BettaObsessed Posted March 15, 2011 Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 Have checked the PH on the barracks set up again and it is still around 7.4 but now 2 of my males have holes in the middle of their tails. Tiny's hole looks red around the edges almost like he's bleeding. I thought maybe the PH had dropped too low and they were getting burned but all tests look fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadoh Posted March 15, 2011 Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 Sounds like fin rot to me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yanagi Posted March 15, 2011 Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 That's pinhole fin rot. Treat same as any other type of fin rot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted March 15, 2011 Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 Hit it with Protozin or Wardley's Fungus-Ade or anything that says it will treat fin rot. If it doesn't improve in 3 days, hit it with tetracycline or triple sulfa. I'd be scrubbing those tanks too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaObsessed Posted March 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 I was treating the other one with tri-sulpha so will just do the whole lot. The are in soft drink bottles with water cycling thru the lot of them. I'm getting really frustrated with this!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaObsessed Posted March 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 This will be the third dose that the first fish has had of tri-sulpha and he's looking a lot better than he was so hopefully it wont take too much to get rid of it from the others. Should I wait the 3 days before I scrub the tanks? Is it going to be ok to run the same water back thru or do I need to do a complete water change as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted March 15, 2011 Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 When I have to use the same container for treatment, depending how bad I think it is, I just remove them to a takeaway container or something while I clean their tank. Then I put brand new water in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenGirl13 Posted March 15, 2011 Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 Sorry if I'm hijacking, am going through a similar performace at the moment with my 38lt tank (Thai/Red/Chilli). Red (our Betta boy) is in the QT at present being hit with Tri.Sulph. and a pima/mela-fix combo (he had fungus as well!!) and the 38 (much to the disgust of Thai and Chilli, Red's Cories) has been stripped, cleaned, everthing dipped and sterilized and to be safe they are also undergoing a course of Tri.Sulph. and both the QT and 38 are being kept dark as well!! Poor little buggers must feel like a bunch of drugged up mushrooms but we are getting results NannaJo B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaObsessed Posted March 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 Not hijacking at all NannaJo. Thanks for your input. I will try keeping them in the dark as well although the only light they have atm is the light for that room which is left on all day. I gave them a dose of tri sulpha last night and the 2 that had the holes now have tears in their tail. After my bar shift on the weekend I have lots of spare bottles so might just clean those up and swap them all into new bottles then I can scrub the old ones on the weekend. Will try a full water change and will try to lower the ph just a little more as well to see if that does anything. Funny that these 2 only developed it after I lowered the ph last weekend. Maybe they already had it and I just didn't see it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted March 16, 2011 Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 It's really unfortunate that your tap water isn't entirely perfect for your fish. I sympathise. I'd hate to have to mess around with water before I can use it. If I ever have to move I must remember to take some water tests to check the tap water. It would be a deal breaker for me if I found I couldn't use water straight from the tap. A lot of Melbourne fishkeepers don't even bother with dechlorinator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaObsessed Posted March 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 I'm seeing more and more reason to move back home! The only reason I'm not in Melbourne is because my kids are here :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaObsessed Posted March 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2011 Thought for a minute I must have asked what next. In the seemingly endless run of issues, I now have white spot in my guppy tank and on the father of my newest spawn. He was taken out of the spawn tank when I noticed it tonight but I guess that means the 4 day old babies have it too. I'm guessing it came from the guppy tank. I also took some water from the guppy tank to start my barracks for my juviniles so they probably have it to. Round and round and round, always something going on with these fish!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted March 23, 2011 Report Share Posted March 23, 2011 When fish get sick that often it usually means they're not happy with the water conditions IME. Once you solve this issue life will be a lot easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaObsessed Posted March 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 I realise its the water, but in trying to fix one problem I am causing others. I just don't know if its ever going to end. I had fin rot from the high ph, adjusted the ph and killed a whole spawn. Medicated for the fin rot and in doing so unknowingly stuffed up the bacteria in the filter which caused a new cycle to begin. The white spot has come from my guppies again. I think once its gone this time the guppies can go to a LFS, I will scrub the tank and use it for my females. Its just a bad run caused initially by the really high ph in my tap water. I am working on that by having a spare tank cycling so I can use that for water changes. This should keep the PH at a good level which will stop fin rot. My guppies are constantly getting white spot so I think they can just go. I was considering it anyway, this just gives me another reason. Its just frustrating and it has all happened just as I started a new job so I'm not home all day every day to do water changes and medicate and everything else! That's my venting session for today and now I'll go back to being happy Bev! