I want to preface this by saying this is all my fault and trust me, nobody hates me more than I do. It's not an excuse, but I'm a doctoral student that is working on schoolwork, teaching, and research from 10am – 3/4am every day. I can't even take care of myself and have let my poor fish slip, which I have had several breakdowns over.
MOST RELEVANT INFO
My 2ish year old betta Charlie is currently having a lot of trouble swimming and seems to be struggling to breathe. I put him in an epsom salt bath a few hours ago for what seems like the early stages of popeye + losing scales, and he has not been the same since. I used 1 tablespoon of epsom salt in 1 gallon of water. The water was dechlorinated with SeaChem prime, and I matched the temp between his tank and the water. I left him in for 10 minutes, then put him in a recovery tub for 3-4 minutes, then put him back in the tank. He wasn't happy in the bath and kept swimming against the side of the container, but wasn't thrashing so I left him in. He is now having immense trouble swimming. He'll lay on the gracel and kind of try to swim against it. When I put a net/my hand in the tank, he will messily swim away from it.
My water quality was bad (20-30 ppm nitrates and was higher before last week) which I am just kicking myself over. I've been crying for hours and don't know what to do. It is CLEARLY the salt bath that has caused this current behavior and I am DESPERATE to do something for him. I tried to scoop him to the top with the net because he couldn't get up there to breathe, but he didn't want to when I brought him up. I lowered the water level as much as possible with the filter going.
BACKGROUND
Charlie has the marble gene and began to have some grow over his eyes about a year ago. I cleaned his tank at the beginning of the year and then couldn't do so again until March 1st. I know this is absolutely awful and I'm sick over it. I did a 70ish% water change on the 1st when I noticed him losing some scales (or they were getting darker).
Afterwards he didn't seem to be getting better but I didn't want to freak out and do anything that might hurt him (good job there) so I kept an eye on him. Around a week ago I saw his eyes starting to bug out and get cloudy. I gave it a few days while doing a 25-50% water change every other day. That didn't help.
He then seemed to have trouble seeing. He would come up for food, look at it intently, then go to bite it but miss. I figured something was wrong so I sat and did hours of research on popeye treatment and came across the epsom salt guide and gave him the bath.
I can hardly pull myself together to type this. This is one of the worst things that's happened to me while keeping fish and it's all my fault and I am truly praying there's something I can do because the thought of crushing him to death literally makes me sick.
Other misc maybe-related info:
He's had this brownish algae in the tank that has a very strong, acidic/spicy-like smell. It's been there for months and when I clean it it just comes back. It can be reduce by turning the lights off for days but doesn't go away.
– I VERY STUPIDLY DROPPED THE GLASS LID of his tank into the water during the last cleaning. I didn't see it hit him directly but I know he was near the top. He didn't seem too impaired by it at the time
– He's always been lazy but has seemed more lethargic lately, even after the water changes. Before I completely ruined him, he would still swim up to the top to eat, which would take him awhile.
– His spine has always been a little curved
– He's had a bizarre neurological thing since I got him, no matter the water parameters. He'd be swimming, slow down, then move side to side in a sinusoidal motion before 'blacking out' and sinking to the gravel. After like 30ish seconds he'd be totally fine.
- Tank size: 10g
- Heater and filter? (yes/no): Yes
- Tank temperature: 81
- Parameters in numbers and how you got them. Key water parameters include the amount of ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and pH.: 0 ammonia 0 nitrite 20ish nitrate (prior to today's water change)
- How long have you had the tank? How long have you had your fish?: Tank for 1 1/2 year. Fish for almost 2
- How often are water changes? How much do you take out per change? What is your process?: I KNOW this is horrible but it's usually once a month and recently went 2 months without a change. I usually take out 50-70% because it should be done twice a week. I use Seachem prime to dechlorinate the water and leave Charlie in the tank
- Any tankmates? If so, please list with how many of each: No
- What do you feed and how much: Fluval bug bites, a shake in the morning + evening
- Decorations and plants in the tank: Silk and live plants (anubias and java ferns)
- If you haven't already posted a picture, please post pics/vids to imgur and paste the link here:
https://v.redd.it/9417t28jkcsg1
Posted by Lenidae
4 Comments
i hope someone in this sub can help you!! commenting so that this post can be seen by more people.
It sounds like you’re doing all the right things. Please don’t be so hard on yourself. Unfortunately, I can’t offer any treatment assistance, but based on what you’ve provided here, I wonder how much of a factor his genetics are.
Be kind to yourself. I hope your Betta gets better.
Sounds like a bacterial infection to me, I’d try Kanaplex first and yes, keep the water clean. Your perameters are fine though. Good luck.
I’ve a busy schedule as well.
I’ve set up my tanks in a way where I rarely have to touch them. I’ve tested all methods and what works is natural setups. No filter, no tech, no water change. Heavily planted.
I just turn lights on/off feed my fishes and shrimps.
With experience you will learn.