Me and PewPewPew are co-writing... Help us out! :)

[BettasForever]

Ok, so me and PewPewPew are writing Your New Betta-Day Two! together, and this time, were going to write about what to do if/when your betta gets sick, and how to treat it. But we want to know your take on it, straight from people that have had bettas that are/were sick.

We need to know your past experiences with a sick betta, and what medicine helped the most. Please include the disease your betta had, so we can tell that the best treatment for ich is _____. Or the best treatment for fin rot is _____. And also, feel free to include tips, like keep them warm when they have_____ or give them a salt bath when they have _______.

Best regards,

BettasForever and PewPewPew

[BettasForever]

Anyonee....?

[Bettaluver4evr]

I'm not, ya know, a pro at stuff like this. But, I will try to help you out with Fin Rot.
I did at least 50% water changes every day, usually 75%-90%. Also did a 100% weekly.
Every day, after the water change, I used a drop of bettafix. I know it is not reccomended, but Bertie had been exposed to it before, so I only used 1 drop.
I hear it is reccomended you do a salt bath, though, in aquarium salt. It is neccessary to do daily 100% water changes every day for 10 days though, and then apruptly stop the treatment. 5 days minimum. I think the measurement is 1 tsp per gallon of freshwater. Dose once per day, and in the morning do a 100% water change and repeat. The first treatment was my own, superclean water and a little bettafix. The second is more natural, but I do not have personal experience with it.
I hope this is somewhat helpful! Way to go you guys. MODS, MAKE THEIR THREAD A STICKY! IT WILL BE BRILLIANT!

[BettasForever]

Thanks Bettaluver4ever, anyone else want to contribute?

[Luimeril]

what Bettaluver said for fin rot, is what i do for ALL fin issues. be it biting, tears, rips, or rot. i need to read through your first article, though! xD i think it's wonderful that you're doing this. :3 maybe, one day, turn it into a book? :3

[BettasForever]

Gooood idea! We'll try. I'm going to message the first part of our story to PewPewPew, so let's see how she likes it. :0

[PewPewPew]

*Likes* once I get to my laptop I'll write up what I know myself, will you guys look it over? Recently with basch's illness I've learned a bit more.. :c
And thankies, love, we're gonna rock this ~

[LolaQuigs]

Here is how I have treated the betta illness I have encountered. These are all natural treatment methods advised by OldFishLady.

Fin Rot

Keep the water temperature around 77 degrees F (bacteria thrive in warmer water, so keeping it on the cool end of the betta temperature scale will help keep the bacteria from multiplying. Add 1 tsp per gallon aquarium salt, doing daily 100% water changes. Do this salt treatment for 7-10 days, but do not exceed ten days.

Ich

Ich is a parasite that cannot survive salt, so quarantine the fish and do a ten day aquarium salt treatment: 1 tsp aq salt per gallon, with 100% daily water changes for ten days. Ich cannot be killed while on the fish, so keep the temperature at 82-84 degrees F. Higher temps will help accelerate the parasite's life cycle so it will fall off and be killed by the salt more quickly.

Swim Bladder Disorder

Fast the fish for three days as you begin an epsom salt treatment. For the first two days, add 1 tsp per gallon of epsom salt. Then, for eight days, add 2 tsp per gallon epsom salt. Do daily 100% water changes. EDIT: forgot to add: if the fish is having problems surfacing, lower the water level so it can surface and breathe more easily.

For all of these diseases, if you have access to India almond leaf or fallen oak leaves (only use if you know there are no pesticides used in the area), it's a good idea to use them. These release tannins that will help to destress the fish and accelerate healing. If you don't have access to IAL or pesticide-free oak leaves, you can try decaffinated green tea. It will darken the water to help reduce stress, but the high heat used to process the tea leaves may or may not inhibit the effects of the tannins. So it will do in a pinch, but your best tannin sources are IAL and oak leaves.


__________

I think this article is a fantastic idea; I was hoping someone would create a sticky about common betta diseases and treatment methods. It will be so nice to have one resource where we can look up different treatment options for various diseases. When I have a sick fish I hate having to search through a bunch of threads, or bother everyone by creating yet another thread about a common illness. This will be a great resource. I know nothing about fungus, bacterial infections/columnaris, and parasites other than ich, so I hope people can continue chiming in with advice, and I look forward to reading the article once it is put together,

[PewPewPew]

Thanks For the input! I wanted to ask ofl herself about get methods, since she is very specific with dosing, etc., but her computers on the fritz...booooooooooo.
Just to add, if you have pictures of when they were will that are of very good quality, please feel free to submit.

[LolaQuigs]

I'm sure someone else has better pictures, but here is a picture of Arcturus with fin rot (note the black edges on his caudal fin):



I do have a picture of Calliope with ich, but she is cellophane so it's very hard to see and might just confuse people :p

Here it is anyway. You can see the white spots on her anal fin. But I'm sure there are much better, clearer pictures of ich out there.