tricky_tink

I have a betta with missing fins---eaten by a gourami and a Elephant nose with a pink sore on his nose.

So off to the fish store I go and I find and they suggest the MELEFIX Arrrg so mad just thinking of it! They also sold me the Gouramis "they are peacful nice community fish" Ha! They ate 3 of my guppies fins off--all died.

POOR Beta was in melefix for about 5 minutes before reading don't use that on one of my other threads in the begginers section.

Has anyone elses Beta survived, melefix?
I'm tired but don't want to leave him if this is it

OH WHERES THE I'M A STUPID IDIOT SMILEY I NEED THAT ONE!?

KittieKat

dont worry... as long as u did a nearly complete water change (i guess like 95%) right away your betta should be okay... just continue to do daily changes like normal and dont put that stuff back in!

its perfectly safe for other fish just not for the specific group with the partial "lung" (well it is one so i guess i shouldnt use quotes.. oh well) it causes swim bladder problems and could kill the fish.. not good!

never fear i did the same thing... i felt the same way too. i felt extremely guilty for not knowing but how can u know if u are miss-informed at the petstore right?!? u cant.. unless u have a fantastic fish fanatic website that u can converse with others.. like oh say Fishlore! yay!

sorry about all the mishaps with ur fishies... hope it all works out for ya!

chickadee

The fish will probably be okay. The fish that we lost due to Melafix had been in it for considerably longer than a few moments but for heavens sake get rid of it now. You will need to put some medication in your tank for your fish's fins but something like Maracyn Plus or Triple Sulfa or Tri Sulfa or a combo of Maracyn/MaracynII but not Melafix or Pimafix. Pet stores like to sell it as they do not know what else to sell for general run of the mill every day types of meds. Most fish do really well with the stuff. But Labyrinth fish like Bettas, Gouramis, and such DIE with it.

Rose

Just please do not beat yourself up over this. We all live and learn and thank goodness the little guys are generally tougher than we think. But that person who told you to put the gouramis in the tank should have their head examined. And you can tell them I said so.

COBettaCouple

We listened to the 'fish expert' at petco for a while - then found out that pretty much everything he said was wrong. We can't use the stupid idiot smiley since the stores have copyrights on their logos.

Blub

tricky_tink

oh. good news Nemo is still alive!


hmmm. is my african butterfly fish a labyrinth? He stays at the surface. If so I likely need to due a 50% water change on my 55 gallon and get the carbon filter back in.

COBettaCouple

Check: http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_pantodon.php for info on the african butterfly fish.

I'm not real familiar with those, but it sounds like that fish could turn into a problem in a community tank and bears watching. But he's not an anabanatoid. (air labyrinth fish)

LuvaBetta

Hey, T_T, you did GOOD! You did more than any Petco employee would have - you read up and saved your betta! I'll bet that idiot would have let his fish die and just bought another.

Peterpiper

COBettaCouple, That just made my day!

Try and add some carbon to your filter, it will help remove the remaining meds from the water. good luck!!

janoue

Ya i've done it, and then changed that water right way. Actually i am one of these people who just put in a drop here and there until i find out if there was an alergic reaction (not sure if fish have these, but kids do and I do it with my kids so I do it with my fish) Lucky I have dave (CObettaCouple) on my MSN and i was chatting to him while I was doing it he was pretty much like "read this" so I did. But we figure I didn't even put enough in with the betta to make any difference by then but I still did a 50 percent water change right way. Because i didn't put in even 1/4 of the dose, 50 percent did the trick.
So don't feel bad, I am one of the biggest fish mommy's around and I've done it to one of my boys!

Blub

Attached Images

Stupid idiot!.bmp (451.6 KB, 16 views)

Wilhelm Joshua Tan

Next time, You should not put your gourami with your betta because gouramis are territorial and bite to its enemys.

Here_fishy_fishy

I just put another dwarf gouramis in my tank and my old one is beating the brap outta him i dont know wut to do?? the pet store told me they would get along!!!

LuvaBetta

You've got to separate them now. Separate tanks if you have them, put one in a heated and filtered plastic box or tupperware if you can go get another tank.

Another temporary option might be a piece of plastic craft mesh, stick it in the tank as a divider.

Otherwise, sell one back to the LFS. Someone will die horribly if you don't!

Blub

bbfeckawitts

I also added Melafix to my bettas tank. He was lucky, successfully treated and all better.
Brianna

COBettaCouple

Gourami aren't as territorial as Betta but are territorial fish still and are fine with just 1. More than 1 male would call for a large tank.

Gourami and Betta are both air-labyrinth fish and Melafix, Pimafix and Bettafix all cause damage to the air-labyrinth organ.