Today I realized that both my bettas have fin rot. I orginaly thought my HM had fin rot but people said he was just a tail biter, and he is. And now I think he has fin rot as well. You can't really tell by looking at a picture, you have to look really closely. You can see that some of his fins looks like there melting away. My other Betta, after going through a scare of being lethargic and being extremely pale he is getting some black parts and some pin holes in his fins. He isn't lethargic any more but he still is pale.
It just kills me that they were both so beautiful when I got them and now they look pathetic. The worst part is that I can't get them medicine to help them get better. Life happens and I just can't. I switched there water conditioner to API Stress Coat and gave them both a salt bath, but that's all I can do right now. I know that if you can't care for a pet you shouldn't have one but, I just cant treat them right now. What's worse is that my first two Betta fish died even after I did so much research and after doing everything like this website said and I felt like a failure. It took me a long time to get another fish and now I go through this again.
Sometimes I think it would just be easier to rehome them but I have a feeling I would regret it for the rest of my life.
I just want them to be beautiful again. I just don't know what to do. Life is just crazy right now and then this happens.
Sorry for complaining to you guys, I just had to get this off my chest. Do any of you guys ever feel this way? Like you wish you just never got a fish? Because right now, I do.
I'm sorry you are having so much trouble. Yes, sometimes fish can wear you out when they are hit with illness, but they are also very rewarding. You should be able to get control of the fin rot by keeping the water very clean and warm.
Awww ArcticRain I'm so sorry you're having such a rough time. I know how you feel. I have a chronic illness, and sometimes it makes maintenance on my tanks kind of hard. Normally I feel good and do fine, but sometimes it flares up really bad for a couple weeks and I just can't keep up (i feel lightheaded, dizzy, fatigued, and I get a racing/irregular heart rate). At times I've felt like maybe my fish would be better off getting rehomed, but then I stop and think about it and know that I am not a bad fish owner. My fish are happy and healthy, I've been keeping bettas for the last three years and I have never once had a fish get sick. I feel good most of the time, and when I do my fish get optimum care. Sure, I hit a rough patch every now and then, and their level of care may slip for a bit, but that happens to everybody every now and then. Like you said, life happens.
Fin rot doesn't require any medication to treat, most people can get rid of it with just clean water. How big are your tanks? Do alot of water changes over the next couple weeks, using stresscoat as your dechlorinator, and they should get better. If it starts getting worse over the next couple of days, or you're not seeing any changes, then QT them in small containers and change the water in those containers daily with stresscoat and 1 teaspoon of aquarium salt per gallon.
I'm so sorry you're going through a rough time, but don't make a rush decision about getting out of the hobby. Things will get better, and your fish will be just as beautiful as they ever were! Well, maybe despite a little tailbiting
Indyfishy- Thank you very much for you words of wisdom and understanding. I'm glad to know that it's not just me. My tanks are 2.5 gallons unfiltered. I do 1-50% and 1-100% each week.
You're very welcome! I'd say either add an extra 50 or make it two 100's for each of them until they get better if you can. If it makes it easier for you, you could take the gravel out of the tanks for the next couple of weeks and just leave it bare bottom. Having the gravel out of the equation always makes cleaning easier lol. They won't mind as long as you leave a couple hiding spots for them in there =) Like i said before, if you see them getting any worse, put them in cups and change the water daily with stresscoat and 1 teaspoon per gallon of AQ salt. You can use AQ salt for up to 10 days, but no longer as it can result in kidney failure if prolonged.
Good luck! I hope it does clear up. If it's any encouragement to you, when I got my boy Apollo, he'd been living in a cold, stagnant jar. He looked fine in the jar, but a week later after being transferred to my heated, filtered 5 gallon he developed fin rot anyway. I know it wasn't my fault and was to do with his tenure in the jar, but I felt rotten about it. The worst part was, it happened so quickly - within two days almost all of his tail was gone and there was only a tiny band before it hit his body.
All I did was daily water changes and kept the temperature at 82, and it all grew back. Sadly, it was a recurring problem, but it never threatened his life again. Your boys will recover.
ArcticRain-
I know exactly how you feel :/
my pets are really important to me and it bothers me so much when they get ill, or God forbid, die :/
I keep worrying that maybe my fish's issues are my fault... but I'm doing everything I've read I'm supposed to... regular water changes, heating, everything. and he still gets fin rot :/ and every time I get close to fixing it for good, he tears it again current surfing, or it ends up healing up to one teeny corner that refuses to get flipping better no matter what I do! and it makes me feel awful :/ but I'm sure I'm doing the best I can... I read so much and get so much advice and do all of it... >^< then I have to stick him in a QT tank to get that last bit of finrot and he gets a whole new slue of problems. and he STILL hasn't gotten his coloring back from the pet store. like he'll start to, and then all of sudden he'll just get worse again.
but I guess... honestly if we're doing the best we can do.... that's all we can do... sometimes the fish just has bad health in general... sometimes stuff just happens :/ and maybe sometimes we just try /too/ hard, too? like, if you don't water change enough, that's bad, but then in determination not to do that, you end up changing it too much, and ruin their immune system, and that's bad too... only you didn't know that till you'd done it D: even though you spent WEEKS AND MONTHS reading up on everything you could find ;-;
maybe sometimes we just get rotten luck? I think as long as you're doing your best and asking advice and taking it and following it and all... it's not like we can talk to fish.. we can't ask them, they can't tell us... there are signs we can read, but we can only read them to the best we can... one sign can mean a million things... maybe it's just a learning process? I also try to remind myself that pet store bettas rarely have bright futures... sometimes they just die in the store... or end up in a vase covered up by a massive plant in a doctor office where they starve to death.... so at least we're trying, right?... I definitely love my boy, and I'm sure you love yours too... so I'm sure we're doing the best we can... and that that's far more than half the bettas in the pet store can hope for...
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