so tonight, a little after midnight, I realize that Odysseus' dorsal fin looks weird...I mean WEIRD. It's always had a very slight crown effect on the outer edge but now it looks like a sea fan! I am serious, it has HOLES through it. I further realize that his anal fin is shredded at the edges and even one of his pelvic fins looks odd. Ironically, his beautiful tail seems to be fully intact, as are his pectoral fins. He has been eating fine (NLS this week), and he's still pretty active, but spending much more time at the bottom.
Ok, I have been bad. I have been changing his water 100% maybe once every 7-10 days for the last few weeks. I know, this is my fault. I've got a new job and I work like 60 hours a week AND I have been sick, but that is no excuse...I feel horrible.
His tail has had a red wash effect to it that was relatively recent, which it had not had before, but I didn't think too much about it. I don't see any obvious signs of ammonia burns (although he's a dark fish), nor is he scratching like he has parasites.
I immediately did a 100% water change, added Prime and the last of my Stress Coat, and about a teaspoon and a half of Aquarium Salt. His tank 3 gallon tank is at 80 degrees, where it always is (yay Hydor Theo!). I do have several medicines on hand, including API General Cure, Fungus Cure, and Triple Sulfa. I also have quICK cure and epsom salts on hand, but I didn't want to medicate him until I know what this is.
so tonight, a little after midnight, I realize that Odysseus' dorsal fin looks weird...I mean WEIRD. It's always had a very slight crown effect on the outer edge but now it looks like a sea fan! I am serious, it has HOLES through it. I further realize that his anal fin is shredded at the edges and even one of his pelvic fins looks odd. Ironically, his beautiful tail seems to be fully intact, as are his pectoral fins. He has been eating fine (NLS this week), and he's still pretty active, but spending much more time at the bottom.
Ok, I have been bad. I have been changing his water 100% maybe once every 7-10 days for the last few weeks. I know, this is my fault. I've got a new job and I work like 60 hours a week AND I have been sick, but that is no excuse...I feel horrible.
His tail has had a red wash effect to it that was relatively recent, which it had not had before, but I didn't think too much about it. I don't see any obvious signs of ammonia burns (although he's a dark fish), nor is he scratching like he has parasites.
I immediately did a 100% water change, added Prime and the last of my Stress Coat, and about a teaspoon and a half of Aquarium Salt. His tank 3 gallon tank is at 80 degrees, where it always is (yay Hydor Theo!). I do have several medicines on hand, including API General Cure, Fungus Cure, and Triple Sulfa. I also have quICK cure and epsom salts on hand, but I didn't want to medicate him until I know what this is.
Help!
The 'holes' sounds like fin rot. That is a type of fin rot.
How to treat:
Move to QT tank or container, and treat as follows:
Treatment: Conservative: Treat with Aq.Salt at 1 tsp/gal. Increase water changes to 100% daily. Replace accurate amount of salt following water changes. Add Stress Coat to help repair tissue. If there is little to no improvement within the first 5 days, you can increase the salt dosage gradually to 2tsp/gal but do not continue any salt treatments past 10 days. Medication: If Conservative treatment is ineffective use API Tetracycline, API Fungus Cure, API Triple Sulfa, OR API Erythromycin. Also add Stress Coat to help regrowth. Continue until fins/tail stop receding and start showing some new growth.
This morning it has spread to his tail and his dorsal fin looks worse. He lives alone in his tank (except for The Tribble, which is a marimo ball -- I removed The Tribble last night).
Should I take him out of his 3 gallon? I am afraid of stressing him out more -- just being caught for water changes is tough on him and takes a LONG time. He has a hammock very near the surface, so resting in a spot that is easy to breathe should not be a problem. I will do it if I really should, but as I said, I really want to avoid stressing him out.
Well of course Odysseus is very active (still), which means getting a picture is VERY hard. His overall color is still very good. I should have been tipped off earlier when his tail got that red wash, because other than a portion of his anal fin, he *does not* have red wash normally. When I was not changing the water often, I had been adding a bit of Prime every few days. I am such a dunce to have let this happen.
I added another few teaspoons of Aq Salt this morning, so it's probably at about 1.5-2 tsp per gallon by now. I also also added some Stress Coat this evening. His tank had no live plants except the marimo ball, and an UGF.
Last edited by NorthernLights; 01-02-2013 at 11:10 PM.
Reason: clarifying
What filter are you using in there? Can you share a video of him swimming around a bit? I have a thought..
Hard plastic plants tend to tear up betta fins. You can test them using women's panty hose. Do a thorough drag through them If they catch the pantyhose at all they'll catch your bettas fins.
I can't tell based on those photos how much is actual rot and how much may be biting or snagging..
Red wash can be him coloring up differently can also be ammonia issues sign again. Can also be sign of some other things but if your boy doesn't act like he's unwell that's very unlikely.
The plants are all soft plastic. I test them before I buy them. Other than the bamboos, which I added yesterday evening when I changed the water, the others have been there forever. His fins looked normal (in terms of being fully intact) until last night. This was very, very sudden.
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