Questions about Kanaplex dosing

[DiamondPink]

I'm using Kanaplex to help a friend treat her betta fish who we suspect is suffering from a severe case of fin rot (blackened, quickly disintegrating fin edges, with the infection now getting dangerously close to his caudal peduncle) The fin disintegration seems to have been checked by the medication and the little guy seems much more active, so we're hopeful that we've made progress! So here are my questions:

(1) The Kanaplex instructions say to dose once every 2 days, up to 3 doses. Does this mean that after 2 days, the dose is no longer active in the water column (and thus the next dose needs to be added then?)

(2) If the infection being treated doesn't seem to have subsided fully or satisfactorily by the end of the 3 recommended treatments on the package, can a 4th dose be given relatively safely?

(3) How long after a course of treatment (3 doses over 6 days) should you wait before giving another course of treatment, assuming the fish shows signs of deterioration after the Kanaplex is discontinued?

Thanks so much! Any information is really appreciated.

[Tech Support MS]

Hello DiamondPink, we are glad to hear that the betta is looking better.

You are correct, after 48 hours Kanaplex is no longer active at high enough concentrations for effective treatment. This is common with many medications as different conditions in the tank can degrade them.

Continuing the treatment after the dose should not harm the fish but could begin damaging your bacterial filtration. I don't thing there would be a problem adding one more dose but if the fish is looking better after that I would give the tank 3-4 days to recover. If you would like to continue treatment after that, it would be fine. However, if the fish is not looking better or if you feel he needs to be treated further, you can continue with the standard dosing regime. After such dosing it would be advisable to use a bacterial supplement such as Stability to help rebuild the biological filtration.

I hope this information is helpful and that things go well with the little guy. Please let us know if you need anything else.