Meet and help my little friend :) - Decisions

[Ajones108]

Some of you may know my current situation with little Survivor, the yellow VT betta (see signature). Over the past couple days, he has not developed any symptoms of ich/velvet, dropsy, and is currently not too bloated (although still concerned about that)...

I have a good feeling that he will make a full recovery. However, I am going to post this here now and ask for help once more, and show a video of this strong little creature.

Meet Survivor

His fins are looking much better after 2 days of Methylene Blue and another day and a half of fresh water and AQ salt. However, my current predicament:

1. I want to dose him with some Maracyn, bit I'm not too confident that his little body could handle medication and water changes for 5 days. I need opinions, fellow fish lovers. Also can Maracyn be used in conjunction with AQ salt?

2. I need the heater in Shif's tank before starting Maracyn on the little one. I need stable temperature. But the 5-gallon for Shif is filtered, planted, but uncycled. Using Dr. Tim's, do you think Shif could pull off the cycle on his own? Ammonia in that tank is a little less than .5 and I can do a WC if needed.

Survivor's gills are moving normally but they seem a little red along the sides and his almost transparent body shows some red around the covers which is another reason I want to dose with Maracyn for potential gill disease. His fins look better, but he needs a little more help.

Opinions are highly regarded and appreciated. I want my little friend to make it and so far he's doing excellent but I think medicine could help him more.

[Lion Mom]

IMO, he looks GREAT except for his fins so I wouldn't be too quick to start giving him meds. I would take a "wait & see" approach and just do the water changes with salt. You can always medicate later if that doesn't do the trick.

As far as seeing the redness, I have noticed that on a lot of light colored fish and not just bettas.

I could be wrong - and wouldn't be surprised if I am - but watching the video I thing the only thing wrong with him is his fins. Maybe OFL will be along to give her opinion - hopefully! :)

[fleetfish]

^^ I agree with Lion Mom. He looks well enough to just get by on clean water and medicinal doses of aquarium salt. My yellow boy, who is a similar shade, also has pinkish gills, and he's quite healthy as far as I can tell. I think you shouldn't over medicate unless you really know if Survivor is ill or not - like if he's showing sure symptoms of distress. To me he looks quite active and healthy. Good on you for getting him out of his situation :)

[Ajones108]

Lion Mom - When I bought him, his fins were still a little longer in some areas. He got clean water with Methylene blue. The next day when I came back to the dorm, some of his fins were shorter but some of the others were better. Since they still looked like they were dissolving I was wondering about fin rot. He's got the black tips and everything on his fins. If he's not looking better Monday I'm going to dose him. I was just wondering about his gills because they were pink and sometimes when I look at him I swear they're pinker. D: But that could be my mind playing tricks on me. Still no poop... :S Thanks for the opinions guys. :) I was unsure about his pink-ness because I've never had a light-coloured betta and sometimes his gills seem to be moving faster or slower and I don't know if that's normal because my blue betta is so dark.

[Ajones108]

Well, his fins aren't looking any worse today... But they're not looking any better either. I'm wondering if he's supposed to have that black colouring on him...

[weluvbettas]

It might be fin rot.

[Ajones108]

AQ Salt is keeping them from getting any WORSE but at the same time not any better... I have Maracyn sitting here that I could start dosing him to help along, but as Lion Mom said, I don't want to dose unnecessarily...

[nochoramet]

He looks great to me, I wouldn't jump the gun with medicating. Clean, warm water usually will do the trick. Even for fin rot. Unless it's severe fin rot (and so far, he looks like he's doing good) I would just keep the water pristine and warm, and keep an eye on him. He's so cute :)

[Ajones108]

My friend Jamie came over yesterday and she said "Look how cute his poor little face is. He's absolutely adorable!" He's a fighter all right, he was in such bad shape when I got him from that shared cup.