[iishnova]

I have owned Bettas before, though they were given to me as a gift and I didn't do much research into it as the giver told me how to change the water and how often and how much to feed him. I had him for 9 months (then someone that was watching him gave him a tap water water change without treating it).

That was several years ago.

I now have a male Betta by the name of Kin. I set him up just as the last betta I had been given. Then I started doing some research after I noticed that his ventral fins started to become white tipped. I did more frequent water changes, but then he started to act odd (sometimes darting about, other times listlessly laying at the top or bottom of the tank). I realized the tank was way too small to house a betta and purchased a tank that was three times the size with an air pump and filtration system. By this time I noticed that his tail was not as full as it was when I first brought him home. Thinking back the conditions he was kept in were not the best. He has tail rot and it is getting worse. Now his ventral fins are turning black at the sides where they were once a very pretty and natural red. I treated with Moroxy for five days without the filter on. Today I did about a fifty percent water change and turned the filter back on. After the five days of treatment his tail rot has only gotten worse. Yesterday is when I noticed the blackening of the ventral fins. His tail is now deteriorating and it is much easier to see the tail rot and his top and bottom fins also seem to be effected now.

I guess my base question is PLEASE HELP! It's very important to me that I don't lose him. I fully intend on doing daily water changes of at least fifty percent every time, but I need to know what kind of treatment to give besides that.

 

[shadowpony]

I'm so sorry that your boy is sick. He needs some aquarium salt, warmer water, daily or every other day 50% water changes, and some luck. Don't use any of the bettafix, mealifix, Pimafix... Anything ending in fix. It will damage their labrynth organ. Copy and paste the questions in the sticky and awnser them. It will help. I am in no way an expert, but this is how ive treated fin/tail rot. Good luck!

 

[iishnova]

Thank you so much for your response. He seems to be losing his appetite now as well and I'm very worried

 

[shadowpony]

Have you tried freeze dried or frozen bloodworms? They can tempt even the most stubborn betta. Dont worry though. They can go for weeks without food.

 

[iishnova]

Have you tried freeze dried or frozen bloodworms? They can tempt even the most stubborn betta. Dont worry though. They can go for weeks without food.

Yes, they are the main base of his diet. Unfortunately now he doesn't seem as interested as he was a few days ago. I plan to go out first thing tomorrow and get some aquarium salt and other things.

More suggestions are always welcome.

 

[Tikibirds]

Here are instructions for fin rot but if he lost his appitite I think there may be something else going on with him.

Do you have a clear picture? Many times tail rot and tail bitting get confused. If he is bitting his tail, he can get fin rot. However, I have never had a betta with fin rot stop eatting. Also fin rot can be a symptom of something else...but we need more info to tell. Look at him very closely, are there any fuzzy patches? does he look like he has grains of salt on him? If you have a flashlight, shine it on him. Does he look like he is sprinkled in gold dust?

How big is your tank? If you turned the filter off and then back on again - any of the good bacteria would of died in the 5 days it was off. When you turned it back on, the dead bacteria could of caused an ammonia spike. If its under 5 gallons, I have heard the filter can't actually cycle so I don't know how that would affect things.

Also do you have a heater? If they are cold (under 78 degrese) they can lose color and become lethargic.

Bloodworms should be given as a treat only - pellets are best. Flakes and freeze dried foods can lead to bloating/constipation. Frozen bloodworms are better but I think they can cause parasites?

Tail rot or fin rot
•Symptoms: Betta’s fins and/or tail seem to be getting shorter and shorter or they seem to be falling apart and dissolving, Black or red along the edge of the betta’s fins/tail, Bloody tips, Behavior may not change
Treatment: Conservative: Treat with Aq.Salt at 1 tsp/gal. Increase water changes to 100% daily. Replace accurate amount of salt following water changes. Add Stress Coat to help repair tissue. If there is little to no improvement within the first 5 days, you can increase the salt dosage gradually to 2tsp/gal but do not continue any salt treatments past 10 days. Medication: If Conservative treatment is ineffective use API Tetracycline, API Fungus Cure, API Triple Sulfa, OR API Erythromycin. Also add Stress Coat to help regrowth. Continue until fins/tail stop receding and start showing some new growth.

can you answer:

Housing
What size is your tank?
What temperature is your tank?
Does your tank have a filter?
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?
Is your tank heated?
What tank mates does your betta fish live with?

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?
How often do you feed your betta fish?

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change?
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
When did you start noticing the symptoms?
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
Does your fish have any history of being ill?
How old is your fish (approximately)?

 

[iishnova]

A quick question before the info. I've added stress coat and aquarium salt to the water. I read (somewhere, don't remember where at this point) to leave the filter off when you medicate the water. Should I keep the filter on right now?


