Find solution
How do you find the pH of salt?

How do I treat fin rot with aquarium salt if I have a pleco?

  • I recently upgraded my 10 gallon to a 20 gallon. In the process, I let the old water get to poor quality & my betta got fin rot. The betta & my common pleco are now in the 20 gallon with spring water & ammonia level-0. I researched it & read that I should treat the tank with aquarium salt & that the other fish would not be bothered by it. Well now my pleco is acting funny. I looked into it & read that catfish are sensitive to salt. What should I do? I wanted to get rid of it anyway because the woman at the store mislead me. (I thought it was a smaller version of a pleco, not a common which gets huge) I have never used tap water, but I do have dechlorination drops. Should I treat a bowl of water & put the pleco in it for now, or will the pH difference shock it? I have no way to test the pH or ammonia if I do this. This would be temporary until I find a new home for the pleco. Is this a good idea?

  • Answer:

    In addition to Ptyr's answer, try to get a rubbermaid / sterilite container or other larger plastic container to hold the pleco in while u rehome it. To help keep from shocking it, fill it about a quarter with your tank water, then with de-chlorinated water the rest of the way. At least try to put an air stone in with it if you don't have another filter you can put on. Will probably need 1 or 2 25-50% water changes a day without filtration. Keep an eye on the temp too. You can put the plec' in a large zip or other bag with tank water and float in the temporary bin, adding some of that water to the bag every 15min for an hour to help it adjust.

Df at Yahoo! Answers Visit the source

Was this solution helpful to you?

Other answers

nothing will survive in a bowl, so don't do that plecos are ok with some salt, just not a lot. if you really have fin rot, it's a bacterial infection and needs an anti bacterial treatment. if it's a water quality problem or something else, then you need to address the original problem too. there's a medicated anti bacterial flake food that might be better than treating the tank.

Pytr Pytr

Don't treat it with salt. Raise the temperature to 86 degrees, not too fast, Do several 35% water changes, you will want to do that anyway since your tank is likely not cycled, which means ammonia and nitrites are in it, burning the fish. the ich that is visible can not really be killed even with medicine, new ich can not attach to a host when the water is 86 degrees, so it will die. If the pleco actually has ich, "do you see white dots, is he flashing?"the betta needs to be treated too. Are you sure it isn't some kind of dwarf pleco, they can be hard to identify. Likely you are right, it is a common or a gibbeceps, but I would want you to give away a possible valuable dwarf pleco without being sure. Some bottled waters have been stripped of nutrients that fish need to live, It is best to use dechlorinaed tap water. You may want to buy a de-chlorinating stress-coat product like API stress-coat with aloe, because ich leave behind open wounds, and you can use stress coat to boost the immune system of fish "their slime coat" and promote healing.

noselessman

Pyter is correct. Salt is not a cure for fin rot. Another poster suggested turning the heat up..do not do that. That works for ich, but can accelerate fin rot and other bacterial diseases, and actually makes the problem worse. Most of the time, good clean water will clear up the fin rot on its own. Or an antibiotic feed, like adding SeaCHem KanaPlex and Focus to some frozen or gel food, will do the trick. Be wary on using any antibacterial medication in the main water column as most will also kill your biological filter, causing worse water quality, and in turn, causing more sickness. The best resort, is to do water changes to both keep the water quality up and to dilute the salt. Keep the pleco in the tank rather than a bowl or other container, and look for a new home for him.

TheRav1n

Related Q & A:

Just Added Q & A:

Find solution

For every problem there is a solution! Proved by Solucija.

  • Got an issue and looking for advice?

  • Ask Solucija to search every corner of the Web for help.

  • Get workable solutions and helpful tips in a moment.

Just ask Solucija about an issue you face and immediately get a list of ready solutions, answers and tips from other Internet users. We always provide the most suitable and complete answer to your question at the top, along with a few good alternatives below.