Betta Hospital Tank?

Question

My betta has fin rot. I've never dealt with a sick fish or a sudden death of one from poor care. My friend told me he probably got infected because I wasn't using aquarium salt, which I plan to start doing. This is virtually my first time taking care of a fish like him and I'm trying to do the best that I can! He's currently my only fish and my first ever tropical fish. I'm about to start treating him with Mardel Maracyn II and I've heard about hospital tanks?

Is it neccessary to move him to another tank to put him under quarentine or can I just leave him in his normal one? Also, what should I do to prep it? What should be in my Hospital Tank? Can I still use salt and feed him normally while treating him with meds? I don't have a filter which I didn't feel was neccessary because it's one little fish in a 1.5 gal tank. Should I get one? I change about half of his water every week and do a full water change every other week.

Thank you all in advance for the tips ^-^d

Answer 1

Betta fish don't need salt in their water (unless you're treating for a parasite.) Betta's are freshwater fish and come from areas where no salt is present in their water. Aquarium salt is reputed to reduce stress, increase fish health etc etc but it's all myth.

The fin rot is probably from poor water conditions. Betta waste adds up, so does any uneaten food, and it rots and fouls up the water. How often do you change the water? If you don't have a filter, then your tank isn't cycled, and you should be changing 90-100% of the water 3-4 times a week.
However, you can drastically improve things but getting a small AZOO filter:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=9821&Ntt=palm&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&pc=1&N=0&Nty=1
It is inexpensive, efficient and will help your betta more than salt ever could.

Also, this way, you can cycle your tank: http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/biologicalcycle/a/nitrogencycle.htm
Which means that you can just replace about 30% of the water every week! Much easier that way.

However, in the meantime, you need to treat the finrot. Use Maracyn or Melafix, you can find either at most petstores.

Is there anything else in the fishtank, or just the betta? If it's just the betta, then there's no need to move him to a hospital tank. If he is with another scaled fish, then the meds should not hurt them. However, the meds will kill/hurt shrimp or snails, so if you have them, then you should move them before treating.
If you do need to move him to a hospital tank, take some water (30-40%) from his 1.5gal, so it's not a total shock.

Answer 2

To treat fin rot I do a FULL water change! I put in 35 granules of Fungus Eliminator combined with a dose of Tetracycline and it works perfectly. I do a FULL water change every 3 days and re-medicate the water. Once the fins stop receding and start growing back again you can stop. Depending on how bad the rot is, it could take up to 3 or 4 weeks to clear up. After 4 weeks I fallow up by putting a drop of Bettazing to kill any fungus that might be hanging around for 3 day and then go back to my normal routine.
Fin Rot is caused by dirty water! I do a 25% water change once a week and ALL of my tanks have a filter!!! I use sponge filters.
I use Stress Coat and Stress Zyme along with 1 teaspoon of aquarium salt for every 2 1/2 gal of water (1 table spoon for 5 gal)and I also put in 1 drop of Aquarisol per Gallon of water (I think it is always necessary and my fish never get fungus!!!!).

You don't need to put it a different tank because you'll still have to treat his primary one - Do you want to treat two tank? I didn't think so

Well, I hope this helps! Good luck with your Fish!!!!

Answer 3

sounds like you're off to a good start for treating him and taking care of him. you do not need to move him to another tank as long as he is alone in his tank. those are for fish that share tanks with other fish. before you treat him you should take all decorations and plants out of his tank. you can and should use the salt while treating him, just make sure it's salt for freshwater fish, not salt for a saltwater fish tank. feed him normally, but give him one piece at a time and stop once he stops eating them, and fish out the extras, this keep the food from clouding up the water which is what makes them sick. clean all the decorations you took out, if it's a plastic plant or statue soak it in vinegar for 10 mins, then rinse well and soak in water for 10 mins. then rinse again. don't put back in tank until treatment is done.

your water changes sound good, but if you'd like to be even safer try doing a full change every week instead of the half change. filters are kind of risky for that small of a tank, you can try to find a filter for a 1 gallon tank, just keep an eye on him for a while to make sure if he gets sucked towards the filter he can get away. DO NOT use the filter while treating him, it will suck the meds out of the water. if you find a filter and everything is okay with that try getting a mystery snail as a friend for him, it will eat extra food on the bottom and help keep the tank cleaner. mystery snails are pretty easy to take care of, if you are interested in one ask about feeding and such when you get one.

hope that helps. since you're not familiar with bettas you should check out bettatalk.com they have everything you could wan tot know about bettas.

Answer 4

Fin rot is caused by bad water conditions, and can usually be fixed with clean water. Anti-bacterial meds help, but aren't necessary in most cases.

Adding a filter to a small betta tank will do nothing but freak the poor little guy out. Bettas aren't very strong swimmers, so the current is likely to just throw him around.

Luckily, bettas breathe air from the surface of the water, so slightly icky water generally won't kill the fish, but it can contribute to certain illnesses such as finrot, so you still need to stay on top of your weekly water changes anyway.

You are doing good by having him in a 1.5 gallon tank! Most people don't know that bettas need at least a gallon to live in. Thats why those tiny little betta keepers sell so well.

Answer 5

you can leave the betta where he is if he's the only one there... the point of a hospital tank is for quarinteen.

Make a 50% water change and put in meds for fin rot...

take out any ornaments or plants.

Answer 6

I would get a filter it can stay in the same tank hospital tanks are just so they can stay away from other ifsh and if he is ur only fish you should be fine and dont do full water changes just half at the most

also you should get a heater if you dont have one already

Answer 7

My question would be...
Is it fin rot? or just erosion. If there's no redness, it's probably just erosion.

regardless, everyone's right about needing to make sure your water is happy. Typically for uncycled bowls, we recommend doing a total water change being sure to match the water temperature of the bowl, then testing the water daily to see when ammonia shows up. you'd do your water changes a day sooner than ammonia showed up. here's a good betta caresheet.
http://thegab.org/Articles/BettaBasics.html

Also, I have my bettas in natural planted tanks that don't need a traditional filter.
http://thegab.org/Articles/WalstadTank.html
http://thegab.org/Articles/WalstadTankDemo.html
http://thegab.org/Articles/NPBettaBowl.html
http://p103.ezboard.com/fthegoldfishandaquariumboardfrm23.showMessage?topicID=77.topic

Answer 8

i'd advise a minimum of a 10 gallon tank for a wellbeing middle tank, because of the fact the medicine is plenty much less confusing to characteristic on a bigger quantity then on a small tank like that desire that facilitates solid luck EB

Answer 9

Leave him in his same tank, a change in water will upset him farther. Catch him and gentely dab malchite green on his fins with a cotton swab. Repeat the treatment as necessary. This is usually the most effective method for fin rot.

Answer 10

Ok first of all you need to get a filter EVERY FISH TANK NEEDS A FILTER NO MATTER WHAT! and then if bettas NEED salt then you should have done that a longgg time ago but i dont think they do and then next i would just give him/her to the vet and they can dispose of his apropreatly cause you shouldnt do all of this just for a little fish just saying