[aquagreen]

Housing
What size is your tank? 2.6

What temperature is your tank? approx 76 (I have his heater set higher but so far temp seems to hover right where it is)

Does your tank have a filter? No.

Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No

Is your tank heated? Yes, always

What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Aqueon betta pellets and National Geographic betta flakes (flakes are new, given during his illness)

How often do you feed your betta fish? 5/6 betta pellets once daily, sometimes a couple pellets at night if they seem especially hungry

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Every couple days

What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50% change

What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Was API stress coat for a long time, now Top Fin water conditioner for ease of dosing. Also Tetra Algae Control (1 drop with each change) and Boyd Enterprises Vita Chem vitamins (1 or 2 drops)

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?
I have, but they've always fallen in normal parameters. Have not checked recently but doing the same amount of water changes as always, etc.

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

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? He has pale gills in the front, clouded eyes, looks emaciated (the appearance of a spine on his back), a few scales seem to be sticking out since I started the medication

How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Lethargic, rests on his leaves a lot which isn't like him.

When did you start noticing the symptoms? Around June 18

Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Yes, started with aquarium salt per dosing instructions on box, and now Melafix according to dose instructions on the bottle (1/4 teaspoon per night with no water changes until 7th day, then I'm to do a 25% change it says)

Does your fish have any history of being ill? No, though I've had to treat him for mild fin rot on occasion

How old is your fish (approximately)? I've had him for 1 year, 4 months


At first I just thought he was getting old, but I just don't know. I want to help him feel better than this if I can. He still has a good appetite, but due to his clouded eyes he doesn't always seem able to find his food as well as he used to. I make sure he eats enough each day however.

Here is his picture (you can see how on his right side the scales seem to be popping up a little):

 

[cindygao0217]

Put some aquatic salt in your tank it help with all kind of disease

 

[aquagreen]

Have been doing more research and am becoming very afraid my fish may have internal parasites or even tuberculosis. Help???

Edit: Though he is curved in the picture, I haven't noticed that his spine is actually bent or anything. So maybe not TB?

 

[DoctorWhoLuver]

How long has he been on AQ salt and is he bloated?
Also what color is his poo?
I'm not a professional, but TB is probably not the culprit here. It's generally a quick killer. I hope he gets better!

 

[aquagreen]

As soon as I decided to start the Melafix (went to the store originally for Maracyn but reading the bottle of Melafix decided it might be what I needed) I stopped changing the water/dosing with AQ salt. I think I did the AQ salt for maybe 3 consecutive days...not long, but there wasn't much change. I have been doing the Melafix now for about 3 1/2 days.

He isn't bloated. (See pic...he's emaciated.) I haven't seen him poo in a while but I know I did some time last week and it was the normal brownish color, that weird almost terracotta color. Siphoning out waste from his tank (probably fallen betta pellets) I haven't noticed anything else odd.

I hope he does too. Thanks. I appreciate people answering...hopefully I can get to the bottom of this and get him on the right med.

 

[aquagreen]

Bumping my post as I still really need help...

 

[aquagreen]

Well, I went to the store and got some tetracycline. I just have to hope this is bacterial and that it will help him. He doesn't look good. He's either always at the top of his tank now, or the bottom. Right now it's the bottom and he's breathing a bit hard. I feel bad because I stressed him out by doing a water change so I could put in the new meds.

Covered the tank with a towel so he can have privacy. Here's hoping. (He's old...not optimistic I can save him, but I at least want him to be more comfortable.)

 

[aquagreen]

This morning the eye cloud seems a bit less, but he still has that bump with raised scales on his side. He does still show interest in eating, though his energy is low.

Still mostly keeping his tank covered with a towel--it seems to be keeping it a bit warmer in there, closer to 78-80 degrees.

I'm still not holding out a lot of hope.

 

[KFoster]

bump.

 

[aquagreen]

Thanks, KFoster. <3

 

[Jonthefish]

I'm going to be little to no help , but I think his scales are pinecone-ing . Usually has to do with a specific disease ( which of course I don't remember !! ) . Hope he does better. There are tons of articles about this disease on the forum .

 

[TripleChrome]

I'm new to bettas, but I would never use MelaFix. Or BettaFix. I've learned that the BettaFix made my betta worse. My PetSmart said to feed my betta frozen bloodworms while he is sick. Mine has fin rot. Have you tried bloodworms with him? My friend used to breed bettas before and knew a lot about them. She would probably say to keep using the Tetracycline. I don't have much hope with my betta either.

 

[aquagreen]

Jonthefish--you mean Dropsy. He doesn't have that, I'm certain. Dropsy is a kidney failure thing where they bloat, and unfortunately I've seen that before. Thank you though.

TripleChrome--yeah, I've since done more reading on Melafix and agree it would be little to no help in any case. Never have tried BettaFix.

My guy is still eating, but hardly. He's losing energy to do much of anything. I've come to terms with the fact that he's going to die...I just wish I could do more for him. I hate to see him suffer but I also can't bear the thought of putting him down myself, after reading how it's done. So, I just dosed him for the third time with Tetracycline...not because I believe it's going to save him, but because I know that if he were any of my other animals, I'd continue medicating til the end. I have no heart to treat him any differently just because he's a fish.

 

[Jonthefish]

I don't think it was dropsy it was somthing else that had to do with a betta looking lethargic and patches of scales pineconing . I will do some more research .

http://bubblesandbettas.blogspot.com/p/betta-diseases.html

I found a page filled with a good handful of common diseases , every bit of info helps , right ?

 

[aquagreen]

Jonthefish- I think you mean scale protrusion, then, which I agree sounds the closest to it from what I've researched.

Thanks for the info. Little can be done now I think, but just going to keep him comfortable.

 

[Jonthefish]

Jonthefish- I think you mean scale protrusion, then, which I agree sounds the closest to it from what I've researched.

Thanks for the info. Little can be done now I think, but just going to keep him comfortable.

No problem ! I understand

 

[aquagreen]

Update: so, after more looking around, I think he has a tumor. I've found pictures of bettas with tumors that literally could have been taken of my boy at this point. That bump on his side has gotten larger (but still has scales on it) while the rest of him shrinks. He has stopped eating now. Poor baby. At this point I just hope he goes quickly (it's already been too long).