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Trying to help my poor fish!

2K views 17 replies 5 participants last post by  Turtle 
#1 ·
Hello...

I have had my betta, Turtle, for about 4-5 months now. He has a 1.5 gallon bowl, no filter. I always change his water 1-2 times a week with bottled water, same type every time.
He has been perfectly happy and healthy until about a week and a half ago he suddenly got pop-eye. He stopped eating altogether, barely swam around at all. He stopped reacting when i came into the room, and only went up for air every now and then. I immediately changed his water and went to the pet shop to get some treatment. They gave me Sera Omnipur, it contains malachite green. I treated him with this for the whole week, changing the water and putting in a fresh dose every 2 days. It actually helped, after a week, his eye started to look almost normal and he finally started eating and was quite active. He wasnt 100% yet but definitely much better. 2 days after his recovery started, he got sick again :( This time his colour seems to have faded around his head, he has 1 or 2 little white spots (i don't think it's ich - some sort of infection maybe?) and a sort of bump on his forehead. He has stopped eating and swimming again. Today his gills seem to be a little swollen, they don't close fully. No colour change in his gills as far as i can tell.
I've just changed his water again and put him in a yet another fresh bowl just in case. This time no medicine, I've already been using it for almost two weeks, worried it's too much.
Please help! I don't want to lose the little guy!

Thank you!
 
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#2 ·
Are the white spots fuzzy at all? It sounds like you might have a bacterial or fungal infection there. Pop eye is not necessarily a disease of it's own, it's a symptom of other problems and illnesses.

What other meds do you have on hand? Do you have any aquarium salt or epsom salts on hand?

What's the temp. of the water? Do you test your water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph? If so, can you post those levels?

And bottled water isn't necessarily a good thing. There are certain minerals in tap water that are helpful to your fish. You should switch to tap water with a good water conditioner like Seachem Prime that detoxifies ammonia and removes the chlorine/chloramines that might be present in your tap water.
 
#3 ·
Hi,

I don't test my water for any of those things. This is my very first fish so I have to admit that I am a somewhat ignorant Betta parent :oops:
I live in Romania at the moment where a lot of the medications, treatments, water conditioners etc that I've seen mentioned while researching this online are not available here. At least not under the same names. So it's hard to know what to get... Believe it or not i went back to the pet shop today to get some aquarium salt and the guy said he has never heard of such a thing!!! I tried another much bigger shop which was closed, and won't be open till Monday (being Easter) so I'm stuck for the time being. Not too keen on the idea of using table salt, too many contradicting opinions. White spots not fuzzy, and actually one has disappeared.
All I have on hand is this malachite green stuff.
Will definitely look into water conditioner and switch to tap water.
 
#6 ·
I agree with testing kit. It may not be same in name, but look for anything that's liquid(not strips), and contains ammonia and/or nitrite and/or nitrate and/or pH.

I also agree with using tap water over bottled.
 
#10 ·
I'm not sure, I wouldn't exactly look at it that way. Like chlorine. Not exactly dangerous for us, but beyond lethal for fish. However it's not really always in that direction, though. It could be bad for us but good for them? Who knows. Have you ever been curious enough to call them and ask them exactly what's wrong? Hopefully it'll get fixed fast though.
 
#11 ·
No, I haven't really had the time to sit through a bunch of call transfers and listen to a bunch of city workers to scratch their heads at what I'm asking. Haha. :p However, I plan on bringing a sample with me to PetSmart next time I go to get tested. A friend of mine who lives in the same areas as me had some tested for his betta tank and they told him it was unsuitable. But if I'm going I might as well take some of my own.
 
#12 ·
Here's a tip: If they say anything, ask everything.

"Oh, it's fine."
Well what's fine?? (This bothers me, actually, lol. )
And if it's unsuitable, why? I just like to ... be knowledged. There ya go, for being nerdy haha.

I think the one thing i hate about calling is the hold music. I swear, I will cry the next time I hear hold music. It's... SO cringe-worthy !! Haha, sorry.

Also, I'm pretty sure they use strips. Better than nothing, really, lol :)
 
#16 ·
Thanks for the tips. I will definitely look for a testing kit (not strips! :) ) And hopefully should have more luck at this other pet shop getting water conditioner and aquarium salt.

As for Turtle, at the moment he seems the same. No better or worse. One of the white spots that had almost faded last night is back again. It's right next to the lump on his nose. He ate 2 pellets today but thats it. Gills still don't close properly. I'm just hoping he will stick it out until i get some salt.

Speaking of which, any advice on that? Will salt serve as a treatment? How long should i keep him in water that has had the salt added? And how long should I keep it up? I have seen that it's recommended to always add a bit of salt to the water. I'm sure there will be info on the box but I would feel safer hearing it from savvy Betta parents :D

This is my first little Betta but I am hooked!!! I really REALLY REALLY want to make him better.

Thank you!!!!
 
#17 ·
Hello again...

Update: I went to the big pet store which unfortunately doesn't stock aquarium salt :( They have a huge stock of other fish stuff so I bought some water conditioner as you advised and some medicine. It's called Ektol cristal, it treats various infections and parasites. It seemed to be the best option. I just put it in his water about an hour ago so we'll see...I have to repeat every two days for a week.

As for Turtle, he is pretty much the same. His gills still look funny. I THINK the bump on his forehead is very slightly smaller. On a more positive note, his eye that had popped out is completely better now. Good as new.

Hope he'll be ok...
 
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