[meeper]

Hello- I picked up a gorgeous little platinum crowntail 2 days ago. He was very perky and active when I brought him home, but I noticed he had a very dilated eye on one side, very mildly protruding. Today, he was hiding and it is much more “popped” and he has a little bit of pineconing just behind that eye. I took him out and gave him an epsom salt bath (he quickly became active and perky again), and ran to the pet store to look for something to start treating him with. I came home with E. M. Erythromycin, and stress coat. After staring him down in his bath, I noticed the tiniest fuzzy tendrils coming out of the swollen area. Am I treating this correctly? Is there anything else I can do? TIA!


I found this template so I am adding this with my answers 😁

Housing:
How many gallons is your tank? 3 gallon
Does it have a filter? Yes
Does it have a heater? Yes, realized it was unplugged 🤦‍♀️
What temperature is your tank? 74, warming up.
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? The filter agitates the surface of the tank?
Does your Betta have tank mates? What kind? No, plants only

Food:
What food brand do you use? Ultra fresh
Do you feed flakes or pellets? Pellets
Freeze-dried? No, I do have frozen red worms to offer though.
How often do you feed your Betta? How much? I’ve offered food once, I just got him, I don’t think he could see the pellets because they kept floating by his bad eye 🫠

Maintenance:
Before your Betta became ill how often did you perform a water change? Weekly
What percentage of water did you change? 20%?
What is the source of your water? Tread tap
Do you vacuum the substrate or just dip out water? Dip
What additives do you use other than conditioner? What brand of conditioner? None, seachem prime, will be adding stress coat

Water Parameters:
What are your water parameters? Please give exact numbers. If tested by pet store please get exact numbers. "Fine" or "Safe" won't help us help you. Important: Test your water before the regular water change; not after one.

Ammonia: 0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate: 40-80- hot damn, thankfully I’ll be doing 25% water changes daily with this medicine. I did add root tabs 2 days ago, can that jack up the nitrates?
pH: 8.2
Hardness (GH):
Alkalinity (KH):

Symptoms and Treatment:
When did you first notice the symptoms? 2 days ago when I brought him home
How has your Betta’s appearance changed? The eye is more protrusive and he has developed some swelling behind the eye
How has your Betta’s behavior changed? He was hiding earlier but after I disrupted him he was just as perky and busy as ever
Is your Betta still eating? He hasn’t eaten yet
Have you started treating your Betta? If so, how? Yes, I added api E. M. Erythromycin this afternoon.
Does your Betta have any history of being ill? N/a
How long have you owned your Betta? Got him 2 days ago
Was he or she ill or suffering some sort of damage when purchased? I noticed the eye was slightly dilated and protruding slightly.

 

[JackTheCaptain]

Hi, I can't answer about the root tabs. You might double check if that med is ok with tannins such as rooibos tea, which is anti fungal, anti bacterial and will help with stress.

Anyway, keep trying to get him to eat, even if you have to clean up a bit with a baster after - I've noticed that sometimes when they are first brought home they don't realize what food is. The nice thing is that his body condition is decent, so your starting from a reasonable place there

 

[meeper]

Hi, I can't answer about the root tabs. You might double check if that med is ok with tannins such as rooibos tea, which is anti fungal, anti bacterial and will help with stress.

Anyway, keep trying to get him to eat, even if you have to clean up a bit with a baster after - I've noticed that sometimes when they are first brought home they don't realize what food is. The nice thing is that his body condition is decent, so your starting from a reasonable place there

I will look into rooibos. I did manage to get him to take a good amount of bloodworms from a pipette! The swelling has gone down, the fuzzy spot is gone, and he’s a very busy fish. I’ve been doing 25% daily water changes as the medication instructs, so I will be keeping an eye on the nitrates. I really love this little fish!

 

[JackTheCaptain]

That's such good news!

Try some pellets, --New Life Spectrum has a pellet in a really small size which often is a good starter pellet for these guys

 

[EDRVT]

That is all great news! It was likely more due to injury than infection as it was unilateral and there was the additional swelling. Tannins and a diligent water change schedule will likely be of the greatest benefit at this point. You can continue the bloodworms but I would definitely introduce more foods sooner rather than later.