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melbournebetta Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 oOoooOOoooooohhh no, I hadn't heard of pinhole fin rot before, until now.......... and my salamander boy (who has just been placed in the spawning tank for the THIRD time) is showing 3-4 small holes in his anal fin. GAH - He'll do anything to get out of the spawning tank. Right - two more days and he's out-a there. Can spawning stress cause this kind of rot - as well as h2O? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 Regardless of what's causing the stress immunity levels drop and then there's a chance of them falling ill. @Bev: really sympathetic about your situation. Hope things settle down soon. Have you talked with your nearest LFS? They have to deal with tap water every day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenGirl13 Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 Well our Red boy seems to be fine again and is back in his tank and giving Thai and Chilli curry again ( sorry couldn't help it). Our tap water absolutely stinks of chlorine (really strongly) so I've been taking the water for Red's tank from our purifier. Its only a sit on the sink job that I got from a company in Queensland. The cartridge costs a bit over $100, lasts for 12 months and is brilliant. Just to make sure that it's ok for the tank I also use 1ml of Prime and 2.5ml of Seachem Betta Basics. Obviously this solution is much easier for me (running only one Betta tank) than it would be for someone running barracks but maybe a purifier could be a viable solution for some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaObsessed Posted March 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2011 I have one of those so will give that a try. Even if I use it to do water changes on the few that have the fin rot and keep doing the same thing with the others. How does bottled water work for the fish? Are there too many strange chemicals in that? Thinking of looking at the prices of something like 5L container of water from Coles or similar just until I can get it under control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted March 28, 2011 Report Share Posted March 28, 2011 Bottled water should be ok. Expensive though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaObsessed Posted March 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2011 I've been battling fin rot for around 2.5 months now. I've managed to get the ph down and it looks like the filter has done its cycle again so now I just have to get rid of the fin rot and get the fins healed. So, thinking about it that way, I probably don't need the bottled water. I have a tank that is cycling that has driftwood and IAL in it so the ph is a fair bit lower than in my other tanks. The combination of the water from the tanks and the cycled top-up tank makes for a pretty much neutral ph. Would BettaFix do the job? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaObsessed Posted March 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2011 And just because things weren't interesting enough, the father of my most recent spawn has a severe case of white spot!!! I have given him a salt bath and put the tiniest amount of tri sulpha in his jar. Is there usually this much trouble with a set-up like I have? I saw someone refer to it as a bainemarie style barracks recently. I siphon the bottom of the jars every second day. I siphon the bottom of the larger container 1-2 times a week. I do weekly water change of around 10-20% and top up the water when I notice it getting low during the week. There are some floating plants in there. The temp is aroun 26-27 degrees, PH is at around 7.2, Nitrite and Nitrate are pretty much 0. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fletch Posted March 28, 2011 Report Share Posted March 28, 2011 Just up the tank temp to about 30 should fix the whitespot. Tri sulphar is for fin rot, dont think it works on whitespot. I only use heat to treat. Bettafix will help repair fins but not fix disease. I think the biggest problem you are having,IMHO, is lack if stability. Fish will adapt to ph but they don't like it going up and down constantly. I have never checked my ph levels. I age water with IAL and dechlorinator for a few days before using. Good luck. I know how frustrating it can be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaObsessed Posted March 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 Thanks Busman. The tri-supha I have says on it for the treatment of white spot that's why I put it in. He's swimming around at least today, last night he was stuggling to get off the bottom and was gasping for breath. Now that I have the other tank set up just for top-ups and water changes things should be better. I will get some more bettafix this weekend as I'm almost out. They had finrot right at the start, that was the start of all the problems. Research came up with high ph being the cause which is why I have been adjusting it and that has obviously caused other problems. Hopefully with the water being stabilised in the other tank first that should stop any future problems like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fletch Posted March 29, 2011 Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 Ok. Never used tri sulphar so didn't know for sure. Whenever I get whitespot, I just turn the heat up for a week or two. Never use meds anymore. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaObsessed Posted March 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 Thank Busman. I've turned the temp up so hopefully he'll survive long enough for it to disappear. I was worried about it being in the spawn tank where the fry are but I checked the temp on that and its 29/30 so I shouldn't have a problem in there. The one that is badly affected isn't getting the water cycling through his jar but he is still sitting in with the rest so his water should be being heated by being in there. The rest all look better today. One of the ones that seemed to have fin rot worse than the others was building a bubble nest today so he must be feeling ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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