[finnthefish]

Hello, this is my betta fish Finn. (Please don't think that I neglect/don't care for my betta from the pictures) I've spent at least $400 in total over the past year for him and I'll do anything to help him get better. He's had two white bumps that appeared on him out of the blue a bit ago. I went on another forum and no one had seen it before. Some said they could be tumors, and others said that there's nothing I could do but let them run their course and hope they fall off. Well, they haven't. With weekly 100% water changes, they've only grown bigger, and another small one has appeared. (I now do a 50% and 100% water change weekly and it doesn't seem to stress him out) Along with those bumps, he has another thing that seems to be busting out from his scales. I have no idea what that is. Except for I saw a goldfish who had the same thing once. On TOP of that, he's just gotten what looks like popeye �� It's quite gross to look at because it's so bad. Half of his face also looks swollen, and he's lost a lot of color. I have no idea how to treat all of this, and I don't want him to be in pain anymore. (I assume he is) I went to Petsmart and Petco today looking for a medicine for popeye and neither of them had anything. PLEASE HELP. I'll do anything. Is there a good medicine I could order off of amazon?

Info about diet, ect:
He eats Aqueon natural betta pellets (about 6 pellets a day maybe) he used to get so excited when I just pulled out the food and showed him, and now he doesn't even swim up when I drop them in the tank. I also occasionally feed him Sally's frozen blood worms. We sometimes have fruit flies, and I've seen one in his tank and I hope he hasn't eaten one. I know they can eat wingless fruit flies, but I don't know what the ones in my house are carrying.

He has a kinda crappy heater atm. It doesn't do much and doesn't tell me what the temperature is. So I need to get a new one. He also doesn't have a filter. I bought him an air pump today and the air stone broke so I need to go out and get another. In his tank he has a petsmart ornament, an Anubias nana plant, and a rainbow rock. I haven't tested the water yet, but when I do I will update this post. I use filtered drinking water for him, but two days ago I tried weaning him back on tap water because it's easier when cleaning his tank. I mixed about 8 oz in with the drinking water, and conditioned it Stress coat +. Two days later is when he got popeye. Don't know if that could of caused it. Any help is appreciated, thank you!

also he's in a 4-5 gallon tank

 

[Greenapp1es]

Awww - poor guy.

I'm definitely seeing the popeye. I'd get him on epsom salt for that ASAP. 1 tsp per gallon, dissolve before adding to tank. Add slowly over the course of an hour.

Otherwise, someone else can probably advise on medications better but I believe that API General Cure is one of the ones typically recommended for popeye. I would think Petsmart\Petco would have this - kind of surprised that they don't.

Something that you could order to have on hand if needed is Kanaplex. It's an antibiotic - but it's hard to find at pet stores. It's useful for a wide variety of things, I'm not sure if it would be needed here or not. But, it's something you'll probably only find online. It's cheaper with other online vendors than amazon though.

 

[finnthefish]

Thank you so much! I actually have API general cure medicine, but had no idea I could use it for popeye! Will try that, or the epsom salt

 

[Greenapp1es]

The epsom salt will reduce fluid retention in the body, which will help the popeye symptoms. But, it won't treat the underlying cause. Either way, I'd start here, and 100% water changes for the next week.

Beyond that's where the API General Cure comes in. It would treat beyond just symptoms

So, definitely get the epsom salt going first, but be ready with the General Cure if needed.

 

[finnthefish]

The epsom salt will reduce fluid retention in the body, which will help the popeye symptoms. But, it won't treat the underlying cause. Either way, I'd start here, and 100% water changes for the next week.

Beyond that's where the API General Cure comes in. It would treat beyond just symptoms

So, definitely get the epsom salt going first, but be ready with the General Cure if needed.

Oh good to know! Thank you again!