Betta losing colour, wont eat, hardly swims. Any ideas?

[TheCheese909]

I have a male halfmoon (the guy in my avatar) that i've had since February this year. He's been staying in a 2.5 BettaBow with silk plants living a happy life, he always came up to see me and danced for me, he never flared his gills, just his fins to show me how pretty he was. Last month he swam through the bottom of the plants where the plastic stems are and tore his fins all up. I kept him in there for about a week using 10 drops of BettaFix a day and his tail got worse so I took him out and placed him in a small goldfish bowl. One of the little cheap ones you can get at WalMart for like $1.

I've kept him in there since I took him out a month ago. I change his water every other day and put 10 drops of BettaFix everyday. His tail started to look a little better then it stopped healing altogether. The ridges on his tail turned black like the had scabbed over. I changed his medications and put him on Maracyn 2 for 1 week thinking maybe he had finrot but that didn't help either. So I let him sit in clean water in a MiniBow (already running for about 2 weeks, was housing a mossball until I was sure where I wanted to put it).

I changed his medication again to Hakari Betta Revive and placed him back in the goldfish bowl. He was on this medication for maybe a week (i've had him use it a few times before) but on Friday he was at the top of his bowl and wasn't moving much at all and very pail. He's normally a cherry red color but that day he was ghostly, i could see through his fins and his body was a pail yellow. And he didn't want to eat either. I took him out and put him in a bigger container which is actually a small storage bucket and put warmer water in along with some stress coat+ and a in-water thermometer so i could make sure his water wasn't too cold.

He spent all of Friday and part of Saturday not moving much just laying either at the bottom of the container or sitting ontop the thermometer so he was close to the top of the water. Saturday I took a cup of water out (the size of the PetSmart/Walmart betta cups) and replaced it with some warmer water and more stress coat+. He got more colour back to him but not much, he just turned orange.

So today and part of yesterday he hasn't done much but sit around fanned out, he swims when i go to poke him, but other then that he just likes to sit on the thermometer. He still hasn't eaten and still doesn't acknowledge that I'm there.

He's still that orange colour and I can tell he's not feeling too great, but he is better then he was on Friday. He's not bloated, his tail is still jacked up even after a month of meds and now this has happened. He isn't acting depressed, I even gave him a small pile of rocks and a Betta Log to hang out with if he wanted to.

I don't know what else I can do for him, he has no medications in his container just the Stress Coat+.


Any ideas what else I can do for him? It almost acts like I overmedicated him or something, but I only put one drop of the Betta Revive in each day and change the water every other day.

[earthworm88]

Hi,
If you can fill out the sticky so that we have all the info and know if there was anything amiss leading up to now, and to better help you. So far, from what you have said, I feel like you may have over medicated him. Never use meds unless you are sure of the actual diagnosis that only meds can help. In the event of fin tear or rot, 99% of the time, clean water daily (with aquarium salt if required) with least amount of stress is the best treatment for them. For example, your betta appeared to be tired and not moving around, you went and "poke" him. I don't think you would like that if you were sick and laying in bed and your family come and poke/harass you just to see if you were still alive. Also, you mentioned putting in warmer water, how warm is warm. The most important thing to keep in mind is that fluctuating temperature can also be stressful to your betta. So what is the exact temp in water your betta has been living in?

All that aside, have you got any tannins at home? Indian Almond Leaves? For now, try to dissolve 1 tsp of aquarium salt in 1 gal of water. How much stress coat do you add? Try keep the tank in low light and quiet. Would you be able to post some photos of your betta? Once we have more info, we will be able to give you accurate advice.

[Myates]

Sorry to hear about your little guy..

I wish they would remove Bettafix from the market- just too much potential to harm and not worth the risk.

For ripped fins all you needed was just regular water changes, Stress Coat if you wanted.. anything else you are just risking causing more harm then any good.

I would suggest just placing him back in his home tank (the QT may be stressing him out because you have him in just a plain container without any place to hide and feel secure).
Is your tank heated? Keep it around 78-82*F
Right now there isn't much you can do- no medication will help with the stress and the use of the other medications. Clean water (which has to be the same temp as what you are putting in with him- fluctuations will cause shock/stress).. I would do 50% water changes for the next few days, with same temp water (use the thermometer to check the temp).

If he can get air fine, then I would just leave it as that- only water conditioner, keep the temp steady with a heater, daily 50% water changes for a few days and hope that he pulls through. It's up to him at this point- the water changes will help keep his system in clean water, but you can't reverse the harm done.. sorry.

I would suggest in the future to make sure, to ask, to research prior to using medications. Otherwise, something simple as a ripped fin that heals on it's own in a couple of days can turn into this :( Wishing you luck and the best, keep us updated.

[TheCheese909]

Thank you both for the help.

Personally I love BettaFix. It has helped out acouple of my other Bettas in the past whose tails were so severely torn that they could not swim at all (weekend away back when they had plastic plants).

When I got up this morning Psych was pink, closer to his normal colour. His water had gone from 70 to 60 the previous night so I had taken out a small amount of water and replaced it with slightly more water. I didn't just go and poke him in the face or side lol, i pet his dorsal fin (which he usually enjoys). I suppose I should have clarified that a bit better :) . I put him back into his home tank around noon today and he was swimming pretty much only to go get air then going back down to rest at the bottom, but still all flared up with his fins spread out. When I got back home this evening he was sitting ontop of his favorite plant and when he saw me he came to the front and started mouthing at the top of the water. I dropped acouple bits of flakes in and he took a few in. He's back to his normal colour it seems.

I did a 25% water change and plan on doing a 50% tomorrow.



Thank you again.

[earthworm88]

I hope your Psych will continue to do better. Hehe...yah...thanks for clarifying, I have read and seen all types of people doing all kinds of weird things to their fish to show their affection I never dare touch mine, air kisses are all they get lol

You are right, the whatever-fix meds out there, some people do swear by them for their quick fix, but I personally won't use them as there are alternatives out there in the market, so I guess I am not willing to take that chance. From what I know about pharmacology, it will likely create slowing acting but cumulative effects but have never done necropsy on fishes myself, so I honestly don't know.

However, I am concerned about the drastic drop of temperature and the fluctuation, even 70F is a bit on the cold side for bettas. As Myates pointed out, a heater will be the best investment here to keep your betta happier.

Cheers!