How should I go about treating fin rot in my betta?

[EricksonAquatics]

Hi all,

My betta just recently started showing signs of fin rot in his tail. It seems to be very minor at the moment, but I still want to treat it before it gets any worse. Water parameters are: Ammonia: 0ppm Nitrite 0ppm Nitrate 20ppm. He's in a 10 gallon (heated to 76, live plants) with one nerite snail. I have Maracyn on hand, so should I start dosing that? And since I don't have Ich-X, should I still treat the way in the Co-Op's video says to (one packet for one week, then water change) or should I follow the instructions on the box (one packet each day for 6 days)?

Please and thank you!

🙂

[nabokovfan87]

@Emry E welcome to the forums!

I am sorry to hear about your betta developing the illness.  Fin rot is often from what it called a gram negative bacteria.  This just means you would want to use a gram negative bacterial medication to treat it.  The most common one used in the hobby is from seachem and called kanaplex. It usually will take around 2 full treatments.  Barring that, the next one is called neoplex from seachem.

For any med you would use there are some basic, common steps you can do.  The first step is to use aquarium salt to ease fish stress.  As this is an external disease it is common to take that approach.  Secondly you can add an indian almond leaves (cattapa leaves) or alder cones to act as an anti-fungal treatment which will help reduce any secondary issues following the bacterial treatment. 

My regime for treating the illness would be as follows:
Day 1:
A.  Clean your tank, siphon the substrate, and perform a 30-50% water change. 
B.  Then add 1/2 cup of aquarium salt per 10G as well as 1-2 leaves.
C.  Add in your Meds per the direction on the box.
Day 2 through 6:  Follow the treatment guidelines for dosing your bacterial meds per the package instructions.
Day 7:  Repeat the 30-50% water change

Repeat this treatment (for kanaplex) the following week for a total of minimum 2 treatments.

[EricksonAquatics]

Thank you for the quick response and info!