Housing
What size is your tank? 1.5 gal
What temperature is your tank? 76-78 F
Does your tank have a filter? I do
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? It has an air pump
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? freeze dried blood worms
How often do you feed your betta fish? 3 times a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Daily right now
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50-75%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? I dechlorinate, besides that please see below for treatment.

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate: I will add these numbers in a later post
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? His ventral fins now have white tips and black edges. His tail fin is getting shorter with the edges having a white/translucent coloring to them.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He's darting, though sometimes is very lethargic (e.g. not eating as...energetically as he used to)
When did you start noticing the symptoms? About a week and a half ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? I treated with Moroxy for five days. After that I've added stress coat after 50-75% water changes and stress zyme. I also have started adding aquarium salt.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No
How old is your fish (approximately)? I'm not sure >.<

 

[iishnova]

Water Parameters: These are as of the 7th, after the moroxy treatment but before any other treatment
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia: .2
Nitrite:0
Nitrate: 0
pH: about 5.5
Hardness: about 75
Alkalinity: about 20

 

[Tamyu]

I am not a betta expert at all, but there was something that really jumped out at me and kind of forced me to reply.

You are *only* feeding freeze dried blood worms? No normal food?
Freeze dried foods are kind of like junk food for fish. They are an okay treat here and there, but it would be like a human eating nothing but potato chips every day. The proper balance to stay healthy just isn`t there. They are also infamous for causing swim bladder troubles and bloat.

I would definitely try to get him to eat something more balanced. Even frozen blood worms are going to be a huge improvement over freeze dried ones. He may just not have enough nutrition in his diet to fight off the illness.

 

[iishnova]

I would definitely try to get him to eat something more balanced. Even frozen blood worms are going to be a huge improvement over freeze dried ones. He may just not have enough nutrition in his diet to fight off the illness.

I've tried a number of pellets with him and I've finally found one that he will eat. Really hoping adding some variety will help (I've also gotten some crisps).

I am still really torn about the filter and I hope someone can answer me on that. *desperate*

 

[iishnova]

Update, still going down hill

Kin is getting worse. His tail is getting shorter, but now so are his ventral and pelvic fins. Someone please tell me about the filter issue. I don't know if I should leave it on or off while adding the stress coat. He also seems to have developed some small white patches on his gills. Really looking for some help here.

 

[Tamyu]

The filter should stay on unless you have carbon in the filter and are using proper medications. (Antibiotics, stuff that changes the water color, etc)
If the filter doesn't have carbon in it, you can leave it on all the time. The filter itself will not cause any trouble, it will just remove the chemical meds from the water if it uses carbon.
As far as I know, stress coat is more of a natural thing and the carbon will not interfere with it.

 

[iishnova]

Thank you so much. It is a carbon filter. I'm really hoping I can get him better.

 

[shadowpony]

Are you using aquarium salt? That stuff is like awesome. I hope Kin gets better.

 

[iishnova]

Yes, I started adding the salt the same day I started using the Stress Coat.

Thank you, I hope he get's better soon.

 

[Basememnt Bettas]

Peroxide will stop the fin rot. You have to lay the fish on a wet paper towel.. I leave them in the net. Take a cotton swab dipped in peroxide and swab the edges of the fins. Give them a minute to bubble then back into clean water. The edges can/will turn black but it kills off the bacteria eating them up. Keep salt in the water to build slime coat and also fight the bacteria and infection. Daily water changes.. keep water clean. Peroxide will work in body fingus too but keep away from gills. It can be drastic but works when all else fails. If you have potassium permangante they can be dipped in a light solution of that as well.. though it does not stop fin rot like the peroxide.

Just reread.. with white patches on gills you may be dealing with some columnaris. And that is a Bit#h. VERY resistant. Peroxide about only thing to knock that out and it often takes more than one application. It does attack fins. Some strains kill in hours, others destroy the fish over a long period of time. There are sereral types of columnarus and they are even different in other countries.

 

[iishnova]

Peroxide will stop the fin rot. You have to lay the fish on a wet paper towel.. I leave them in the net. Take a cotton swab dipped in peroxide and swab the edges of the fins. Give them a minute to bubble then back into clean water. The edges can/will turn black but it kills off the bacteria eating them up. Keep salt in the water to build slime coat and also fight the bacteria and infection. Daily water changes.. keep water clean. Peroxide will work in body fingus too but keep away from gills. It can be drastic but works when all else fails. If you have potassium permangante they can be dipped in a light solution of that as well.. though it does not stop fin rot like the peroxide.

Just reread.. with white patches on gills you may be dealing with some columnaris. And that is a Bit#h. VERY resistant. Peroxide about only thing to knock that out and it often takes more than one application. It does attack fins. Some strains kill in hours, others destroy the fish over a long period of time. There are sereral types of columnarus and they are even different in other countries.

Hydrogen peroxide?