fishlover1

My neighbor currently has two bettas in little bowls which i feel so bad for. I can tell they are getting a fungus or something because it looks like the end of their tails are dying or drying up ya know? thats what a fungus looked like in an article i read. 1 also has a white patch on the side of its belly :[ I know to be fungus. Today since i am dogsitting and have been feeding her bettas, I will ask her if i can have them... Its bold but their bowls are sooo dirty with stuff on the bottom and floating.. disgusting. I want to take them with me and clean the tanks and give them the best life i can give them! One has its tail spread out and the other doesnt. Bettas are truely beautiful fish. I am not a very new fishkeeper since I have a 29 gallon Freshwater tank with 10 fish setup for about 7-8 months now. I would of course use Prime to treat their water, and I need to know what i should do about the fungus. I dont have any extra big tanks to put them in seperatly. I have a 1 gallon I dont use but is hooked up for about 4-5 weeks now. I think it may be cycled because I added a bacteria supplement by TopFin a couple times, and put in some food flakes. It has an undergravel filter with aerator thing going up the middle. It has 1 fake plant and gravel. But i wouldnt want one to feel left out. I am on a budget and so next week i will BEG my mom to let me go and get a tank i know they need bigger ones so. For now i will see if we have some big bowls around the house i could possibly use as tanks or something. That is if i get them which i am praying i do! I will try to post the medicines i have in a bit but do not be afraid to post things I might be able to do for them if i get them! Thank you all VERY VERY much!! --- I may get more money since i have been dogsitting for a while now and she hasnt paid me yet! $$ So please hope that i can help them it may be fate that was meant for me to have them..!

Richard

Unless you're really depending on that outstanding money for something else, why not tell her you'll take the Bettas instead of SOME of what's owed?.. the condition they're in suggests that she doesn't really have the time or passion to take proper care of them, so you might want to let her know she can see them occasionally, just in case she has some kinda warped attachment to them, and proceed in rescuing the little brutes.. now if you're really serious about nursing them back to health, you may need to get them each a tank a little bigger than the one gallon you already have.. if each have their own 2-3 gall. tank they'll have a bit more space to swim around, and along with regular water changes, twice a day feedings and some medication ( we use Splendid betta Fix Remedy), they should get back to good quickly.

fishlover1

Yeah the thing is they are her daughters bettas. She went to college though and left her mom to take care of them... and i asked her she said that she has to ask her daughter first if she wants them. :[ ugh I mean i dont think the tank has been cleaned since her daughter left for college. I know i do need another tank for them, i would try to find a temporary bowl(s) around the house for them to stay in until i can buy them bigger 3-5 gallons if my mom will let me! Urg. Yeah and i was looking on PetSmart/PetCo and saw the medicine you were talking about.
The Medicines I have at my house right now are:
1. Melafix
2. Jungle Labs Fungus Clear Fizzing Tablets
3. Jungle Labs Parasite Clear Fizzing Tablets
4. Aquarium Salt
5. Mardel Maracyn-Two (Maracyn-II) powder
6. API Super Ick Cure
7. Jungle Labs Anti-Bacteria Medicated Fish Food

COBettaCouple

For those bettas, you'll want Triple Sulfa and Rid-Fungus to treat the fin rot and fungus, VitaChem to strengthen them.. also treat the water with both Prime & NovAqua+ and add Fish Protector if you can find it.

never use any melafix or pimafix with them.

lilswimmer

I hope everything works out with those bettas. It's so sad to see them mistreated. I'm so glad you have the desire to resue them from such awful living conditions.

Absolutely be sure that you never use Melafix on your Bettas. It's deadly to them because of their respiratory systems. There's a thread you should check out at the top of the forum about it if you haven't already.

Right now I'm using Maracyn to treat my betta for body fungus and fin rot. I don't know what the difference is between that and Maracyn II. Anyone know if Maracyn II will work for bettas?

COBettaCouple

i believe they each treat either gram-positive or gram-negative bacteria,
but i don't use the maracyns a lot, so i could be off there.

armadillo

Fishlover, that is such a generous gesture. You're in good hands with BettaCouple, so nothing to add on his advice.

Just wanted to wish you good luck, and thank you again for being so generous with the fish. It sounds like you're on a budget and still ready to go without to give a couple of fish some care.

I hope the daughter is OK with giving the fish to you.

fishylady

i had a neon that had what sounds like the betta has and i used maracyn2 and jungle fungus eliminator none of them worked and my poor fish looked ready to die then i read about maracyn it is more suited for white patches which turned out to be columnaris.... so i treated him for 8 days with maracyn.......and now the little guy is allright......but with maracyn it says give 1 packet a day for 5 days then if that dosent work do another 5 day treatment but they have to use it all even if they look better......anbd you can keep your filter in with maracyn but it can also cloud your water.....

nmwierman1977

Yes, your're right Dave..

chickadee

There is a stickied topic at the top of the Betta and the Fish Health sections about using Melafix on Bettas and other Labyrinth organ fish. They die horrible deaths using this med. I and other members can attest to the terrible effects of this product on the Labyrinth organ that allows the fish to breathe at the surface of the water. You will eventually kill your fish when you use this medication or any medication containing Tea Tree Oil that floats on the water and makes a film and suffocates them slowly.

Please read this article. It was given to me by someone who knows a LOT more about bettas and she received it from an expert on bettas. She had also lost bettas because of the use of Melafix. It is not to be used and it is a very serious issue for any of the fish that are listed in the Fish Health Section.

Rose

The TriSulfa is by far the very best of all meds for the treatment of the problem followed closely by Maracyn2 but TriSulfa is the best and not only that if you are on a budget is much cheaper if you buy the Mardel brand.

armadillo

Rose, is that also true to Pimafix? I have both at home for my other fish, but was wondering if Pimafix was OK for bettas.

chickadee

Pimafix contains Clove Oil and that is what is used to euthanize fish. I used to use it and noticed that my fish were very lethargic and sometimes even nonresponsive. I have since made the decision that no Pimafix will be used on ANY of my fish and I will not recommend that anyone use it. I know that many of the members have decided that the risk is too great and have decided to suspend use of the medication.

To my way of thinking, any medication that includes in its ingredients medication that is used to kill fish is too dangerous for me to use. I will not say that you cannot use it, but it is very risky and I will not recommend it.

I think this is especially important not only for bettas, but for all the smaller fish as the dosages needed to affect them would not need to be as large. Since I have stopped using both Melafix and Pimafix, I have not had the lethargy or problems with my fish being overmedicated and stuporous when I do have to medicate them for something.

Rose

COBettaCouple

I wouldn't use melafix, pimafix or even bettafix with our bettas.

ricktavious

Correct, any of those products could potentially cause death to bettas