Disease: Advanced Fin/Tail Rot

DISEASE: ADVANCED FIN AND BODY ROT


GENERAL INFO:

This disease starts as a regular fin rot, but the rot progresses quite rapidly and is harder to stop. Soon no fins are left as all tissues have been eaten away. Then the rot proceeds to attack the body. Not a pretty picture.


SYMPTOMS:
Fins and or tail start rotting away, usually starting from the edge, but sometimes it starts at the base of the fin (especially dorsal) and attacks the body directly. Diseases progresses rapidly and as the tissues are being eaten away, you might see the fins bones stick out (yuk). Once fins have been consumed, rot will proceed onto the body. At this stage the disease is hard to reverse although the betta might continue to live for months if treated properly. If not treated, it will die promptly (and probably suffers quite a bit ( ).

TREATMENT:
Do a full jar water change. Preferably provide a new jar. You must combine several medications to have a chance to stop this thing. Use Ampicillin and double the dose if needed, and use at the same time tetracycline (included in our Betta First Aid Kit). These medications usually come in capsules. A full capsule usually treats 10 gal of water. So for a 1/2 gallon of water, open the capsule and take the right proportion of powder and sprinkle on jar water. You may steer gently with a disposable plastic spoon. Tetracycline might turn the color of the water to a dark yellow or red. Overmedicating a little might help! Change water every third day and add a new dose of same medication. Continue until fins/tail stop receding and start showing some new growth. It may take up to 4 weeks to work, so don’t give up. Once healing starts you should treat for one more week to be sure. Then you can ease up on the heavy medication and switch to BettaZing (included in our Betta First Aid Kit), which will prevent the bacteria from multiplying again. Change jar and sanitize old jar every week until healed.