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Ugh I feel sick... but not as sick as Cheesy, HELP!

843 views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  Oldfishlady 
#1 ·
Housing
What size is your tank? 2 gallon
What temperature is your tank? 76
Does your tank have a filter? No
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? Yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? Morning and night, 3 each time

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? 50% and 100% once a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Conditioner

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? No

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Drastically. Top fin almost gone, thinned out, and white leading a bit into his body. Bottom fin has thinned in some spots (but not torn) Losing fin shape and size
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? No, still active, happy, follows us around, eats from our fingers
When did you start noticing the symptoms? 2 weeks ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? 100% water changes daily
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No
How old is your fish (approximately)? We got him 6 months ago

Cheesy looks sooo awful... I'm freaking out. I keep waiting for him to get better with water changes, but he keeps getting worse. I am afraid to treat him because he doesn't have the dark spots that I keep reading about fin rot and he has the weird thinning/whitening :( Please help. Here are some pics he is flared in these pics. My avatar has what he used to look flared. I hate how slowly he is going down hill, I have a knot in my chest every time I look at him. I wish he'd just get better or die. :( :(

On this one you can see at the very top where his body is starting to change colors. It looks red in the pic, but it's changing to white




He is in the back of the bowl in this pic so his body looks kind of distorted, but this is the best full fin flare shot
 
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#2 ·
What a lovely fella.....the white color is usually new growth.....

Overall-by the pics he looks good-thinning fins can either be related to age, genetic and nutrition....Nutrition being a big cause especially when they are acting and eating fine....

Nutrition is so important and often where we do our Betta a disservice....this is one area that we don't want to cut corners to save money....

The more varied the diet the better-what one food is missing the other may have.
You don't have to buy Betta specific food-you want the first ingredient to be either whole, filet or meal from seafood or fish....
Replace the fish food at least yearly-every 6 months being best-the additives and nutrition value start to degrade once the seal is cracked on the container and if the food is not kept properly it will degrade even faster.....

It is best to keep fish foods in a tightly sealed/air tight container, in a cool dark area-like in a cabinet-never keep fish food on top of the tank-especially on the lights-the added heat and moisture can cause the food to go rancid fast....

When possible-feed live foods-mosquito larva are one of my favorites-along with any other type of critter that I can find living in my containers of water I have outside.
Chopped red worms, ants, houseflys, moths...etc.....are all good live foods-provided that they are free of any pesticides....

I make a homemade food from steamed shrimp, blanched spinach and fresh crushed garlic-that I freeze to feed all the fish daily.....

Don't under estimate good nutrition......along with quality water......it is important to provide a good diet to help maintain the fins and overall good health to promote a strong immune response....

Your overall husbandry looks fine-I would improve nutrition and limit the 100% water changes to no more than 1 time a week-you can do all the 50% you want.
I would also recommend adding tannins to the water-either IAL or dried Oak leaf-this can help by toughing the scales/fins....
 
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