Hi,
I'm pretty sure my betta fish has a chronic case of Columnaris or Saddleback disease. I tried to get clear pictures but basically he has a "wound" on his side, behind his pectoral fin, where the disease has eaten away at his scales and whatever is underneath. He's still eating normally and swimming normally. The only reason why it has progressed this far is because I had a hard time diagnosing it. I ordered Kanaplex and Jungle Fungus Clear 2 days ago and they're coming later today. The main issue is that I added salt to my tank because I heard that it has the ability to dehydrate the bacteria and stop the disease from progressing while I waited for the medicine. Should I get all of the salt out of the tank with water changes before I start treating him with the antibiotics or is it ok to leave the salt in there? I don't want to stress him out with an unnecessary water changes, but I also don't want to mess up the treatment with the salt. Another question I have is if I'm able to successfully treat him for Columnaris, will his side heal or go back to normal?
I have a 6 gallon tank but I say 5 gallon to account for the other things in there.
My water parameters are 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and 5 nitrate. The nitrate is there because I've been using easy green.
I usually have the temperature at 80 degrees but I lowered it to 75 because I heard that also slows the progression of the disease.
If you're wondering how much salt I added, it was 5 tsp of salt every 12 hours 2 times, I'm supposed to do it 3 times but I wasn't sure if I should add more salt if I'm going to have to take it out before I add the antibiotics today.
Any help is appreciated.
