[BettaAuntie]

Hello,

I am trying to rescue a betta, my sister has owned him for several months but she neglected to do proper water changes. About 3 weeks ago I noticed he was in pretty bad shape, the water had evaporated and the filter stopped working, I ran a quick test and nitrates were over 40ppm, ammonia and nitrites were both zero so I know the tank was cycled but there was a lot of brown algae and debris in the gravel. We did a 75% water change right away, the filter was too strong and he was very weak so we changed to a low flow filter. He was able to swim a bit and was accepting food. After all this time water parameters are much better, but he seems to be worse off, much more lethargic and clearly has swim bladder issues since he will do the vertical hang with face in the gravel or stays in one corner under the water heater almost all day. Yesterday I finally decided to bring him home with me rather than go back and forth doing the water changes. Did a water change and lowered the level of the water to about 4 inches to make it easier for him to go to the surface. I tried feeding him a bit of pea and he took a tiny speck around noon and then another in the evening. His back looks pretty curved and i'm sure he has fin rot. I don't know how much he has been eating since my sister did all the feeding, but he actually seems pretty small to me so I don't know that he is constipated. Pic below, I can't really get a better picture since he stays in this corner almost all the time. Not sure if he is too far gone at this point, I didn't do a water change today but will do one tomorrow. Heater and filter are both running still, keeping the lights off to stress him out a little less.

Housing:
How many gallons is your tank? 5 gallons, currently only filled up to about two gallons (4 inches of water).
Does it have a filter? Yes, Top Fin BettaFlo Low Flow Filter
Does it have a heater? Yes
What temperature is your tank? 78
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No, I have an air stone and pump but it seems to stress out the fish
Does your Betta have tank mates? No tank mates

Food:
What food brand do you use? Top Fin Betta Crumbles
Do you feed flakes or pellets? Crumbles
Freeze-dried? No
How often do you feed your Betta? a pinch twice a day when he was eating, hasn't been able to feed properly past 3 days

Maintenance:
Before your Betta became ill how often did you perform a water change? I believe it had been many weeks
What percentage of water did you change? 50%
What is the source of your water? tap
Do you vacuum the substrate or just dip out water? vacuum
What additives do you use other than conditioner? stability What brand of conditioner? Seachem Prime

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 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 5 ppm
pH: 7.4
Hardness (GH): Unknown
Alkalinity (KH): Unknown

Symptoms and Treatment:
When did you first notice the symptoms? 3 weeks ago
How has your Betta’s appearance changed? fins are deteriorating, back looks curved like an s
How has your Betta’s behavior changed? lethargic, will switch from floating up to dropping down
Is your Betta still eating? barely makes attempts to eat, not many opportunities with the swimming issues
Have you started treating your Betta? No treatments so far, tried indian almond leaf for a couple days but didn't make a difference so I took it out. Mostly just water changes every few days.
Does your Betta have any history of being ill? Not that I know of
How long have you owned your Betta? Sister owned him for about 8 months
Was he or she ill or suffering some sort of damage when purchased? No

 

[Feanor]

I‘d try and entice him to take frozen, thawed bloodworms to get some strength back.

Offer with tweezers right before his mouth and remove any uneaten with a baster.

I hope he is not too far gone and perks up again!

 

[BettaAuntie]

Thank you! I got him to feed a tiny bit today, grated some garlic to soak the food in and it clearly caused a reaction. He tried nipping at the food plenty but not much made it in. Tested the water and ammonia and nitrites are zero, nitrates are between 0 and 5ppm. He’s still really lethargic and sticking to the corner of the tank under the heater. As weak as he is would it be a mistake to try an epsom salt bath or antibiotics?

 

[JackTheCaptain]

Hi, what about some rooibos tea instead? It will help with his stress, plus it's anti fugal and anti bacterial. Grocery stores and Natural Grocers have it, look for organic unflavored tea. You can float a couple of bags in the water until it's dark.

 

[BettaAuntie]

Thanks! I picked up some catappa leaves when I went to get the frozen bloodworms earlier today and put in one leaf since there's only about 2 gallons of water in the tank right now. I went ahead and switched out the carbon filter with some aquarium sponge too since I read somewhere that the carbon might lessen the effects of the catappa leaf? before the water change the PH was sitting right at 7.2 I wonder if that will be okay with the catappa leaf added in there?

 

[BettaAuntie]

He ate three bloodworms!! only two were longish, but I'll take it!! He only shows interest if I grate garlic and soak them in the grated garlic for a bit. I tried without the garlic to see what happened and he ignored them completely. It takes painfully long for him to get to them but he kept at it thankfully. I guess there's still hope!! 😅 I have yet to see him poop, so there's that as well.

Can I prep the garlic bloodworms and store them in the fridge for the day? Is too much garlic soaking into them going to be a problem for the betta? I am trying not to waste too much of it since he eats so little, just not sure if they'll keep in the fridge after defrosting them with some tank water. I tried to slice one of the frozen cubes but a whole chunk came off.

 

[JackTheCaptain]

You can probably store the bloodworms for the day, and my thought would be to soak them in garlic before feeding him.

 

[BettaAuntie]

Thanks so much!! He is wandering the tank a little more (as best he can). Took another three bloodworms again seems a little less vertical today too. Was able to get a shot from above. His poor fins 😢

 

[BettaAuntie]

Little dude even tried out his sea shelter! I wanted something he could rest in off the gravel never thought he’d be up to using it already. He gives me a fright sometimes just seems like he’s dead… i get worried when he rests by the filter vertically. Anything else I can do to help him at this point?

 

[BettaAuntie]

Mr. Blue is still around, eating about three bloodworms twice a day. Sliiiightly more efficient at feeding. Still takes him a long while sometimes. Water is tinting up finally with the catappa leaves. Still doing water changes every other day. He is no longer hanging out in the bottom corner of the tank under the heater. Now he's at the top most of the day. Less and less of the vertical hang happening which I hope is a good sign. He's still not very active unless he thinks I am trying to get him then he will dart around all scared. His ragged pectoral fins still look wispy, like tiny eyelashes but I swear they look longer. Like a good quarter of an inch longer.

Water parameters holding steady with 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and nitrates at 5ppm. PH is still right at 7.2

I am considering adding some Kordon Fish Protector, any thoughts?

 

[JackTheCaptain]

like tiny eyelashes but I swear they look longer. Like a good quarter of an inch longer.

That's awesome news!
You could try the fish protector.

 

[BettaAuntie]

That's awesome news!
You could try the fish protector.

Thanks!! 😊

 

[EDRVT]

The fish protector and API Stress Coat are good additives that are soothing to the healing tissues. Just make sure to continue regular water changes to keep the water super clean! The tint is looking good! You can soak leaves in hot water to help them release tannins faster and then treat the water once it cools and add leaves and water to the tank. That way it won't seem like as soon as the water tints, it's time to change it. Keep us posted please! I am glad he is improving!

 

[BettaAuntie]

Thanks!! I was wondering how I could get the water tint to remain with water changes happening so frequently. I have a rather large bottle of prime, should I just add a couple of drops of prime to the cooled down “tea”?

 

[EDRVT]

Exactly. You can soak them ahead of time evn and store extra in the refrigerator. It's handy when doing frequent changes. Then add your Prime and you are good to go!

 

[Momofbetta]

How is he doing now? It sounds like you are doing a fabulous job of helping him recover!!

 

[Skwirlygurl]

I'm not an expert (I only found this place recently, and for the same reason: sick betta) but in trying to research water parameters and such... I saw that RO water (reverse osmosis, which much bottled water is) doesn't have enough minerals and can cause lordosis, among other problems (basically, this is curvature of the spine). Some add minerals "for taste" but it is only about 1/4 of what bettas need in the water to keep them healthy.

Did sister use bottled or Prima water?

Does anyone more experienced know how to counteract mineral loss or know if it can be? Because... if this was a human, I would definitely say lordosis. I have curvature of my spine. It can be genetic, but could also be from environment for him?

 

[BettaAuntie]

Mr. Blue is eating better, I honestly think he was just slowly starving and just malnourished in general. My sister isn't the greatest at observing so even though she "fed" him daily she may not have realized that no food was making it in. I don't think my sister used any bottled water for him. Maybe once when trying to improve tank conditions I believe there was some bottled betta water that was used. I'm using tap for all his water changes now. A lot of that curve in his spine is gone. I see him twist when he's trying to dive for a bloodworm but thats really the only time I see it now. He is so persistent with his bloodworms it's really gratifying to see him go at them and "chew". We're still doing the two meals a day of the garlic bloodworms, about 8 hours apart. The temptation to overfeed is strong but I know we can't really rush his progress. Thanks for the tips with regards to keeping the water tinted, soaking the leaves in hot water did the trick. I don't think he likes me very much, with all the water changes he does get spooked easily but he is swimming and able to dive a little bit easier which is awesome even if he is just trying to get away from me 😅. He'll sometimes get under the catappa leaves and give me a fright when I can't find him. The color on his fins seem just a bit more vibrant but I may be seeing things. I think he's slowly recovering, I have had him for 8 days now, and we started with the bloodworms one week ago. I am thinking of maybe doing three meals a day later on to get him to put some weight on, not sure if that is a good idea though. I am just grateful he's showing some signs of improvement. We'll keep at it as long as he's willing to keep eating. He's definitely hiding a lot but hopefully that changes once he's in better shape.

 

[JackTheCaptain]

Can you try a pellet or flake now and then? That's a lot of bloodworms in his diet.

 

[BettaAuntie]

Can you try a pellet or flake now and then? That's a lot of bloodworms in his diet.

Absolutely! Will try a pellet tomorrow, I have some New Life Spectrum that I picked up when I got the bloodworms and they look super small so he should be able to handle them just fine. I also got some freeze dried daphnia if thats any good for him?