seagullnz

Hi

So I have been monitoring Betta Baby's tail for a few days now and treating him with non-meds (garlic guard, vitachem, clean water etc) and then honestly in just a few hours from this afternoon to this evening his fins/tails are all 'frayed' . Hubby said "it looks like he's wearing a scarf!"

So now I'm off to the LFS to get some meds - hopefully Trisulfa if they have it.

How long does this take to kick in?

And to make matters worse we are moving in a couple of days which will stress him out even more - any advice on how to have a stress free move for the fin baby?

Thanks
Lily

seagullnz

So I've just got home from athe LFS - I managed to get some API Triple Sulfa and am about to do a dose of it - boy is that stuff expensive!!!

Lucy

Poor little guy, I hope he's feeling better soon.

Are you moving far?

seagullnz

We are only moving 30km, so not too far but I am worried that the move and being out of his 10G will stress him even further.

I've read some stuff about fin/tail rot and it says that if the water is kept super clean and gravel kept clean then a betta will hardly ever get tail rot.

But I swear that I've kept up with all weekly water changes and weekly gravel vacs, vitamins, garlic guard etc. I just don't understand why this has happened! What could have gone wrong with my little guy, and for it to come on so, so suddenly. I feel really bad for him

I also stopped in at the craft store and bought quite a few bags of marbles so that when I re-set up his tank I will put a layer or two over the gravle substrate. I thought about taking all the gravel out and just having the marbles but I figured that all the good beneficial bacteria are in the gravel as well as the filter so I don't want the tank to go into a mini-cycle.

What do those in the know think?
I would really appreciate some advice

And don't you just hate it when you go and get the meds and then people say, what $26 for a fish, just get a new one !

Also, I think that I will take out the fake plant and put in some real ones (I have one java fern in there at the moment), but what will he rest on when there isn't anything high?

Also, if I have the triple sulfa in the tank will it kill live plants?
Should I wait till I have finished the 4 day treatment of meds before adding anymore real plants.

Sorry about the long post, thanks everyone for hanging in there with me!
I don't know who else I would turn to if you all weren't around (certainly not the advice of the LFS! - who always try and sell the pimafix/melafix!)

Lily

Alessa

Im really sorry your boy is going trough this... and yes, i have heard it and I HATE IT!

im sure with your care and love he'll be better in no time

Martinismommy

Just make the move and he will be fine.....Growing fins back takes several months so you must be patient.......

My experience with fin loss.....The whole process took 6 months.....

seagullnz

Thanks for the kind words of encouragement, they mean a lot!

What should I do about the gravel / marble situation?

Also, can others tell me what are betta friendly decorations to have in his 10G home.

Most of the LFS ornaments all seem to be kind of sharp in places.

Why did this happen - are betta's just prone to this kind of thing?

Honestly I am sure that my little finned friend just thought it would be fun to add to the stress of moving!!!

MinxMermaid

karen, Will's eyes never cease to amaze me!!! big ole puppy dog eyes!

MinxMermaid

the sulfa should help, my royal blue same thing, all of a sudden half his tail was shredded, then GONE! right before i went on vacation. rick treated him with what you are using, and it cleared right up. its been just a few weeks and his tail has healed up and growing back nicely. 3/4 of the way back.

i'm not an expert on the marble thing, i know a lot of people use them, but can't help you there.

as for decorations, see my thread, redecorated my betta tanks for some smooth decor that they love, most found in the hamster dept at petsmart.

hope you baby is better soon and makes the move ok.

when we've moved fish, we just keep them in their tank and lower the water level way down like to 25-30% and then refilled at the new destination.

seagullnz

Thanks Minx Mermaid

I will check out the toys in the hampster dept

I have just taken out one of the decorations, it was a tall plant that he liked to rest on the leaves but on closer inspection some of the stalks may have been to sharp, so I have put the silk calla lily over in the corner for him to sleep on for the next few days till we have moved and sorted it out.

I was thinking about just trying to move him in his tank and take out a lot of the water but I have a 10G with around 2 inches of gravel substrate so it's pretty heavy and was worried about cracking the glass by moving it with water / gravel in it.

I just can't believe how fast the horrid rot has come! Literally in a few hours!
Poor little scarf tail baby.

That's good news about your boy, hopefully the sulfa does the trick for mine too, I hate the thought of losing him.

Hubby thinks I am obsessing, he just doesn't understand like all the folks here do!

Lily

shellbell4ever

Good luck with your poor baby I used rid fungus and triple sulfa for my boys and saw much improvement in a matter of weeks...I have one boy that seems to get it more often
On the substrate ? I am in the process of switching all my gravel to the marbles I do a little bit with each water change and am monitoring my parimiters closely...Hope that helps

Lucy

If you leave him in the tank, he'll get sloshed around. Put him in a plastic bag with plenty of water and air then put his in a soft sided cooler to maintain his water temp. You can put newspapers or packing peanuts around him so the bag does slip and slid.

You do have to be careful of the stress on the tank with water in it. You can probably leave just enough to cover the gravel. Keep your filter and decor in warm used tank water to try and preserve as much bacteria as you can.

It shouldn't be too bad since your not moving far.

I hope he's feeling better today. Good luck.

jdhef

Not sure if this will work, so hopefully someone will give it a thumbs up or thumbs down.

Maybe you could put your old gravel in some old pantyhose and just place it like that in the tank for a couple of weeks until the glass marbles get a chance to build up bacteria.

Lucy

That would work fine.

welshalien

whenever I've moved tanks that have some water in them, I slide them onto a piece of plywood larger than the tank and use 2 people to carry THAT and put the whole thing in the back of the car (I have a wagon). I've always left the fish in, too. It's not the ideal situation but it has worked for me with no problems.

Kelly

seagullnz

Thanks to everyone for all your advice.

Another couple of questions ...

Should I continue with daily drops in his tank of
Vitachem and Garlic Guard?
If so how many (will it affect the triple sulfa meds?)

And should I add the API Stress Coat to the water when I move him just to help him out?

The big move starts tomorrow night, we are going to move his tank last, on Friday morning and then set it up first (ha ha he gets his home done before us!)

Thanks
Lily

seagullnz

Oh, and i was thinking that maybe I would keep a layer of my black gravel in the bottom of the tank and then just put the marbles as a top layer, so that I keep the beneficial bacteria - plus I would have to buy dozens of bags of marbles to get the depth of the layer that's in there now.

Would this be ok?

chickadee

sure but be aware that the marbles will eventually probably work their way into the gravel and you will need to add more on the top to cover the gravel or else fish them out back to the top. Gravel vacuuming can do this. But it will work.

Rose