New Print and eBook on Amazon Betta Success Doing what it takes to keep Bettas healthy long-term by Robert (Bob) Fenner

African Dwarf Frog/Betta safe medication?   2/1/11
Dear sir/ma'am,
<Tam>
One of my little African Dwarf Frogs has developed bloat.
<Mmm, a symptom... with a few/diverse etiologies/causes...>
He looks pretty bad off. He is not floating and seems to still be eating (frozen bloodworms),
<I would discount to discontinue these larval insects as food. They have been implicated in troubles in recent times>
but is super swollen. He is in a 5 gallon tank with one other ADF and a Betta (they get along fine, basically ignore each other). I am looking for something to treat the frog with that will also be safe for the Betta since they are in the same tank. I adopted the frogs from someone else in last December and the one was already puffy at that point, but I just though he was fat. He has gotten much worse since then. Can you please recommend something you think would be effective and yet safe for my Betta too?
Thank you!
Tamara
<There are some folks who endorse the use of broad-spectrum antibiotic use, Epsom Salt for such... but I'd just switch foods... Do read here:
http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/ADFDisF3.htm
and the linked files above, particularly "Feeding FAQs". Bob Fenner>

Baths for freshwater fish?  9/18/06 Hi Bob, Once again fighting tail rot in Betta Terrence. Doing my best to keep the water quality good with frequent small water changes, gravel vacuuming, the tedious process of wicking the dissolved solids off the surface of the water with paper towels, light feeding, etc... He's in a 2.5 gallon heated, filtered tank with 10 watts of fluorescent lighting. As the tail rot has been persistent, I'm thinking of treating him with an antibacterial. <Yes, this is what I would do. Likely... Oh, I see this below> I was wondering if, instead of treating the whole tank, I could give Terrence a bath in the  Nitrofurazone/Furazolidone/potassium dichromate medication that I've used before. Same dosage/concentration as for a full tank treatment? <Yes> (I read up on dips/baths on WWM, but only found info about dips/baths for marine livestock. <Are more useful for marines... as they "drink" their environment, but can be used with good purpose on external complaints of freshwater aquatics> I have heard from other sites of saltwater baths for FW fish... would that be more gentle/any more effective than an antibacterial? <Mmm, not as much here> He has Doc Wellfish's salt in his tank all the time, 1 Tbs/5gal.) If this would be ineffective or a bad idea, I can certainly treat the tank. I have an extra sponge in there that I can pull out and maintain in a Tupperware container to keep some good bacteria going. Just wasn't looking forward to dying the tank green and wiping out my filtration, <Yes... I would use the immersion bath instead here as you state> plus I anticipate the gravel will absorb some of the medication. <You are correct> Thanks for any insight you can give! Rachel in NC, where it's finally cooling down a little <BobF in sunny S. Cal., with a persistent cough/cold!>
Re: Baths for freshwater fish?  9/18/06 Bob, I just did what I realized was the obvious thing to do... put Terrence in the 3/4 gallon Tupperware with a heater and a proportionate amount of medicine.  Planning on doing large, possibly complete, water changes every day or every other day.  So never mind about the bath!  Sorry to bother you.  It seemed like such a brilliant idea at the time! <Is a good idea. BobF>

New Print and eBook on Amazon Betta Success Doing what it takes to keep Bettas healthy long-term by Robert (Bob) Fenner