half of Fruity's bottom fin is falling off please help asap!

[angus]

Well I'm going to go to Walmart soon so I hope someone can advise me asap.

Part of Fruity's bottom fin is falling off. It looks a little fuzzy and it's just hanging there. All of this is happening so fast. He hasn't caught it on anything and I haven't done anything to him so I'm assuming it's fin rot. I just need to know what to buy for him. Is aquarium salt all I will need? Does he need other meds?

[angus]

Anyone? I didn't fill out the form because I've been posting all day about this. I just want to save this poor fish.

[lillyandquigly]

looks like finrot or perhaps a fungal issue to me, but I'mn not an expert

[leahleigh]

For the sake of you getting a little help, i'll reply the best I can. My fish got his fins tore off once, a long time ago, and honestly it looks like this is a tear more than fin rot but I could be wrong.

If his fin parts are still there then he possibly nipped them off himself if he has nothing to snag them on. From my experience finrot erodes fins, not just drops off certain parts.

For Fin Rot: 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.

I doubt that's what it is, but there's for ya anyway. I can't tell what you mean by fuzzy, the fin pieces or the picture?

For Fin Biting, which I think this is:
Bettas bite their own tails out of boredom or misplaced aggression. To cure his boredom, try getting him a larger tank, move things around in the tank to spark his interest, put a mirror up to the tank a few times per day to let him exercise, offer a variety of foods, get him some tank mates (research into this first though), or put his tank next to another betta’s tank ect… Owners of fin biters often have to deal with their tendency for a lifetime but do what you can to draw his attention from his fins. When your betta does have a fin biting episode, it is important to keep his water extra clean to prevent infection. You can treat him for a few days with Aquarium Salt until you see regrowth but you do not want to overuse it. Using Stress Coat as the water conditioner will help fin regrowth.

[leahleigh]

Also, there's a very informative thread at the top of this forum, which is where I got those from. Also from my experience, dosing with Aquarium Salt won't harm him if he doesn't have fin rot and you dose him with this anyway, but there's a possibility he can grow an immunity to it's healing properties if used graciously for too long.

[callistra]

The red streak is a concern. Looks like septicemia to me.

I've missed where you filled this out for this betta: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=49233

[angus]

I just got Fruity last night so I've had him 24 hours. I answered most of the questions below, but it's hard when you literally just got him.


Housing
What size is your tank? 3 gallon
What temperature is your tank? 78 degrees
Does your tank have a filter? no
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? yes, but it's off since he was stressed
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? I would feed him Omega One pellets, but he hasn't eaten since I've had him
How often do you feed your betta fish? he hasn't eaten since I've had him. he's been with me for a little over 24 hours

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change?
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? I haven't tested

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

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? His fins started to get dark edges and his bottom fin started getting fuzzy. Within a short time tonight he started losing part of this fin.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He's actually acting less stressed than before so I don't know.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? tonight
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
Does your fish have any history of being ill?
How old is your fish (approximately)?

All walmart had tonight was aquarium salt. no other meds in stock. I guess I'll try that, see what you guys suggest and do the best I can till tomorrow.

[callistra]

Oh. I would treat with Kanaplex and epsom salts for 2 weeks. Do you know about using epsom salts?

[angus]

I've had my other betta Angus for a year now, but he's never been sick so I have no experience with this stuff. How do you use the epsom salts and would petco or petsmart have kanaplex? Obviously there's nothing else I can do tonight...it's 10pm here.

We did a water change just now and added aquarium salt to a different/smaller tank. That's all we can do tonight I guess?

Thank you so much for your help.

[callistra]

Petco doesn't carry meds at all. Petsmart will have API meds, so triple sulfa.

I would look in your phone book or yellowpages.com and see if you have other stores in your area.

You need to get pure 100% magnesium sulfate with no dyes, perfumes or additives of any kind. I use CVS Pharmacy brand. You predissolve 1 tsp per gallon and add it slowly over an hour to his tank. You only need to replace salt along with a water change, and then only replace as much salt as water you change.