melafix have tea tree oils and other natural meds that are good for there slime coats and fin health but its not needed


To me this is not good advice. A good "handful" of aquarium salt does not really inform the OP how much is actually ok. IMO I recommend to not add salt to a betta tank. I know it is one of those things that some people add but I have never really seen any actual "help" from the salt that just clean water didn't help on its own. Also any of the "fix" medicines have the tea tree oil which is known to cover the betta's labryth organ essentially sufficating it.


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## tbub1221 (Nov 1, 2012)

Wow that's good info on the tea tree oils for labryth breathing fish iv never read or been told that thanks to u both 4 that bit. It's not a product iv used a whole lot but iv seen it help some when some of my fish get to breeding and get overly nippy. But you both said it best the best treatment for a fish usually is the cleanest water possible.


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## Aquasafe (Jan 31, 2012)

Welcome to the forum!


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