fishonthebrain

hi i got skid 1 month ago and its been very touch and go with him. the first week he didn't eat at all. he was swimming just fine and would flare up if he saw fury whose in a separate tank.just wouldn't eat so i told him if he'd just eat he'd get an upgrade load and behold he started eating. he's been fine for the past 2 week and looked good yesterday morning when i changed his water. i just got home from work and i thought he was dead laying on the bottom not moving 10 min passed, me grieving when he jumped up for air to my relief but his fins look ragged and there is some funny looking white specks on him.

i change his 1/2 water 2 a week and use aquari-sol one drop per gallon since it says 12 per 10 gal, and treat his water with splendid betta complete water conditioner.

i dont know what im doing wrong and was getting a 20 gal this friday so i could split it and give them both an upgrade.

can some one take a look see if theres anything i can do.

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StriderHiyru

anyway you can get the pic more clear?

EDIT: BTW what temp is your water?

COBettaCouple

I would recommend getting an API master freshwater testing kit to test your water. You'll want to test daily, then do a 25-50% water change after testing the water. Keep this routine until you get 0 for ammonia and nitrites and 10 or less for nitrates. Treat all water with Prime. This will help him get through cycling his tank.

For healing up his fins, I'd recommend Fish Protector, Vita-Chem and Garlic Guard daily. All 3 can be ordered from www.thatfishplace.com if you can't find them locally. They will help the healing process for him.

If he has tiny white spots that are like salt crystals, then that could be ich. You'll want to slowly raise the water temp to 83F and keep it there for at least 2 weeks. You can add a product called Ich-Attack to make him feel better, but just the warmer water is the treatment for ich. Normally his water should be 78-80F.

I would recommend feeding him thawed hikari frozen bloodworms - 3 per meal, 2 meals per day. 1 or 2 meals a week could be 3 small pieces (pellet-sized) of thawed & peeled frozen pea.

Hopefully getting him on this schedule will clear up any health issues, get his digestive system going good and get his tank cycled.

fishonthebrain

sorry this was the best pic i could get he doesn't seem to like the camera. i've been able to keep them at 75 degrees with out a heater.

BettaGirl92

For the fin problem, I treated my Betta with Betafix.
It's a not-so-expensive medication to help repair his fins.

After a while of that, i switched it to Melafix, which also helped, and made him look more healthy.

And i agree with CoBetta, if they are small white dots on his body, it could quite possibly be ich. It's a nasty little disease, and if it's not terribly bad, it's cureable.*
You should give your tank quite a scub-down, as Ich lives in the tank and infects the fish. Bringing the tempuratue up is a good thing too.

I hope your Betta feels better.

Lucy

Hi fish, Welcome to Fish Lore

COBettaCouple has good advice.

Melafix is NOT a good medication to use for labyrinth fish..here is the article:
http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/be...ad-danger.html

I see you don't know about the nitrogen cycle. This could be why he has not been feeling well and experiencing these problems.
Here is a good article that explains it:
http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

I hope skid feels better soon.
Good luck.

sirdarksol

Bettafix uses the same chemical as Melafix, just in smaller doses, so what Lucy posted regarding Melafix likely applies to Bettafix as well. The stuff is some kind of oil that ends up coating the inside of labyrinth organs (meaning that Melafix is bad for guoramis, and any other labyrinth fish, as well), and suffocating the fish. I'm glad yours didn't succumb to this, Tara, but there are a couple of folks here whose bettas went from having a minor case of fin rot to inexplicably dying a little bit after adding Melafix.

Lucy

Thanks sirdarksol, I was pretty sure Rose advised against Bettafix also, and I was just searching for that.

COBettaCouple

Since the temp has only been getting to 75 and fluctuating (which is one reason for a heater), it's probably ich then. Ich likes cooler water temps.

fishonthebrain

unfortunately my poor skid has gone to fishy heaven. whatever it was it him hard and fast. for now ill take a little time to morn and help my son with his betta fury. who has been doing great since we got him 2 month ago in his 2 gallon. thanx for all the advice.

COBettaCouple

We're really sorry to hear that he didn't make it.

Lucy

I'm so sorry you lost him.

BettaGirl92

awhh.
i'm sooo sorry about skid.
its always sad when you lose your betta.
they're such good fish.

StriderHiyru

sucks to hear about skid