BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish Stupid fin rot (on a betta)

Elise...

I'm sorry to hear about your poor little guy. DOn't feel bad, you aren't a bad mom...most of us have had to deal with persistant and aggressive finrot at one time or another. I have one fish that no matter how clean I keep his water..he gets over it, then it comes back..(that's Teal, the one I did the fin surgery on..he's starting up with another bout again :rolleyes: )...and yet..I have other fish that stay good and healthy all the time no matter what I do to them..lol.

SOme just seem to be more prone for one reason or another and you shouldn't feel bad..you've done all you can for him. I can understand you're wanting to take a break. Caring for a sick fish can be just as stressful for the caretaker as it is for the fish! (don't I know it!)

How bout a nice community tank Elise? Lol.. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

A nice community tank...there's an oxymoron if I ever saw one, haha

thanks for your reply, he's still hanging in there, hopefully he isn't suffering too much

Well...I'm sorry to say that today I got my desk back :angel: . At least he isn't suffering anymore. I can't say whether the dropsy killed him or if it was because he stopped eating, or maybe something else, but when I went to check on it just now, there he was...

I'm thinking of getting another pretty little red betta, but not until I figure a little more out about these funny little guys, and make sure all my equipment is sanitized and such. I can't figure where I went wrong, I was treating him for just a little fin rot, which turned into a lot of fin rot and parasites and dropsy... <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> poor fish...

and I asked my secret santa for new little silk plants...I hope she didn't decide to get me those........but then that might mean I'd HAVE to get a new betta, eh?

Thanks for all your help and concern, the little betta whose name was only "fishfishfishfish" every time I saw him certainly thanks you too <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Hi, I just dropped in to this conversation. Elisa, you did a great job and I think a new betta should find a good home with you. Give your compassion to a new betta!

Now to pick apart what happened. Your fish got fin rot, which most fish do and esp bettas. Your original treatment of daily water changes seemed to be the ticket. I think if you'd stayed with that it would have taken care of the problem.

Then you got some other advice...and while water changes do cause bettas stress, EVERYTHING does. It's better to change the water in each case unless you are mid-bettafix.

So then he reacted badly, and you got out the meds. This would have helped but by then the different kinds of treatment were starting to confuse his immuno-compromised body. The treatment kept changing and too many ions were being put in his water...making his gills work overtime...and leaving him open to other infection.

He FINALLLY somewhat stabilized until his Thanksgiving trip. I salute that you wanted to continue his treatment, but the timing was just too much for him. At that point it was a downhill run...and I'm glad you made him comfortable for his last days.

Elisa, you really did a great job...and we all tend to get a little bent out of shape over fin rot. I had a similar experience early on with a lovely double-tailed girl betta.

Most people here have found a good treatment that works for them and they stick to it. You will find one too.

My treatment is clean water with no extra ions...the only thing I add to water these days is the dechlor/slime coat stuff like NovAqua.

I suck out the poops with a baster when I notice the bottom looking icky.

If I see fin rot starting, I change the water and that's it. I let them heal without any further interferance.

Maybe it's a too simple regime, but I never had a betta death from fin rot since that one time.

Elisa:

this sounds very similar to what happened to my 'Tude! and the lip falling off thing, that's more reminicent of what occurred recently to my Twinky.

at the stage you're describing, nothing i did helped, seemed to only make it worse for 'Tude. i shold've just put him in the freezer as he kept giving me these eyes. my husband (sorely attached to 'tude) would not let me do any such thing, "you leave him ALONE! don't you do anything to him!" were the cries from my husband if i even thought about it.

anyways i did learn some things from the experiences. though i wish i didn't learn the hard way. i wish to share the following so that others won't have to.

(NOT in order of importance)

1.:
don't ignore even a seemingly minor difference in fishie behavior or change in appearance.

2.:
water change religiously (or very close to it), even if you have plants and a tank full of decor. doesn't mean you need to tear it down every week (maybe once a month for a light cleaning if you're cycled), weekly changes and gravel siphoning as needed (generally weekly) will do.

3.:
(as i'm still working on this myself.) work out a regular schedule to do water testing. whether you have the local fish store [LFS] do it or you go all out and get every chemical test kit on the market, testing the PH, Ammonia, Nitrite/Nitrate parameters are crucial. it is also advisable to have done regularly other water tests such as KH/GH, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbonate to name a few. we are all well aware that perfect water is not impossible nor is it easier than making spaghetti sauce. :angel:

4.:
and of course RESEARCH! when my lil' Twinky (whom i assumed was just having a second bout of ick) had something lookinng like a puffy, whitish "hill" or "mound" growing on his forehead, then later after a treating it as if ick i noticed one morning a rather scary HOLE near his nose. i got really worried and immidiately began scanning the web, e-books, forums, what have you for similar encounters on a betta. as soon as the next morning it was so bad that it seemed his mouth might fall off completely. the HOLE had spread to completely (except the jaw hinges) seperate the mouth from head. he just got through a mild bout of ick 3 weeks earlier, so i didn't expect him to be fully back to normal. but WOW! other than the detached jaw and slight darkening of his colourings he seemed perfectly normal. i went back to the web in researching at full speed. although i never found any account of such a thing on a betta i had concluded it was a usually fatal, remarkedly fast acting bacterium commonly known as Flex.

