out of nowhere...

[jwinthers]

I rescued a couple of bettas from a neighbor who no longer wanted to "hassle" with cleaning their tank. They seemed in good health when I got them but now one of them refuses to eat, appears bloated and seems to be pooling blood around her face and fins. Someone PLEASE HELP MY BABY!! I will take any advice I can get :(

[kender42]

I'm new at this so I can't help but I sympathize deeply.

[beetlebz]

pictures would help dramatically! how are you taking care of them? how much and how often are you feeding them?

[jwinthers]

I ended up taking her to the petsmart here in town, I was afraid I was going to lose her, and the guy was really helpful. He said she was showing classic signs of hemorrhagic septicemia so he gave me triple sulfur antibiotic and specific instructions on water change and the like. I've already changed the water and medicated her accordingly, I hope it works. I've never owned bettas before so this site is a blessing! Thank you for your concern, and I will keep you informed on the progress I hope she makes. :)

[SST]

How is she doing?

[jwinthers]

So far so good, I ended up going back to the store and exchanging the medication from the triple sulfa to maracin two. I am quite pleased with the results so far. Her septicemia is cleared up almost 100% and the pop eye that developed a short time after the first trip to the store is almost gone as well. The only thing that hasn't cleared up much is the eye cloudiness. Tomorrow afternoon marks the fifth complete day of the medication process so I will do the full water change and put the filter back in the system, and hopefully that will be the beginning of the end of the eye problems. Thanks for your interest, all my friends and family think I'm crazy for going such a distance for a fish, but I tell them she knows me and trusts me to take care of her. She swims to me when I approach her tank and I can tell she enjoys my company. I will continue to keep posting on Jinjees status, Thanks again!

[Falina]

Hi. Sorry I hadn't noticed this post before.

Really pleased to hear that she has got so much better. You seem to have done very wel for her. :) The only thing I would like to add is concerning your water changes. Doing 100% water changes are not a good idea because this kills a lot of the beneficial bacteria in the tank therefore starting a mini cycle. I understand your thinking - a full change to remove all the medicatin at the end of the treatment but this really isn't necessary. It's much better to do some smaller changes. 25% every day for the next few days, by which time it will be very diluted that the medication will be negligeable.

Did you cycle the tank? And do you know your water parameters? During medication the parameters can often go a bit off so I wouldn't worry too much The water change you're about to do will help. Cloudy eyes are often a sign on bad water quality so if you didn't cycle the tank, or indeed if the previous owners didn't take care of the water quality then this could well be the case.

If you want mroe informatin on cycling then there is a great sticky in the starting and maintaining section of the forum by fish4all which will give you all the information you need.

Hope this helps, and it's nice to see that your betta has somebody who cares about her now. :)

[southafrica1001]

congrates hope this progress and get much better good luck oh and well done :D

[jwinthers]

I wish I had seen that post before I did the water change, I was following the instructions that the guy at the store had given me, my bad. Jinjee is much more active tho' and is eating fine. I have to get her attention to feed her since she has a hard time seeing the food. I wait patiently and drop in a little at a time until she gets her fill, about 4 or 5 pellets. I will have my water tested again. The first time I took her in my water tested perfect, and I use betta water conditioner and water clarifier but that's all. Any advice on if that's sufficient or should I be doing more? Thanks

[Falina]

You seem to be doing well. It's great that yuo sought help at the store, the only thing to be careful with is that folk in stores don't always know what they're talking about whether they deliberately tell you rubbish or not. Of course there will be some realy excellent staff but in general it's best to take their advice lightly and then come back and have it rechecked here.

the best of luck to you :)