follow-up questions

Question
QUESTION: I have 1 halfmoon betta in a 2L betta bowl. My betta has finrot, he is mainly hanging out at the top of the tank. I give him betta food flakes but one day I mistakenly added too much food to the tank, which I think is what made him develop finrot. I am now giving him maracyn, but its hard measuring how much to give him when his bowl only holds 2L of water. I change his water once every week, and that is every Sunday. Now that he is sick how often should I change his water? I do not use a filter and I do not measure the temperature of the water. If you can, can you please give me some info on what I'm doing wrong and what I should be doing. He is my first fish, so I know I will not know everything. Thank you so much.

ANSWER: Lakeshia,
First off, 2 liters is not even close to being the right size tank. Even though they sell the Betta bowl, it is not suitable. Your Betta should be in nothing less than 2.5 gallons (which is about 9 liters), but a 5 gallon tank is best. Another thing is he is a tropical fish and needs a heater keeping his water at a steady 80 degrees. If you keep him in the bowl, you will not be able to treat him successfully. With him being in barely half a gallon of water, you should be doing water changes every day and a complete change twice a week. If you want to treat him for the fin rot, you should get him the right size tank, and add a heater. Once he is in the right tank, you can add some aquarium salt at the ratio of 1 teaspoon of salt to 1 gallon of water. I would also stop using the medication since it is very easy to over medicate in that small of a bowl. Once the fin rot is gone, you will start removing the salt by doing 25% water changes every other day. You will do that 5 times and the salt should be gone.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello jaymie I followed your advise I bought a 3.5gal tank, aquarium salt , heater and I bought the betta fish food balls. I want to know how often I change his water and add the salt. Also, is it ok if I use tap water with the aquarium salt or do I need to add the betta plus water conditioner, plus aquarium salt?

Answer
Lakeshia,
You will do 25% water changes every week. Just add the salt to the water you are adding during the water change. Just do not put too much salt in because you do not want to add too much. Anytime you add any water to the tank, you will want to use a water conditioner, even if you are adding salt to the water.