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

awww, thank you <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

he isn't doing that much better, but he isn't doing worse either, so I'm not complaining. I kind of want my desk back though :-/

GRRRR so pesky!

Today I found another big chunk of his fin that had fallen off, and since yesterday I've bumped him up to daily water changes with salt and the correct amount of melafix.

Ideas????? He's being eaten by fin rot! I feel like I'm doing everything I should be doing, but he just isn't improving. Would live food help to a large extent? It's not very easy for me to get right now.

Elise

Well, it sure couldn't hurt Elise, but I wouldn't go to any great lengths to get some if it's not that available. I just happen to find a LFS that sold black worms in my area...before that I couldn't find them anywhere, so I know what you mean about the availability of live foods for fish. You could try brine shrimp. Those are pretty available in most fish/pet stores. Most carry the eggs, you just have to get a container, add whatever amount of aquarium salt the package suggests to the water..and an airline tube to keep air pumping into the water constantly. I have had pretty good success raising brine shrimp for my fish..if I can do it anyone can..lol..

Good luck Elise, just keep up the daily water changes...use a stronger fungus med if you have to..like jungle fungus eliminator or something. It may be that your fish needs something stronger than melafix. If the bettafix doesn't do the trick for me after the first treatment, I go with the stronger stuff rather than wait through another bettafix week. Right after the treatment put them in fresh clean salted water and do water changes every day...right until the fins are completely heales!! (that could take a LONG time...) I have found that if I don't wait until the fins are healed, they just get it again :rolleyes: ...rather than go through all that over and over, I have just decided to wait until thier fins are all grown back and healthy before I put them back in thier tanks. I have them in Walmart sized betta bowls during this time and do daily water changes. I keep them floating in thier bowls in the tank too...helps to keep the stress down as well I think, when they have familiar things to look at through thier bowl.

All the best in your efforts Elise...hope it goes well for your buddy! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

ive been using maracyn on nebbie and in 2 days his fin rot has stopped completely and the [censored] on his face is clearing. its a great drug!

I'm glad to hear that Nebbie is healing Sthenno! Great news! He really is a pretty fish! <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

eliseaboo,
just dropped by to check and wish that your doing fine with your fish ... or should I say that your fish is doing just fine <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

well....um...he's lost most of his fins actually...I just picked up some Jungle fungus eliminator today, so I hope that does something, because if not, then I don't know where to go from there. He's had three weeks of Melafix, and just been getting worse.. <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> my poor fishy, I wish I could help him more <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Elise

Will try to get you the name of the medication I used for my fish .

I'm pretty sure I'm seeing what looks like new growth! Especially on the fins he doesn't drag on the ground...*sigh* I spent $7 on a little shelter for him to rest his fins on, but all he does now is hide in it. Not to mention the $6 i spent on MelaFix and the $6 for the fungus eliminator...he's an expensive fish!! I think I'll do four more days (one more cycle) of the fungus eliminator, just to be sure he's all right, but then I'll switch back to just aqaurium salt and some MelaFix until he's all better I wouldn't want to stress him out too much with meds.

GARRRR!

So I thought he was doing better, right? Well, I took him home over thanksgiving (I live only about 10 minutes off campus, so I figured it would be a short trip, and in exchange I could give him proper care), and I had to switch his light and surroundings, and now my poor fish got very stressed out and he looks like absolute death. His fin rot has eaten all but a little stub of his fins, he has internal parasites I think (his poo is stringy and clear) and his fins are starting to bleed. He's having a lot of trouble swimming, and he's hovering at the top of the tank like he's being pulled to the top, so I'm wondering if he has a swim bladder problem. Part of his lip fell off and he's stopped eating. He also looks like he has dropsy, so I'm expecting him to die any day now :angel: I'm just trying to keep him comfy with warm water, daily water changes with salt and melafix, and I'm trying to feed him again too. I gave him a little salt water dip (the lady at Petworld told me if you briefly dip him in a little extra salty water it helps get rid of some of the bacteria that cause the fin rot...I figured he looks like he's going to die anyway) but he really hated that...and another thing that I found odd is that when I put the melafix in the other day, he sort of swam over to where I had dumped it in and started to twitch. So I do'nt know what's going on with my poor fish. I just feel like such a bad mommy, I almost want him to just die so that he doesn't have to suffer through everything so much <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

On the bright side, I was at WalMart today, and all their bettas looked very happy and healthy, and they all had clean water. My WalMart by me haws always had healthy bettas on display when I go there, although I can't say what the others look like in the back. They have some beautiful red bettas, but it just reminded me of how my poor guy doesn't have any fins anymore <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> I think I might take a break from bettas once this one dies, I can't go through all of this again right away!

So this is probably your last chance to say goodbye to my little fishy :angel: although he is a really tough fighter. Sorry for the long post guys! And thank you for all your help, I'm sure my guy appreciates it!

Elise