Please help my betta fish

Kim

Ok. I am getting really fed up with worrying about my betta so I figure I might as well ask. When I bought (rescued) my male betta from the fish store he had a blackish edge on his tail fin. Just that one and no others, although he did have a hole in his bottom fin. The hole ended up splitting all of the way down, but is now almost completely healed. The black edge however seemed to get a little larger (more inward on his fin). I figured it was fin rot and tried treating him with melafix. It is supposed to be all natural so I figured that I should try the least aggressive treatment first. It did not make the black area go away, although I couldn't tell if it got any larger. So, I ordered some Maracyn TC (tetracycline), and used this. I did two treatments and the spot did not grow, but it did not seem to go away either, so I figured that I should do some more research because I did not want to kill my fish with too much medication. Well, I haven't found anything. I may be just obsessing, but it seems as if the fin has gotten a little more ragged. Again, it is really hard to tell. This has not affected him in any way but I did notice recently that he has not been blowing bubble nests. I'll skip the whole story, but I found out that there was a ceramic pot in my tank that was causing the pH to increase (7.6 and my water is usually acidic). I took the pot out and am slowly trying to bring the pH back to normal. I don't think that this is the problem with his fin though because the pH must only have increased recently when I went back to my once a week water change schedule (I was doing more frequent changes when he was on the medication). Please help if you know what may be causing the discoloration on his fin, as I really want him to be healthy and happy, especially so because I don't want to have to do medications after he is moved into his new 15 gallon planted tank. Thank you.

PS: Right now he is in a filtered, heated, 5.5 gallon tank with a cover, gravel, and some artificial plants. pH is 7.6 (I am trying to bring it down now that I got rid of the problematic pot) and ammonia is 0. I will post pictures of his fin when I can get them on the computer.

Little-Fizz

Um well I don't think its fin rot because the fin usually turns white when its rotting off, rather then black... I would not recommend putting valtrex on it... at all. First of all, I wouldn't use GENITAL HERPES medication for a ripped fin, and I wouldn't be applying any medication designed for humans on a fish. I'll post again if I can find anything on discolouration causing the fin the deteriorate.

And FYI side effects on humans from valtrex is
abdominal pain
constipation
diarrhea
dizziness
dry mouth
flu-like symptoms
gas
headache
heartburn
joint pain
loss of appetite
nausea or vomiting
skin rash

So I beg you not to put this stuff on your fish.

Kim

I have read some articles that suggest that fin rot can turn the fins either black or white. Recently it seemed to be getting a little worse, so I got some fungus clear. I read somewhere on here that fin rot can have a secondary fungal infection even if it does not show signs of fungus. That is why I got the fungus clear, because it treats both fungal and bacterial infections. I am happy to report that it seems to be working . The black area seems to be going away, and it has not gotten any worse. I am going to continue using the medication until I see some fin regrowth to prevent a relapse. Right now I am just crossing my fingers that this is the fix that I have been looking for. I have quite the collection of medications now! Thanks for replying.

:D

Little-Fizz

Ah success! Glad to hear your bettas feeling better. You must be careful with bettas though, they can be sensitive to medications, good to know this one worked for you. Another good fungus cure is API liquid fungus cure, it's a very gentle treatment, it's usually used for preventing fungus on eggs, And it didn't kill my shrimp. Although my tank was green for a week or two.