BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish Sick Fighter

Hi Jill.
sorry i forgot to mention that i'm from australia <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> .
well another of my fighters died and my last one is very sick and also suffering from fin rot. I tried everywhere for betta fix but everyone ran out of stock. what i did get though, was white spot medication and mela fix, which i was told was the same as betta fix but the solution is stronger. i managed to put the medication in, but i'm affraid my fighter is on his last leg. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

thanks alot for your help.

cheers,
Kei

Oh, this is so sad! I am really sorry. I hope this medication helps your last fish. Let me know if it works. Keep using it for the entire recommended dosage.

if it doesn't work, let me kow. We can discuss together how to clean out your tanks and start from scratch, which will be your best bet if your little one doesn't pull through.

How are the temps on the bowl you are treating? Added temps and aquarium salt, with the medicine, should help.

sadly, my last fighter didn't make it <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> . he seemed to be fine after i put the first dose of medication in but then he seemed to act really funny that night, showing his first sing of fin rot. i pretty much knew he was gonna pass.

i cleaned out the tank already. washed everything, rocks, plants and tank. put everything back in and then added stress zyme and mela fix to the tank. there are no fish yet, so i'll just wait for your reply and see whether i cleaned it and prepared it the correct way. if not juts let me know.

before i wasn't quite sure what temp the tank should of been. i was just told to keep it away from heat, fpudn out when i actually looked it up on the net, which i should have done first. then it was kept in my room which is about 25-30C. which is i think about +75F. but that was after they got sick.

at least now i know the basics of looking after bettas.

i'm determined to get new fighters and raise them well, but seems like my family wants to get gold fish..

thank you very much for your help.

I am so sorry to hear about your last betta, and all the other little fighters.

Please tell me how you cleaned the bowls and equipment. If you used soap, then you can't put fish in that. Soap is deadly - too many phosphates. Usually just elbow grease is the way to go. But if you used soap, we can try a vinegar baking soda combo to fix that up.

Yes, 75 F is good for bettas, but warmer is even better. More like 78-82 F. Sorry I don't know C conversions!

You can go with goldfish, but they are much more difficult. For one, you can't keep them in a bowl. Two, you need a power filter and a really big tank, which all costs a bit more than betta's minimal needs do. But certainly check out my goldfish articles if you wish to go theat route.

Anyway, let's see how to get your next bettas up and happy. So don't buy any fish yet, and tell me how you cleaned the bowls, and how big they each are.

thanx for your worries bout my little angel fighters... <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
i'm glad i can find someone that can help me through it...

as for how i cleaned the tank.. plain old elbow grease, cold water for the tank and warmish water for the rocks and plants.. and thats about it.. no soap or solutions except for stress zyme and mela fix medication..

it's a 10 litre tank which is about 2.5gallons. with 3glass dividers to make four little houses for the fish.
reading all your other posts, i didn't do what i should have done in the first place, which was to read about it all and isolate the two li'l fish i last week.

at the moment i'm trying to decide whether to just get one male and female fighter for the tank and then get other li'l vases or bowls for any other fish i get.

i think its definate, that i have been bitten by the betta bug.

any information that you can give me is well appreciated..

thank you.

You did great with the cleaning. Good job. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> I think 2.5 gallons would make a nice home for a male and female, with a divider between them. Just two fish in that amount is a nicer home than squeezing four in there.

You still have to divide the male and female, because the boys are just plain old mean to the girls. These fish have tempers! :devil:

New fish in other bowls is a nice idea. You can read Emgbettanut's advice in the Hospital Tank thread on how to create a warm area for a bunch of bowls, and there's a picture of this setup in the bella members section called Rate A Photo (go to rate a fish). I put a link to that in the thread called Rate A Fish.

Warm temps ar the keys to happy little bettas.