Help regrowing fins after fin rot

[skarloeysmom]

Is there anything I can give my betta to help him regrow his beautiful fins now that I've treated him for the fin rot? How long will it take to see them start growing back?

Grace

[accountingchick]

If you treated him for finrot, then all you can do is wait for his fins to grow back. When I have treated my fish for finrot in the past, it usually took about a week and a half to two weeks after I was done giving them medicine that I would see regrowth start to occur.

[sawcat]

Keep the water very clean is the best thing. If you have melafix, you could add that too to protect the new growth, but if you keep the water clean, you don't really need to. I have a tendancy that when one of mine bites or somehow shreads or blows his fins to use melafix a day or two, and then forget to add it. But I make sure to keep on a good water change schedule so they have good clean water.

[amanichen]

Additionally, feeding foods high in protein and calcium will help speed fin regrowth.

[beta3chg]

adding a little melafix once after each complete water change can help prevent more finrot. i was told 15 drops of melafix for my 1 gal. Hope your fish feels better!

[Hannah]

15 drops of melafix in 1 gal seems a bit of an overkill but then, I've never heard of this technique of preventing fin rot. If you do add melafix to the water, make sure that you put the correct amount as overdosing can cause fin problems.

[Rachel]

The best way to prevent fin rot is with proper water changes, a warm and stable temperature (78-80 degrees F), and feeding a well rounded diet. You shouldn't have to add ANY additives to your water to help "prevent" it on a regular basis.

[skarloeysmom]

I've been checking Skarloey's new tank and it looks like it's almost cycled and he seems to be enjoying the warm water. The water has 0 ammonia, .25 nitrite and is just starting to show some nitrate so I'm thinking it's almost fully cycled.

While he was still in the 1 gallon he was starting to get fungus. I quickly got him some Jungle Fungus Clear and treated him and he seems to be over that now. I just hope we're done with the sicknesses. Anyway, I am starting to see some fin regrowth I think. Does it look kind of like white or light-colored tips on the ends of the fins when they are growing?

Also, I know that Bettas live somewhere between 2-4 years. How can I estimate how old mine is? I figured he's at least 1.5 years old because I got him 5 months ago from a pet store and I've heard that LPS bettas are usually at least a year old. But he's a huge fish, like probably 2.5 inches of body (not counting fins). Anybody have an idea?

[sawcat]

If he's just a common colored veil tail, than seems like a safe guess. I've heard that they're up to 1 year when seen in the petstore. My cellophane and crowntail were younger, since they're more unusual. When they're in the store, you can judge by the body size and fin length too. Once you've looked at enough pictures of them you start to be able to pick these things out (the breeder sites with spawn logs are good for that).

[beta3chg]

wow, i way off to suggest that. Sorry! I guess I shouldn't be giving that to my guys...oops hardly covers the embarrasment . That's what i get for trying to help... I was just adding it because although i do change the water every week, keep the water temp. at 79F, and feed my bettas well, one kept getting tail rot over and over...turns out he had cancer and was probably immune supressed (going downhill until 5/3 when i euthanized him ...)

it's good to hear Skarloey's fins are growing back (white/clear=regrowth, red/black/shredding=tail rot).
Skarloey...what a cool name

[skarloeysmom]

Just wanted to update this post. Skarloey's fins are growing back nicely. I'm not sure they'll ever look as good as they once did but they are growing back pretty fast. It's been a bit over a month and there's at least a half an inch of new growth in some places.

[skarloeysmom]

beta3chg said:

Skarloey...what a cool name

My 3 year old son named him after one of the engines from the Thomas the Tank Engine series. I thought it was a pretty good name too. The other name he came up with was Flack. Don't have any idea where he got that name!