Aquarium Salt & Methyl Blue

Tips to treating finrot and other diseases in your pet fish

Aquarium fish can develop disease through a variety of reasons. Stressful living conditions, rough handling, accidental injury, fighting among themselves and poor feeding can invite them. The most common diseases are either bacterial or fungal. This article highlights the use of Methyl Blue and Aquarium Salt in treating fish diseases.

Finrot is a bacterial infection that affects the fins of fish and is caused by opportunistic bacteria such as Aeromonas, Pseudomonas or Flexibacter that abound in all aquatic environments. You would often observe decay in fins and be able to differentiate a finrot from a fin nipping injury by observing the rays of the fins. If all rays are all left and the fin in between is rotting away then it is an obvious finrot.

Methy Blue
Many fish keepers would begin to treat the infection on their beloved pet fish by adding Methyl Blue, most often if there is an active carbon filter or element in the tank the Methyl Blue color will disappear making it in effective. If you wish to continue with the Methyl Blue treatment, remove the activated carbon elements of the filter. If the methyl treatment results in no clear improvement to your fish, it is advisable to try Aquarium Salt as an alternative treatment.

Aquarium Salt
Upon applying Aquarium Salt the active agent in the salt increases the salinity of the water and acts to remove pathogens in the water. Aquarium Salt is an effective way to treat pathogens; however there are about two groups of bacteria that are tolerant to it. Aquarium Salt does not change the pH level of the water and neither does it change the hardness.

Always be sure to check first whether the species of fish you keep are tolerant to Aquarium Salt or additives before treating your aquarium. Corydoras catfish and many live aquatic plants do not do well with salt in their water.

Having mentioned this there is a minimal recommended dosage that will not be harmful to them. Both Corydoras and many plants will tolerate nothing more than a table spoon of Aquarium Salt per 5 gallons of aquarium water.

Upon treating the water with Aquarium Salt you should be noticing improvement on affected fins within two or three days of treatment. The affected fins should show signs of re-growth. If you have treated the water with aquarium salt and have not seen any marked improvement in the fish’s condition, then it is wise to consult with your local pet fish specialist or identify elements that may be conducive to the condition.