Thanks for the fantastic advice everyone. I like the idea of hacking the thing off and letting all new branches grow to get it started with the best shape, but "live buds" question is confusing me. I looked at the lower part of the trunk and there are a bunch of places where buds may have been or may still be, but I'm having a hard time telling which. The presence of buds on the small branches is very easy to detect, but on the trunk, there are "marks" where the bud should be, but I don't see the bud itself sticking out. One of those areas even looks like a branch started to grow but was cut or broken off. Will all of these "marks" form branches regardless of what they look like now? (sorry for my non-lingo with words like, "marks"). Or could I do some of the pruning suggested above, and wait to see if lower branches form and if they do, then do some more drastic pruning, like cutting it off 24 inches from the ground? Any thoughts? Thanks again for all your help, Bart

If you have another air pump, go ahead. Smaller bubbles are better. Tall tanks have less dissolved oxygen, and its important to get as much aeration as you can with goldfish. As far as mixing salt with medication, it depends on what you buy. You are using aquarium salt, right? Not table etc? I know you should never mix quick cure with salt...there are others, but I do not know them. Hopefully some one else knows? You want to buy an anti-parasite medicine designed to fight ich. Not all parasitic meds will fight ich, and avoid anything with copper if you can. But it seems like he could have bacterial too... I say treat ich first, since he definately has that. The red streaks and rot could be bacterial, but could also be severe signs of stress too. Sorry I can't help more :(

That's great that his fins are already re-growing :) It turns out all he needed was clean water. Woeisme, I did some deeper research on the salt issue. One of my sources was a very experienced moderator from Koko's Goldfish World. He is the god of diagnosing and treating illnesses along with a lot of chemistry and mircobiology. This is what he has to say: "The only salt that should be considerded for use in "freshwater" aquariums is pure NaCI. Nothing else. No binding agents, no anti-caking agents, nothing. Both of these agents "can" cause gill problems. Especially in a high salinity "dip". Certain additives in salts could prove a problem in a high salinity dip. ------------ A Perfect Example; Yellow Prussiate of Soda, alternately Sodium Ferrocyanide (most commonly used anti-caking agent in table salt) is akin to cyanide and under certain conditions, can be a serious threat to aquatic organisms. Read on: Studies on the effects of sodium ferrocyanide date back at least a half-century. A 1950 report showed that when the chemical is exposed to sunlight, it can break down into free cyanide, which is highly toxic to aquatic organisms even in small doses. Can ANY of use be sure that those circumstances, where this can happen, is not apparent in our tanks???? -------------- Pure NaCI can be found in freshwater aquarium salt, ice cream salt/rock salt and some other sources as well. Water softening salt is not too good to suggest because many contain binding agents to keep it in pelletized form. However, there ARE non-pelletized formulas wich are essentially solar salt or kiln dried salt and are safe to use in aquariums. Now, I am well aware that MANY folks have used all kinds of salts in a "pinch" or "all the time" and without any adverse reactions to boot. BUT, it is highly recommended to exhaust all avenues for a pure salt. Then and only then would I EVER suggest using non-pure sources of salt. Always remember that there are as many ways to keep fish as there are fishkeepers. No one single way is the correct way. However, keeping things pure and simple is the best policy............." In the future, I think you should stay away from table salts, especially with iodine and anti-caking agents. Its better to be safe than sorry, right? Lexie, the only other thing I can recomend to you is to get another fish tank to keep the rest of your fish in. That is a whole lot of fish for a 2.5 gallon tank. Personally, what I would do, would be to let one betta or the frog have the 2.5 gallon to itself, and buy a ten gallon for the rest. With the betta, african dwarf frog (thats the kind I'm assuming that you have) and the oto in the bigger tank, you still have room for a few more fish, like a couple more otocinclus or some cories, possibly some white cloud minnows. That would make a lovely tank.

ok, betta fix is just diluted melafix (tee tree oil). It's NOT an antibiotic, though it does have antiseptic properties. How do you know the water was clean, were you testing it for ammonia? The water can look very clear, but still be very toxic for the fish. How often are you changing the water, and how often were you changing it in the 2L tank? Tetracycline used to work great, however in many areas it's almost useless because of resistant bacteria. I've also never found it useful for fin rot. (This can be due to location however, as there are different strains of the bacteria that cause fin rot). I've never found it messy if used in the tablet or powder form, but it is hard to remove from a cycled aquarium. An uncycled bowl shouldn't be a problem though. I personally like Maracyn 2, but that's just what works for me. Anyhow, back to the OP. The melafix may help keep the area of exposed fin clean (think of it a bit like iodine or neosporin)and it helps in rin-regrowth, but if you don't see improvement in 2 days, I'd go and get an actual antibiotic (Again, I personally have the best luck with Maracyn 2, which treats mostly gram-negative bacteria). With the antibiotics, you would usually dose daily w/o water changes to build up a level of the meds (just like for people). Don't add more salt if you're not doing water changes. You also don't need to keep salt in his tank all the time. Just use it for treatment at the rate of 1tsp per gallon. Disolve the salt first in a little tank water, then add it to the tank. After treatment is finished and he's all better, you may want to get an ammonia test kit (the liquid kits work best). Do a water change, then test daily until you get readings (on a 2 gallon bowl with regular feeding, this should take about 5-8 days). If you get readings on day 8, then you know you should do water changes on day 7, so as to never expose your fish to toxic ammonia. By the way, are you using bottled or tap water? If using tap water, what conditioner do you use? I prefer Amquel + or Prime, both are highly concentrated so you won't run out as fast, and both help your water quality. Those are the only 2 brands I'll use. Try the link below, there's a betta board there and lots of articles on bettas and on fin rot. Here is a link that might be useful: petfish.net