in short, if i hadn't begun the research at first signs of something amiss, he would be gone. and from i have read about this Flex bacteria, he should've been dead within days. luckily i had him in cooler water than usual and that saved his life, slowing the growth and spread.

these points are but only the tip of the iceberg when speaking of lessons learned from being a betta mom.

oh, oh! another lesson i can't help but warn against....
5.:
BETTAS (no matter how seemingly simple, space saving and inexpensive pet) ARE FREAKIN' EXPENSIVE!!!!! if not careful it is very very easy to find yourself spending upwards of $200 in a month on just one, maybe two tiny betta. oh dear readers i can't begin to moan and groan of how much i have spent in the last year one just 2 betta (not to mention my snail). DO NOT...DO NOT SHOP IMPULSIVELY if you were thinking a little fish could be low-budget. buy cheap or even scavange or try DIY fishie needs. and i tell you the internet or a yardsale are heaven sent!

ok. i'm done.
long post i know, it's like my pen signature, appearing to come from the insane but it's still good nonetheless. :rolling:

guess i'm too late.

terribly sorry Elisa. Jilly is right-on about the continual change in meds and routine. plus car trips (however short) seem to spell doom for these guys from what i've been hearing. i have no idea how any of us make it home with these guys from the pet store!

again, i'm sorry you lost him. and again, Jilly is right, you should deffinitely rescue another betta. you have everything it takes to make a fantastic betta mom, you did just what any of us would do when one of our guys gets sick. you become UBERMOM! worry, worry, panick, search for a cure and relief frantically and usually partially blind. maybe pull some hair out along with your wallet. worry, worry some more, hope, pray and wait.

we've all done the same thing, whether it be with children or fishie babies, it's a new mom's worst worry gone ary. it get a little easier as we learn more. you've got a bit of a hand up though, unlike children, betta babies at least have some small Owner's Manual.

please let us know when/if you get another betta, hopefully with pics! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Ubermom, lol

yeah...that wallet of mine is feeling a little bit thinner than usual...between the meds and the decorations I bought to keep his fins off the gravel...I'm just lucky I saved some money by inheriting an old tank and a few little plants from my boyfriend who used to be an avid fish owner as well. But alas, he does not understand the betta obsession, because he never had one. Perhaps it's about time I showed him, eh?

I'm seriously considering one of the little red beauties I've seen around. My desk just looks so lonely now! My "fishfishfishfish" was blue and matched the gravel, but another blue one would be sad <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> I'll try and dig up a digital camera from somewhere...all I have is a webcam, maybe that will take a picture too, who knows...

And when I get a new little guy for my desk (probably will be a little while, maybe I'll even wait until I go home for the summer so he doesn't have to get moved around so much) at least I will know better how to care for his diseases!

Thanks for your help guys, you've been great <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

good for you Elisa!

i got my hubby into bettas. he resisted any notion of having a fish around as a pet (replacement for his cat). certainly could not imagine my description of them and how their little personalities are and everything. so i decided to get not just one but two! surprised him with them and he very quickly fell in love. now he wants to convert one of our rooms intoa huge fresh and salt water fish room, maybe two.

his fishy friend sadly died much like yours, he was devastated, so it might be a while before we get anymore bettas.

ahhh those bettas, they sure grab you by heart strings and pull you down into the fishy depths of bettadom to be slaves. worst part is...we don't even mind. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Yeah, I know about the wallet thing myself...my big slip up came when I gave in to my daughter's desire for a fish tank and got her one for Christmas last year...then...I foolishly gave in to her desire for a betta. (the community tank wasn't enough I guess...lol)

One betta turned into 2 bettas..cause he just had to have a girlfriend, which would have been fine, but she turned out to be a short finned boy..lol :rolleyes: . Then I saw another betta that I fancied...and another ...and another...and then, gee...why don't I try to BREED a pair ! (great idea, had fun too, but ended up with over 200 fry to find homes for..which I did)

I am now down to...lets see...

10 adult male bettas

3 adult females

5 male fry from my spawn

6 female fry left...(all the fry are 8 months old)

A new community tank that has 4 long finned danios and will have 2 neon blue dwarf gourami's once the tank cycles...and I am considering a possible small marine tank....(I'm a glutton for punishment!)

All of this because I bought my daughter a 10 gallon setup...lol! I don't even want to try and figure out all I've spent on fish, equiptment, plants, food, tanks, etc etc etc.. :rolling:

*my name is actually Elise, lol, not Elisa...sorry for the mixup there, my friend used to call me Elise-a-boo, so it just got adapted into my screename