This is my fish, I know he has fin rot which I have been trying to treat with Maracyn Oxy but he is also having a hard time swimming around and seems disinterested in food and is losing weight and color. We got the water hardness down and are treating a little bit of nitrate with Pristine but I don't know what to do. He's with so tetras and so I currently have him in a small floater tank with some food for a couple of minutes in the hopes that he'd be able to eat since he won't be swimming so high. Any advice?
Edit: this is a 10 gal, I just did a 50% water change and will have to update the parameters but yesterday the gh was 60 and the pH was 7.5 and Nitrite was 0 with Nitrate 20, and the temperature has been kept at 76. Our filter is the Top Fin Silenstream
https://i.redd.it/9kr9ybo7gmwg1.jpeg
Posted by ResidentScissors
9 Comments
You have to write things like tank size parameters temperature filter type etc.. so people can help you out with your problem
This fish looks like it will not survive. It has a dent/dip behind its head which is typically the final fat storage location a fish can lose before it passes away (you see this same dip in senior bettas due to old age and normal thinning).
Fin rot is obviously a problem but I would personally pause medical treatment and fully focus on feeding until you can get him to a healthy weight. He is dangerously and possibly fatally emaciated at thus point.
You didn’t mention ammonia levels?
Having nitrates is fine because that means the cycle is working and plants are growing because of the nitrates. Trying to get rid of them is going to do nothing but run you in circles because that’s normal.
As for your fish….I don’t think he’s going to make it because he looks in really terrible shape. My advice is to keep him happy for the remaining time you have him and leave the tank as is because it looks like it’s doing fine.
I would treat with a broad spectrum medication. Looks like it could be multiple things at once. Paraguard, Polyguard, or aggressive salt treatments in a hospital tank.
Just do some things to help him and don’t give up. Methylene blue dips for 10 minutes in a small tank or container will help with fin rot and also kills all kinds of bacteria. I will tell you it does stress then a little do a few minutes just because they don’t know what is happening but then they get over it. Also add kanaplex as prescribed by directions in the event there is an infection of some kind. Make sure he has somewhere to sit up close to the top of the water so he can get air easy.
Have you treated him for parasites? It looks like he’s being eaten away by tapeworms
This looks like parasites and/or fish tb, that’s a crazily arched spine. He’s severely malnourished. Try frozen food and let him eat as much as he will and treat for internal parasites.
I have some videos I am sure will help you out. I normally use a home made method,no medicine to heal bettas. Methilane blue, sea salt and almond leaf. I’ll share one with you and you are welcome to watch some others. Good luck. https://youtu.be/HJ6CyVr6gHk?si=KJ1UfMYO14xSDWGK