Red Something Coming off of Fins

[Pucky21811]

My new guy Stanley is not doing well:

Housing
What size is your tank? 1 gal QT Tank
What temperature is your tank? 80 degrees F
Does your tank have a filter? No
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? Yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Flakes; though he hasn't eaten yet
How often do you feed your betta fish? Once a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Twice a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 1 50% 1 100%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Dechlorinator and Stress Zyme

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?
NA
Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? I just got him yesterday; he has a strange reddish colored small string coming from between his caudal and anal fin. There is also a red spot on his right pectoral fin.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He has been lethargic, indifferent to food, and sits at the bottom. When I put him in his 2 gal Kritter keeper, he hid and lay at the bottom. He either sits at the bottom or rests at the top. I have not seen him flare or eat yet.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? When I first got him yesterday
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? I tried an AQ bath yesterday because he has some fin rot, but that didn't help. I thought I saw his scales a little raised today, so I quickly put him in a QT with a Macaryn II treatment. My Delta Zamboni is upgraded to the Kritter Keeper (another problem: is this deadly? Did I just sign away Zamboni's life too by putting him in the kritter keeper?)
Does your fish have any history of being ill? I don't know
How old is your fish (approximately)? I just got him from Petsmart yesterday.

I'll try to get pics, but I know they are blurry :3 Thank you!

[Pucky21811]

Pictures here: I tried!

[Pucky21811]

Last two pictures: you can see the red spots on the fins when he is facing me. I would think it was septecemia but the thing that was between his anal and caudal fin looked like it was hanging off a little bit, which makes me worry bacteria or infestation or something... He's still listless, still not eating, clamped fins, just "meh," all around...

[frazier71]

Not knowing what your fish has probably wasn't too good of an idea to put Zamboni in the other tank unless you cleaned everything in case its contageous. I'd try betta fix its a bacterial cure all really helped my guy with fin rot. Maybe some Epsom salt too

[Myates]

No on Bettafix..

Fin rot- salt baths tend not to do a whole lot, what you are going to want to do for him, and with that degree is start him out at 1 tsp of AQ salt per gallon, daily 100% water changes, for no longer then 10 days. Make sure to dissolve the salt prior to adding him in it, as it can cause burns to him if he comes into contact with it as a rock.
He doesn't look to have it too bad- just slightly. A part of me wants to think it's going to be his natural coloration- some black edges to his fins.

As far as his actions- fin rot generally doesn't affect their actions until it reaches their body (once the fins have been eaten away).. it may be because he is new and was de-stressing when you first brought him home.
How did you acclimate him to the new water?
Was the tank heated?
Conditioner?

Also, don't stress about the food right away, as a lot of times it takes days or even weeks before they start to eat on a normal/regular basis.

For now, I would just keep him in clean water- in a half gallon, 2x weekly of 50% and 1 100% per week.. if his fins start to deteriorate (not fin biting, but crusty black edges flaking off) then I would start the AQ salt treatment.. anything else is overkill for it at this point, and could do more damage to your betta then any good.

[Pucky21811]

Unfortunately Stanley passed away overnight. It was a heated tank, and acclimated him by dipping his cup in and letting it float for 10 minutes.

I cleaned everything about before I put Zamboni in the only thing that remained was the tank itself, some glass rocks, and a ceramic sign, and I washed all of those. If he gets fin rot, I know how to treat that. It is only if Stanley died from anything else that worries me.

Stanley was bloated and had breathing issues: panting or just hyperventilating. His gills were spread out when I found him today so I think that was the cause of death. I tried to make him comfy; he didn't look too good at the store which is why I picked him up.

Thank you for the suggestions and tips and advice. I will try again this afternoon. :)

[Myates]

I'm sorry you lost him.. when you said dip method- did you mean to acclimate him to the new chemistry with removal of partial water from the cup and replacing it with water from the tank? Or did you just acclimate him to the temp?
Gasping at the surface tends to be a sign that something didn't agree with him with the water and/or introduction..

Good luck with your next guy.. again, sorry for your loss.

[Pucky21811]

I do both: I dip the cup in and fill it partially with the new water, but its mostly still his old water. Then the cup goes back up and floats at the top. Then after 10-15 mins, I put him all the way in. I hope that is the right method; if it is not please let me know I don't want to do any harm to a little guy!

I had a feeling when I saw him at the bottom of his cup at Petsmart gasping that something was up, but I just thought he needed a new water change. He was gasping for over the 2 days I had him.

Ah well, he's not suffering now. I will try again with a new fella and it should be just fine. :3

[Myates]

=( Still sad to lose one.. but you tried and you gave him a better ending..

It sounds as if he had ammonia poisoning, with the gasping like that.. unfortunately you really can't reverse the poisoning once it gets that bad.

You are partially right when it comes to acclimating- ideally you will want to float the cup for about 20-30 minutes, every 5 minutes or so remove a portion of the water from the cup- roughly 25% is good- and replace it with water from the tank (make sure not to add the cup water to the tank itself), after doing that 4-5 times then you can release him.. generally what I do is pour the cup gently into a net (over a sink if you can move the tank to there, or over a bowl/glass if you can't move the tank), and once he is in the net then transfer him gently into the tank.