Dont know what to do anymore...

[cjconcepcion]

Ive had this girl for about month or so, i got her from petsmart. she was fine the first day i brought her home, then she developed SBD, and ive had her in epsom salt and IAL water mixture. ive taken her out of the epsom salt, so now shes just got IAL in her water. when i first got her she was a light orangey color with bright red fins, now, shes really skinny, brown, and getting worse each day, i dont know whats wrong with her so i dont know what to do.. is there any hope left?
Housing
What size is your tank? right now shes in the little cup i bought her in
What temperature is your tank? 78 degrees, im floating the cup in the 10 gallon she used to be in
Does your tank have a filter? no
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? the tank itself is heated and im floating her cup in there
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? none, i was planning to put her into a sorority

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Atison's betta pro, Omega one betta buffet pellets, frozen brine shrimp, homemade food, freeze dried bloodworms, daphnia, mysis shrimp
How often do you feed your betta fish? about two pellet sized pieces twice a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? every day
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 80-90%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? prime water conditioner, IAL

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? not recently

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? very faded, clamped fins, very skinny
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? very lethargic, stays at the surface beside the leaf, barely moves, dosent really go for food unless i place it right infront of her face
When did you start noticing the symptoms? well, shes been ill for the majority of the time i had her
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? IAL
Does your fish have any history of being ill? just SBD as far as i know
How old is your fish (approximately)? shes a petstore fish, so i have no way to tell for sure, but she is very very small compared to the other females i have

First picture is from when i first got her, second picture is from today

[Pataflafla]

That second picture makes me think she might have some parasites.

Maybe try putting her back on the epsom salt at 2 tsp/gal and treating for parasites with General Cure. This would explain the weight loss, lethargy, and change in color. I would do 2 full treatments before expecting any lasting results as some parasites can only be killed when they are free swimming.

Hopefully you've got an easy to treat variation of parasites, if that's even the problem.

[Maura]

Originally Posted by Pataflafla

That second picture makes me think she might have some parasites.

Maybe try putting her back on the epsom salt at 2 tsp/gal and treating for parasites with General Cure. This would explain the weight loss, lethargy, and change in color. I would do 2 full treatments before expecting any lasting results as some parasites can only be killed when they are free swimming.

Hopefully you've got an easy to treat variation of parasites, if that's even the problem.

That's what I was thinking. I've had a lot of luck with General Cure at the pet store where I work. [With an incoming shipment of 200+ fish every week (not counting feeders), something is bound to come in with an illness.]

[Tikibirds]

Poor thing.

SBD usually involves a fish with funky swimming - they swim sideways, upside down, can't swim down, ect and is almost always caused by over feeding. I really do not think that is what your fish has.

Internal parasites is a good guess. Have you noticed her poop? Usually it is white and stringy if they have internal parasites.

Also, her fins are looking pretty bad. It looks like she has fin rot or her fins are being burned off with ammonia but you say you are doing 100% water changes every day? hmmmm....not sure what to suggest for that because aquarium salt is what is usually recommended for fin rot BUT for an internal parasite you want to go with epsom salt as it will help flush out the parasites and you should get rid of them first.

you can go up to 3 teaspoons per gallon of epsom if you need to but you have to gradually increase the salt dosage. Every 12 or so hours do a WC and add another teaspoon of salt till you get to 3 teaspoons per gallon. Make sure the salt is disolved before adding the fish.

you can also PM sakura8 or oldfishlady for advice.

[Sakura8]

I agree with Pata. That last pic looks like she has some stringy white poo, the parasitic kind. I'd go with Pata's advice and put her back in the epsom salts and try General Cure. Once she's finished her course of meds, you can put her back into the IAL because it will help her fight off the remainder of the parasites. If she shows no improvement, you can bump the epsom salts up to 3 tsps per gallon.

If she will eat, continue feeding her foods such as the daphnia, brine shrimp, and mysis. All of those but the daphnia especially, are high in fiber and excellent for helping to clear out the system.

Poor cutie, I really hope she can perk back up from this. Good luck with her!

[Pataflafla]

I had a girl, Frog, who was battling parasites on and off. Whenever she had a longer run in with them of say maybe a week or so, her fins would start to deteriorate, so I believe your girl's fins condition is a nutrition issue.

[cjconcepcion]

ill start the epsom salt now and ill go look for some general cure.. should i keep her in the cup floating in the tank for treatment? and is it okay if i leave the IAL in there while im doing the epsom salt treatment?

[Pataflafla]

Definitely keep her somewhere smaller. Parasites will sap her energy and so will the treatment. IAL will be fine with both epsom salt and General Cure.

Just premix the medicine in a jug of water and does the cup with a small amount. The packets treat 10 gallons, so go with dosing from there.

The cups from stores like Petsmart carry about 2 to 2.5 cups of water.

[cjconcepcion]

okay. the cup i have her in is about 1 cup. do you think the water changes im doing is enough? i see what you mean about her anal fin looking a bit ragged... im not doing exactly 100% water changes, i dont want to stress her out by taking her out of the cup so i use a turkey baster to suck up all the water and leftover food/poo and i leave just enough in there for her to be submerged, and i do this every day

[Spazzfish]

Hey ask Gerald or Kayla on the FB page the know this stuff inside and out.