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Betta Fish

Betta Fish: Is this aging or fin rot?

This is Peaches

Pic 1 is the most recent pic I have of him, and pic 2 was when I first got him.

I've had him for about 2-3 years now..?

I've noticed that his fins had been shrinking or looking like they've been torn up, but keeping an eye on water quality, and what I put in the tank doesn't seem to help

He has also been less active lately, resting on the bottom of the tank a lot and only coming to the surface for air and food (still very food motivated!)

I'm not sure if this is due to aging or fin rot, since I'm not exactly sure how old he is, but I'll see if I can get my hands on some medication just in case.

https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1rv6ol0

Posted by YourLocalAsianDelulu

7 Comments

  2. Fawneh1359 on

    That looks like a completely different fish. Wow. I’ve never seen a transformation like that. Looks like turned *into* a metallic. Very strange.

  3. Fawneh1359 on

    I’d grab some Seachem Stressguard to start dealing with the fin rot. It looks to be very very far along. The rest I’ll refrain from commenting on until you can post the parameters.

  4. Fawneh1359 on

    Is he breathing heavy? Is he lethargic or actively sinking when he tries to swim, darting to the surface, etc? Are his gills usually that red? And is the color change recent or was it gradual?

  6. Foreign-Ad3926 on

    Hi OP, thanks for answering the mod questions. Please get a test kit, you definitely need to test the other parameters asap – ammonia is only one of multiple water quality issues that can cause sickness in fish (nitrite, nitrate, pH, GH, KH etc). All can cause serious issues if outside healthy ranges tolerated by the fish.

    Why are you adding salt with every water change? This runs a big risk of building up over time and can impact the fish negatively. Salt doesn’t evaporate so remains in the tank – constant use hugely stresses fish out. This could even be why he’s struggling so much as he’s having to cope with constant osmotic stress.

    Are you able to increase water change frequency to dilute down any potential poor water quality parameters? And remove the salt build up?

    Aquarium salt is a treatment if needed, not good to continuously add at all.

  7. East_Athlete_3758 on

    Honestly my best guess is some kind of fungus. But for re growing fins API BettaFix can help rapidly, uses mainly tea tree oils, smells great. I help stimulates tissue and often time the bacteria or fungal infection just goes away. This guy is looking pretty rough tho, I hate to say it. 😒 Careful not to overdo it with the stuff tho, too much and the water will be hard for them to breath, If they are having a breathing reaction it will give them red irritation around gills as a sign to look for.

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