too little, too late

[My Fish Frank]

my betta Frank died recently and i want to know what happened so i can stop it from happening to my new little guy.

i know Frank had finrot and i moved him into a 40L tank and begun treating him with melafix. when i began putting in the medication is when he really started to go down hill fast. he began just floating at the top of the tank, not eating and hiding behind the filter.

i had to leave to go overseas on his 4th day of treatment by the next morning he was dead :(


what went wrong!!!

[purplemuffin]

:( Well...Melafix isn't good for bettas... It damages their labyrinth organ.. Better to treat with AQ salt in that situation. "Bettafix" is also not good, it's basically a lower dose of melafix.

[My Fish Frank]

hmm... i will have to remember that then... poor little guy

thanks for the help

[purplemuffin]

No problem. In the future, you'll find most issues can be fixed without chemicals and special medicine. For instance, external issues get better with Aquarium salt(though you can't use AQ salt forever) and internal issues tend to get better with Epsom salt. And of course good water changes and proper heating. :) You can always post pictures and ask for advice as well!

It's alright, I know you were trying to do your best for him, but you just didn't know. Now you do though! :)

[My Fish Frank]

Very true... I just don't want my new little guy to suffer the same fate. He is too pretty to loose ;)

[Myates]

I'm sorry for your loss =(

Medicines can be harsh on them, and some are overly sensitive to those types of changes.
What size is the home tank, and how often are you changing water? And the %?
I only ask because fin rot usually happens due to a fin being torn in some way, along with unfavorable water conditions. We may be able to help prevent this in the future if it had developed while you had him.

Again, I'm so sorry =(

[My Fish Frank]

I had just put him into the 40L (10g I think) when I gave him the medicine and he died 4 days later so I didn't get a chance...

I alsovspoke to the fish expet at my local pet shop and he said that my water was fine but he didn't think my conditioner got rid of the chlorine in whe tap water because after Frank I bought 3 angels which all died the first night :(

They don't seem to like me all that much.

[GreenTea]

If you tell us about your water change schedule, what you fed him, what his other issues were, heated tank or not, etc, we might be able to help you better too. So sorry for your loss.

[My Fish Frank]

In his previous tank (2L) I changed the water twice a week, fed him betta flakes, the small tank wasn't heated but still around 24 degrees and had nothing else wrong with him.

I'm pretty sure it was the medication because once I began it is when he went down hill super fast and I couldn't save the little guy by the time I noticed :(