Stiiiiill sick little man...

[callistra]

25C is on the cool side but ok. Your thermometer could easily be off a degree or two so he may really be at 26C. "He's kept at a minimum 22°c because we have 40°c daily temp, I don't want to boil him! Will try adjusting it, he is happiest at 25°c." - dont understand this. Is his tank temp swinging like that? This alone could cause his problems.. shock. 22C is way to cold. The 25C is minimum. 27C should be top. You should have one constant temp whatever you choose.

You said you stopped feeding him when you hospitalized him.. so if you haven't fed him he may have nothing to poop.. How long has he been without food? Does he look bloated at all? He doesn't look bloated at all from that angle. If he's not bloated then I'd give him a couple pellets and then see if he'll poop.. Has he lost weight at all?

So not true about epsoms.. they are very safe at proper amounts and I've personally used them for over a month. Some people use them as fertilizer for their planted tanks and to remineralize ro water. It's magnesium sulfate. How much are you using?

What are the ingredients in your betta's food? Type them here please. I can't find a thing online about it.

[lp4eva1]

sorry, i think that was a typo... his temp is 25deg, only gets warmer in which case i use a fan or a frozen drink bottle if he gets too warm.

i myself dont think its harmfull to use epsom, but im after any advice i can get! i use 2 tea per 3.5lt (rough us gallon).

his food is : fish meal, shrimp meal, wheatgerm, wheat flour, yeast, vitamins, organic minerals, natural immunoglobulin, natural colouring.

should i be changing?????

he isnt bloated, or lost weight (enough thats noticable anyway)

[callistra]

Temp swings of more than a degree, or anything very quick, are going to cause him issues. I'm guessing his problem is that his tank is going too hot then you try to cool it off with cold water or a fan.. That's going to cause lots of swings, especially if they're quick. There are actual aquarium chillers you could use if your area is just too hot.. combo of heater and chiller would regulate it.. cost is extremely high though.

I would find a pellet whose first two or three ingredients are whole fish. Fishmeal is just ground of fish byproducts... think mcdonald's chicken nuggets. Overall, that doesn't look too bad as far as pellets go.. not the worse but not the best.

[lp4eva1]

i have a chiller in my marine tank, so its an option.
thus far i havent had many dangerous temp spikes in his water... i do monitor and record them regularly. most he's jumped up is 3deg but that was extreem.

hes been sick/not well for about two months now, so im just baffled as to what is wrong... :-/ first he had mild fin rot, but mostly just really lethargic, wanting to lay down and on;t have small bursts of energy..

i will head back to my LFS tomoro, but this food was the best they had at the time - will look again.

ive tried obtaining daphnia - aparently you cant buy in in most states of austtralia due to quarantine laws, but im searchong for someone who "grows their own" so to speak.

[callistra]

3 degrees C is like a 5-6 degree swing in F and that's huge. It's a hard situation you're in and I'm sure you're doing all you can considering but I do bet this is at least part of it. I don't know if it would be possible to get a window air conditioning unit for the room you're in.. if that would be cheaper than the chiller or not. Then you can regulate room temp and that would also stop the swings.

For mystery diseases I try Kanaplex as my fish don't seem stressed by it and a fast working broad spectrum med. If there is an actual infection going on it will most likely cure it. I don't know about availability in Australia. It's a Seachem med.

[Sena Hansler]

I am not sure it is available in Australia... It seems very tough to get the best meds there.

How long have you had him VS how long has he been sick? Since he lays funny, like that, it kind of reminds me of a fry I had who just had issues with his spine.