robm74

I stopped the Cipro after day 5 on Sunday but unfortunately, things seem to have gotten worse. Our son found him on his side at the bottom of the tank this morning, breathing heavily - which was very upsetting for him (see pictures) I did a quick water test and found the ammonia slightly elevated, so very quickly changed out 50 percent of the water and changed the carbon filter. This got him off the bottom of the tank and he's now hanging out at the top, right alongside the filter housing. Not sure how much time Curly has, or if we have done everything we can - he hasn't not been eating either. Will try the Garlic Guard mixed up with his pellets to see if that helps. Think there's anything else we can try here?

Hi again. So we just completed five days of the Aqua Cipro treatment as you indicated. For the past two days, he has had some trouble eating - he ate a couple of Northfin Beta Bits but about 15 minutes later spit them back out. Today he doesn't seem to want to eat at all. Not sure if the medicine is tiring him out. See pictures below - you can see his head area is losing color. Do you recommend continuing the Aqua Cipro for the last two days, totaling 7 days of treatment - and then do the Epsom Salt, or should we stop the Cipro for now at 5 days and go into the Epsom salt baths? And for the Epsom salt baths, how much should we use and for how long should he be put in there for? Do we use the hospital tank and fill to 2 gallons? Thanks! -Rob

Hi again, I got the Aqua Cipro and Epsom salt ready to go. For the Epsom salt, I recall you saying create a "hospital" tank filled with 1 tablespoon of Epsom salt, 2 gallons of water, 15 minutes a day. How many days should I do this for? As for Aqua Cipro, the directions on the bottle are a bit confusing. It says dissolve one tablet (for 2 gallons of water) in a bit of water. So I'm guessing if I have a 2 gallon hospital tank, I dissolve the tablet in a bowl of water, then pour that dissolved medicine solution into the 2 gallon hospital tank. Then, I take the fish out of his regular tank, and put him into the hospital tank for about an hour - and then put him back into his regular tank. Repeat this for 5-7 days, but not adding or changing the Aqua Cipro solution that's in the hospital tank, right? The label also says to do "daily water changes" - I'm guessing that's on his regular tank after he swims in the Cipro tank, but how much water should I change? And as you noted before, do the Epsom salt baths first, then do the Cipro, right? Thank you for clarifying all of this! Rob

Hello! So we have held off on the Epsom salt baths and the Aqua-Cipro, as we wanted to do a water change - about 25% - to see if anything stabilized. Can you take a quick look at this: https://photos.app.goo.gl/L36VL5Yg87p1nfFu5 Excuse the off key birthday singing - today was Curly's 1st "Birthday" (we brought him home a year ago). He seems to still be wanting to eat and trying to be active, but still has trouble swimming and doesn't seem like the fins are getting better, but maybe no worse. Would you still recommend the Epsom salt baths for two days followed by the Aqua-Cipro based on what you are seeing here? Thank you!

Okay should I do the Epsom salt bath before getting into the Aqua Cipro or okay to do at same time? I just tested the water: Nitrates and nitrites are 0, pH is 7.6 (this is how it's always been), ammonia looks to be 0.25 ppm - will do a 25% water change tomorrow.

Okay, I will try the Epsom salt bath in a bucket. But do you have any further thoughts or recommendations on the fins? I've attached photos here - may be a bit hard to see, but you can make out that they are pretty rotted away and the tail fin is sometimes clamped. What could be causing this? How do we get it to stop and rejuvenate? The fish still is eating, is sometimes spitting out the pellets though and then we try again and then he keeps it down. Swimming wise, he tries to swim to the bottom of the tank sometimes but just kind of floating back up horizontally. Again, thank you!

For the Epsom salt would that mean taking him out of the tank and doing it? As for swim bladder, yes it could be but would that cause the fin rot?

Hi again. I have an update. I completed the course of Kanaplex plus Focus on Wednesday. It is hard to tell but I dont think the fish got any worse but not sure he got better either. Since I stopped feeding the Kanaplex infused food, his energy level has picked up but the fins all around still seem dangerously eroded. He is still eating fine but a few times over the past week would spit up a pellet. As you can see from these pics and short video from here pasted below he has a hard time swimming. If he tries to swim to the bottom of the tank to chase food for example he struggles and then kind of floats back up. Any idea as to where to go from here? If you recall, we tried Kanaplex and Jungle Fozz prior to this round of Kanaplex, Cocus ana food pellets. Thank you for all of your help. Pics here https://photos.app.goo.gl/Sb11Yj49CAukZXkt6

When I do this, do I keep the carbon filter out for the length of the treatment? How long should I feed him this mix for? Is one week ok? As you can see here, he is still not looking so hot: https://photos.app.goo.gl/EMDYCqcUGLWWoyW47

Got it, thanks. As for the Dosing in Food, is it the same whether I use the Focus or not? Do I dose the Kanaplex and/or Focus based on the 2.5 gallons in the tank in the food recipe? Not sure if he will eat 1 tbsp of food - as we only usually feed him a few pellets at a time. Do we make the mix in some sort of bowl then scoop it into the tank? As for the leaf hammock, we bought one a few months back but he just didn't seem interested. We can try again.

Okay, I will give this a shot. But are you recommending the Focus too? If so, it's a bit tricky to get based on what I am seeing online. Would you also recommend leaving everything out of the tank as I have it, or putting back in the ceramic log, silk flowers or anything else so he has someplace to "hide"? And as for food, we had been rotating between Northfin Betta Bits and frozen San Francisco Bay Spirulina Shrimp, but as he got sicker, we backed off the shrimp because it was hard for him to chase down and was fouling the water. So, we've just been doing the betta bits. Any recommendation here with food? Thanks again! Rob

Hi Colu, I hope you are having a nice holiday. We are back and did a water change as you recommended, vacuumed the gravel and put in a new filter element. As we were cleaning out the tank, the water still looked blue and there was some fizzing - it still looks a bit blue - so I'm guessing the medicine(s) are still in the tank in some amounts. We heard from the person who fed him during the time we were gone that he ate okay. However, he still doesn't look so good, his fins still seem jagged and wasting away. Here are a couple of photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/meJsQJFFxVuGkb9C7 I've also taken away the ceramic log from the bottom of the tank, just in case something is leeching off there. So, he's in a bare tank - just the heater, aerator and filter. Any other thoughts? He's still eating okay, but can't really swim and stays at the top of the tank.

We have someone who is feeding him daily. Since the last medicine dose and water change was last Friday, do you recommend we have that person who is feeding him drop in the carbon filter tomorrow or still ok to leave it out until we return?

Got it, thanks. Do I keep the carbon filter out of the aerator while we are gone, since we are doing another dose of the kanaplex and jungle fungus clear? Or, do we dose now and just slip the filter in before we leave? Just a bit concerned to go a week without a filter. We will have someone coming to feed him so maybe she can drop the filter in 2-3 days in after we dose today?

Tomorrow will be day 5 and I am following your schedule for both the Jungle and Kanaplaex. Do I do the 25% water change and then add the last doses? Also, I will be going away for the holiday and will only have someone coming to feed him for 7 days. They arent equipped to do anything else like water changes. Does your recommendation change at all since I wont be able to do any water change for a week after the 25 percent change tomorrow? Is it ok for the residula medicine to stay in there for the week? Thanks!