SBD and fin rot?

[Sparrow19]

Hi all, I'm really hoping you can help me save my betta. I don't know all the details of his living conditions recently because my mom was taking care of him for me while I was at college, but I'll try to give as many details as I can. My mom has told me some things but I think she feels guilty that he got so sick on her watch, so she also hasn't been giving some info...

Housing
What size is your tank? He was in a 1 gallon tank, then my mom decided to put him in a large glass bowl and he started showing signs of disease. I'm not sure how much water was in the glass bowl, probably a little more than a gallon. The water has lots of surface area.
What temperature is your tank? I'm not sure since we don't have a thermometer at the moment, but it can't be particularly warm.
Does your tank have a filter? No.
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No.
Is your tank heated? No.
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None.

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? BettaMin, which has small flakes and freeze dried brine shrimp.
How often do you feed your betta fish? My mom has been evasive about this one. She says every few days she gives him some of the food and he was eating it when he was in the other tank, but when she moved him he stopped eating as much. Now he's not eating at all. I fed him some boiled pea and he did his best to chomp on it but I'm not sure anything actually got down.

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Once again, my mom's been evasive about this one. Probably every two weeks.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? Almost all.
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Jungle Start Right with aloe vera. My mom always lets the water sit for a long time before adding it.

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia: Fine.
Nitrite: Fine.
Nitrate: Fine.
pH: Fine.
Hardness: Soft, which I think is good.
Alkalinity: Could be a bit more alkaline, I think, but my other betta has no problem with this level.

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? He's black and red when healthy, but pretty greyish now. In the past he's been greyer and recovered though... His fins show signs of rot. They are smaller then I remember them and have a smoothish black edge that they didn't have before.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He sits on the bottom, kind of propped up on his tail so he's almost vertical. He hardly moves, doesn't eat, only swims if we bother him enough.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? My mom says she noticed him being lethargic and, to her, looking almost scared when she put him in the new tank. I guess he could have already been sick, though.
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? We lowered the water level and added some new water treated with Splendid Betta Complete Water Conditioner.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? When I first got my two bettas from Petco it seemed like every week one of them was sick and then they'd switch and the other would be sick. Eventually I figured out how to take care of them properly and since then they've been fine.
How old is your fish (approximately)? I have no idea. We got him from Petco about eight months ago.


Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. I might go and buy aquarium salt and treat him with that. I read that you're not supposed to give them pea for SBD on this forum, so I'll stop doing that. I really don't want to lose this fish, so please, please, if you have any advice I'm listening!!

[Bladezero]

Didn't had to deal with SBD myself, but if you really want him to have a better chance to recover upgrade his home with a heater and filter and some plants.
Once in two weeks is to long.. (Saying this because good water conditions will improve his immune system and will speed up the recovery)

From what I know its epsom salt you need and not aquarium salt for SBD but not sure for 100% so better wait for someone that is sure to replay to that one..

About fin rot, better show a picture because it may be fin nipping from stress \ bad conditions \ anything that makes him unhappy or shocked..

Also try to check when is the last time he did eat, if it is SBD he needs a few days without food..

Try making his diet more varied it will help his general health.

Please provide a photo so we can tell for sure what exactly he has.. :)

I hope he gets better!

[Oldfishlady]

Welcome to the forum and sorry your Betta isn't well...can you post a pic.....

What I would recommend right now is Epsom salt (Not aquarium salt) tannins and water changes for 14 days.

If you still have the small temporary containers they are sold in-these work great for a QT container-Get a thermometer and check the water temp and get this in the 77-78F range for treatment-You can float the QT container in the heated tank to maintain the temp-but be sure and attach it so it doesn't sink.
Cover this QT with plastic veggie wrap to help retain the heat/humidity for the labyrinth organ.

Premix some treatment water in a 1gal jug of dechlorinated water-Add Epsom salt 3tsp/gal and the tannin source if you have one-either IAL (1large crushed) or dried Oak leaf (20 crushed)...let this treatment water steep for 30min...Shake well before use...

Using this premixed treatment water-make 25% water changes every 15min for 1 hour today-he needs to stay in the QT covered in the treatment water for the duration of the treatment period floating in the heated tank.

Tomorrow start 50% daily water changes using the premixed treatment water-every 3rd day make 2 back to back 50%

If you added a tannin source-the premixed treatment water should look darker each day-the long the tannins steep the more tannins released the darker the water the more the Betta likes it-don't worry about any of the leaf bits that fall in the water.

Nutrition-good quality varied diet fed in small frequent meals-if you have access to mosquito larva offer a few rinsed for one meal a day.

Blanched de-shelled pea piece are safe to feed on occasion for constipation problems, you don't want to use pea as the primary diet due to poor absorption of the nutrients, however, often with constipation a 24h fast and a partial water change is all that is needed......

Once he is better we can go over proper care in a 1gal tank

Good luck and keep us posted.....