[futureteacher]

About a week ago my betta began acting weird. For about 2 or 3 days he stays upright in the water with his head poking out of the top, but would not eat. Then he began to literally lie on his rocks all day everyday. I had just cleaned his tank that weekend. and I think that might have been the issue since the Monday after, the area I live in got a water advisory. Anyways, I cleaned his tank again with a 100% water change instead of the usual 50-75% depending on how long I let it go. I always put aquarium salt in his tank, and put a little extra in. I also started giving him melafix twice a day because his back fins have almost disappeared over the last week.

As of today, he's doing a bit better. Instead of lying on his rocks he's up in a plant resting. However, I still haven't gotten him to eat though and I'm really worried about his fins. If you have any other suggestions for me I appreciate it. I've had this guy for 1.5 years now so I'll be pretty upset if he dies.

Also, I cleaned my 2.5 year old betta's tank at the same time that I cleaned Sparty's, and he has had no problem whatsoever, I don't know if that'll help. I'm just trying to give you all the information I can.

 

[Laki]

we would need you to fill out the sticky to help us help you help him! Aquarium salt should be used only for a 10 day MAX and only when they're sick. Betta are tropical fish. Maybe that you always use it might have something to do with it... I don't know.
**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)?

Also, STOP using melafix/bettafix. It contains tea tree oil which can damage the labrynth organ.

Just clean his tank and put him in a small quarentine tank. Fresh clean water with nothing but dechlorinator added. Change the water every and note any improvements or changes in behavior or appearance.

Someone else might have a better suggestion but this is a good start. Do you have ant pics?

 

[Sivan]

Did you test the nitrate level in your tank?

 

[TheCheese909]

Can you get any pictures of him?

Do me a favor and get a bright light and look at him directly and tell us if you see anything growing on him or anything like that. Sometimes you can't see these things with ordinary tank/desk lights. Just to be safe.

If his fins are disappearing he might be biting at them or he may have fin rot. I always suggest using aquarium salt whenever doing a full water change, you did good on that part. I really would always have Stress Coat handy as well, that stuff can do wonders. As well as BettaFix, I think every Betta owner should have those two things at all times. Watered down MelaFix (or less then half the normal dosage) is a good substitute for BettaFix for now.

 

[Fishehgobloop]

When you say your Betta's fins have disappeared, do you mean they rotted away, or that he has bitten them off?
It sounds like your betta may just be very stressed out. I would recommend getting your boy some stress coat ASAP.

 

[Laki]

No Don't even water down melafix. Both melafix AND bettafix contain tea tree oil. See my above post. Some people use it no problem but there's better things to use that aren't harmful

 

[TheCheese909]

I currently have 9 Bettas, all boys, all in their own heated, lighted, filtered tanks (largest being 5 gallons) and they are all healthy as can be- the oldest being a year old. I have used BettaFix on all of them many times over and it's always worked wonders. I think it's only harmful if you over dose like crazy in a small bowl.

I'm not saying there aren't any other ways to help- clean QT bowls are always great, with just some stress coat- but BettaFix can sometimes make things better quicker.

Reguardless of what we think of the product, I would like to see some pictures of this poor fishy to see if we can figure out if it's just stress or something worse.

 

[Laki]

It wasn't on this thread I said that Bettafix is like Russian Roulette! lol That's how I think of it. I used it no problem on Lakitu too. But once I read about the labynth thing I stopped immediately for safer treatments. It can be used without problems!! No doubt. (ps, TheCheese, your fish Epilepsy is SO awesome!)