Charlie

Question
Hello Chris,
First I want to thank you so much for saving Charlie's life. (small beta) The peas, water changes and salt bath worked wonders-about 2 months ago. Two weeks ago, I moved him to a 10 gallon tank with a filter and the water is at 80. PH near 8.4, (that was a problem before, but caused him greater problems trying to lower the PH) the ammonia tester I leave in the tank shows normal, Nitrite 0 PPM. He seems really happy, but I notice his left gill sticks out a little since yesterday. Does he have an infection? Can I treat the 10 gallon tank with some medication? Could you please suggest the best medicine? Can I do anything to help prevent illness? Is 20% weekly water changes enough? Thank you so much for any information.

Answer
Hi Mouse! I am so glad Charlie is feeling better!

He may not need any medicines at all. Unless there are signs of infection it won't help anyway. He may have overflared and the gill or gill cover is a bit irritated. Make an extra water change and watch it. You could use a natural remedy called Melafix and also aquarium salt to help heal in case he injured himself. They will help him avoid infection too.

Weekly changes of 20% are very good. Vacuum the gravel every couple of weeks too. The tank is still pretty new so you may see a slight rise of ammonia and then a rise of nitrite soon. Just make extra changes if they do go up. Keep up the good work!

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins