[BettahBehBeh]

First pic is today, second pic is Thursday night.

This is my sick rescued betta that the pet store gave to me two weeks ago. He as in terrible shape. In the first week and a half he improved beautifully - got so much color, ate a ton, was thriving. Yesterday I noticed one of his eyes looked bigger (hard to tell since his face is so dark) and he had clamped fins. Was sitting on the bottom more than normal. This morning he has a spot on his head and when I fed him he spit his pellets out a dozen times before swallowing them - he’s never done that before. He did eventually eat four pellets for breakfast. I added some kanaplex today. The only change I can think of is yesterday I switched out one of his plants, and there was really loud jackhammering outside from construction. The vibration kept knocking his air pump off the stand. I also tried StressGuard to help with fin regrowth but I’m not sure he liked that? I don’t know how to help.

Housing:
How many gallons is your tank? 2.5 hospital
Does it have a filter? sponge filter
Does it have a heater? yes
What temperature is your tank? 79
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? sponge filter with airstone
Does your Betta have tank mates? What kind? no - just some live and some silk plants

Food:
What food brand do you use? Hikari pellets and frozen blood worms
Do you feed flakes or pellets? pellets
How often do you feed your Betta? How much? I've been feeding him every few hours because he's very skinny

Maintenance:
Before your Betta became ill how often did you perform a water change? I change 30-40% of the water every other day since his tank is not cycled.
What percentage of water did you change? 30-40%
What is the source of your water? tap treated with Prime
Do you vacuum the substrate or just dip out water? I siphon the debris on the bottom (he has large river stones and no real substrate)
What additives do you use other than conditioner? What brand of conditioner? I added Seachem StressGuard for two days

 

[BettahBehBeh]

You really got him in rough shape.

He seems to have suffered from severe malnutrition.

I can‘t tell if the underlaying reason was due to bad maintenance, any internal parasites or a disease.

I hope he responds to the Kanaplex but I‘m also worried that his organs might shut down.

So I‘m keeping my fingers crossed and thank you for taking care of him.

I‘m sorry not to be able to be of any help right now and hope others might be.

Do you think I should discontinue the Kanaplex? His water is pristine - I change it, temp match it, it's 0 across the scale. I keep wondering if the vibration from the jackhammer might have stressed him enough to cause this secondary issue. The spot seems to be gone, but the popeye is still there. He's still spitting his pellets even after they've been soaked. He ate a bloodworm without issue yesterday, though. I freaking hate feeding bloodworms. I'll give him some again today and maybe it'll help.