elemental-kiss: fourteen–steps: hella-free-space: Found this neat infographic :D With bettafix/melaf
elemental-kiss: fourteen–steps: hella-free-space: Found this neat infographic :D With bettafix/melafix: I’ve heard both that it helps and that it hurts…I don’t have a personal opinion on it because I don’t know how it’s supposed to help or hinder…I’ve heard that it coats the labrynth organ and you can easily overdose the meds and kill your fish. But I’ve also heard that as long as you use less than the dose prescribed on the bottle, it can be beneficial. I DO know that it’s basically tea tree oil, so if you ever use it, err on the side of caution. I wonder if the intended effect is to make the fish rest more? Kind of like taking niquil for a cold…it doesn’t cure the cold, but it makes you sleepy so you rest more and your body can concentrate it’s energy on fighting that cold… With Epsom salt: Unscented, pure stuff…or aquarium salt in case you’re worried you may use the Epsom salt incorrectly♡ With ANY sick betta: The cleanest warm water you can give them will do wonders! Especially for things like fin melt/fin rot :) (Feel free to add onto this info) I might quibble with some of the antibiotic choices too?Maracyn I (Erythromycin), ampicillin, and tetracycline treat mainly gram positive bacteria, while most aquarium infections tend to be gram negative. They also can be quite harsh on your filter bacteria and just generally tend to have fewer targeted uses with more ill effects when it comes to fish. Not to say they can’t be helpful in the right circumstance, but there are so many better choices to keep on hand. (Except ampicillin which is like, all but useless for aquatics, don’t waste your money) Maracyn II is good for low pH, soft water environments, which many betta tanks are, but be aware than if you have harder water this medication will LOSE ALL EFFECT. Minocycline is absorbed by calcium (one of the main components in hard water) and rendered completely useless. If you have moderate-high pH, Triple Sulfa is a similar broad spectrum choice that works well in those water conditionsI’d also add Metronidazole to your medicine cabinet which treats internal bacterial and parasitic infections very well when used in a medicated food I’d also like to add that aquarium salt and epsom salts are not the same and have different effects. Epsom salt will reduce swelling, aquarium salt does not. Aquarium salt is more of an anti septic to help prevent fin rot (though it does not treat the actual infection. it may help very mild fin rot but it is best to err on the side of caution and just use an anti bacterial)Also add Seachem Entice or Garlic Juice to your medicine cabinet! It’s helpful for getting a fish that is refusing food to eat.Additionally: a Multivitamin is also a good idea! Also: Fungus cure is only effective if it’s the original jungle one, tetra also has one that’s a weak version of the original and was created when tetra bought jungle, always check ingredient lists. I’ve been taking a break from the hobby so maybe I’ve just forgotten, but I don’t remember any specific well known ‘super ich cure.’ Ich can be treated with heat and aq salt (@elemental-kiss Is right about it not being an antibiotic, to be clear) in most cases and in severe cases general anti-parasite meds work just fine (I personally use seachem paraguard but do a little research on what specific medications treat ich and get a cocktail of one or more of those.)Also don’t use bettafix/melafix, regardless of whether or not it’s actually deadly (I used to use it and my fish were fine, but that means basically nothing because I only used it on one or two fish) the stuff is weak as hell you’re better off with something that’ll actually treat the problem. Don’t freak out about medicating your fish when they need it, if they’re in a good habitat they won’t get sick often enough for it to cause a problem, and most medications are pretty gentle on fish anyway, (it’s true that some aren’t, but those are ussually the 'only-use-in-case-of-issues-serious-enough-that-longterm-effect-is-of-secondary-importance-to-making-sure-the-fish-actually-lives’ type.) -- source link