Advice is badly needed!

[nekomecchan]

I have a sick Betta and i was wondering if you guys had any suggestions as to what i could do to help him out. Honestly he has pretty much been sick since i got him from the pet store. When i first got him i kept him in a 1Gal bowl on my desk at work but about 2 months ago i switched him to a 2.5 Gallon tank.

Also about 2 months ago i added a pleco to the tank (Im aware he may outgrow this someday) - the pleco is doing just fine ...not sick in any way.

At one point i believe that he had ick so i started treating him with formalin and malachite green and this seemed to keep it at bay. I thought it was a solved issue until i was away for 2 days and came back to find he was completely infested with it. At this point i started to again add this and have been adding it daily ever since. His fins were also rotting and at one point he almost had none left - was sluggish - i thought he was a gonner so i went to the pet store and got maracyn(this was the only antibiotic they had available). After a week of treatment with the maracyn his fins have regrown and he is again acting and seeming healthy.

However, he still has red streaks on his body and a red dot on his head...So i went online and i ordered Maracyn plus and have been using this for the past week with no change! AGH WHAT DO I DO???! I just want him to be healthy and happy.

Below is more info.


1. What is the size of your tank?
2.5 Gal

2. What are your water parameters? State the brand of test kit used.
Dont use a kit - I do a 50% water change every week and get out all the ick at the bottom.

3. Is your aquarium set up freshwater or brackish water?
Freshwater

4. How long the aquarium has been set up?
About 2 months

5. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them?
Pleco - about 2 months
Betta - 7 months

6. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)?
No Quarantine

7. What temperature is the tank water currently?
Water temp is 80 degrees

8. Are there live plants in the aquarium?
No live plants

9. What filter are you using? State brand, maintenance routine and power capacity.
No filter - just a bubble stone

10. Any other equipment used (aside from heater and filter which are two very important components of the tank)?
Just have the bubble stone, therm, heater, two fake plants, a cave, and stones

11. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? What is your lighting schedule (assuming you do not rely on sunlight for our viewing pleasure)?
There is no natural lighting for this tank, I have an incandescent light that i put on while i am at work sun-thurs for 7 hours

12. When did you perform your last water change and how much water was changed? How often do you change your water? Do you vacuum the substrate?
User a siphon(sp?) to take out 50% of the water on a weekly basis

13. What foods do you provide your fish? What is the feeding schedule?
Fed 2x Daily
Betta pellets at 2:30pm
Bloodworms at 11pm

14. What unusual signs have you observed in your fish?
Seems mostly cured except for the red dot on the forehead and red streaks on the body.
When the light is off in the tank he does seem to have a golden glow.....(velvet?) but i cant be sure he wasnt that way previously. Also seems to have blueish spots on him - they skinny oval shapes on his body closer to the gills.

15. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis? If so, what treatments did you use? State your reasons for planning ahead of proper diagnosis.
formalin - malachite blue - red online this can cure ich
maracyn - was afraid he would die and this was the only antibiotic i could find...it did cure the fin rot and make him start eating again
maracyn plus - i wanted to treat gram negative and gram positive bacteria but its not working!!!!!!!

Hope this is enough. THANKS in ADVANCE!!!!!!!

[nekomecchan]

:(

[Kittles]

I think the red stripes may just be stress stripes (might depend on your betta's color). I don't think they require medicine to be treated, just clean conditions and a darker environment. Aquarium salt may or may not be beneficial; I don't know as I don't have any experience with stress stripes, but I know aquarium salt will help with the fin rot and regrowth.

I'd suggest placing a dark towel around his tank for a few days so he can relax and recover. Once you finish whatever medicinal cycle you're on, I'd stop entirely and just use aquarium salt; only a few teaspoons per gallon. I think these in combination with the consistent 80º water should be enough to allow a nice recovery.

EDIT- Might save yourself some trouble in the future if you got rid of the pleco immediately. The larger they get the more aggressive they become unless for whatever reason it's unlike the CAE. Regardless, I think a betta and a pleco together in a 2.5 gallon is too much for the bio load. Fish as tank mates are only suggested in tank sizes of 10 gallons or more. You could, however, replace the pleco with a few shrimp, a snail, or an ADF.

Lastly, I never welcomed you to the forums, lol. So, welcome. And I hope your fish's condition improves. Feel free to post pictures - we all love them here.

[Romad]

I have no idea based on the symptoms you describe. The red streaks might be ammonia poisoning. Blue-ish dots could be fungal or bacterial but the color is odd. Are the spots fuzzy? Can you post a picture or two?

I can tell you this tho., you should not have a pleco in a tank that size. They are notorious poopers/waste producers - even when small.

Since you don't have a test kit, there's no way to tell your water parameters for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph. High levels of any of these will kill your fish. Based on what you have in the tank, I'd bet that your ammonia is way up there. Bring a sample of your tank water to your pet store to have them test it for you until you get a decent liquid test kit (API Freshwater master kit works the best in my and many other forum members opinions).

I think the only way you can even try to save your fish is to remove him from the tank and put him into warm, clean, conditioned water immediately. If you have Aquarium salt on hand, use a little of that to try to boost his electrolytes. If you don't have AQ salt, Epsom salt will be fine. I would only add about 1 tsp. per gallon to your fresh water.

Then get rid of the pleco (bring him back to the LFS) or give him to somebody with a much larger tank. Clean your 2.5 gallon tank completely and start over with just your betta in there.

Good luck and try to get those pictures up so we can try to help save your fish.