BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish fin rott- DESPERATE!

Hello out there! This is my first time on this forum. I have a BIG PROBLEM with my little fish friend. Sam the Bata has been suffering from fin rott for a while now and we are getting desperete. He is 3 yrs old and until last month was kept in a bowl. Now he has a nicely furnished 10 gal with power filter. I have tried 4 different treatments and it's still getting worse. First, it seemed that I wasn't keeping the water clean enough, now someone is telling me I'm changing the water too often. I know treatments change the water quality. SOMEONE HELP ME BEFORE I KILL OUR LITTLE BUDDY! I was trying the erythromyacin again, but today he looks "puffy" like he got gained weight overnight. I replaced the carbon filter and didn't give him today's dose.

Thank you so much!!!
Chelean

Your dear little friend sounds wonderful, and I am sorry that he has been sick. It does sound like he was already sick by the time you rescued him from the bowl. fin rot is usually cleared up pretty easily with medicines that are natural or not that strong such as a salt dip or betta fix remedy, so it might have been quite advanced by the time you started giving the medicine, unfortunately. IF you feel you are changing the water too often, then you have to get a kit at the petstore to check the water chemistry. Temperature is also something to check and monitor and variety in the diet helps against gastric problems that can cuse puffiness in some forms. I really hope he made it through that - it sounds dire at the point you contacted us.

How is Sam doing? Is he a Betta fish? What were the 4 different treatments you tried? It's difficult to keep the water clean enough in a bowl - the ammonia from waste material builds up so fast and the bowl doesn't hold much water - so it gets deadly quickly - especially with no filter. 3 years is a pretty long time in a bowl - how often did you change the water when Sam was in the bowl? How much water did the bowl hold? Did you have an aquarium thermometer to check the water temperature and to help you monitor the water temperature so you could keep the water temperature appropriate for a Betta fish and keep it consistent? I hope he is alright.

My beta Lucky is about 2 years old and about 6 months ago he developed some growth on his side. I attributed this to an unknown tumor that nobody seems to know much about. He seems healthy and happy otherwise, I clean his water twice a week, he sits on my desk at work and we have daily chats and sing-alongs (he does the dancing and me the singing). I am concerned now though because it appears as if the growth is beginning to peel or deteriorate, almost like a wart that had been treated with Compound W. Any thoughts or suggestions? I'd really like to prolong the life of my beloved desk mate as long as possible. One more thing, his water is always kept at approximately 82 degrees and is crystal clear. He also eats a weekly diet of betta bites, with a few blood worms thrown in from time to time as a treat--not too much though, don't want him constipated! :-)

Why do you keep the water that warm? Do you have a water heater in his container? Is it an aquarium? Yes, being constipated can be a serious condition for a little betta fish because it can lead to disease, but a betta fish cannot live on betta bites alone. Although you throw in a few blood worms (freeze-dried or otherwise?) from time to time, it sounds like this is more of just a treat rather than his usual diet, right? Just like people, betta fish need some variety in their diets to get all their nutrients. ( :