2 sick bettas, meds not working

Ok so my white betta started to get fin rot and tail was just getting and worst and more frayed and started to piece off more and more. He had a big half moon tail and so much of it has shredded off that his tail now looks like the shape of a shark tail. He was in an uncycled but filtered, heated, 1.5 gallon Aqueon Cube with gravel, silk plants, and SpongeBob hideout decor/alternating with a silicone anemone wiggly decoration. I use Seachem Prime, api QuickStart, and also have apiStressCoat, api AmmoLock, Fluval bio cleaner. I noticed his fins starting to do this shortly after I introduced Indian Almond Leaves to his tank. And noticed it progressing more rapidly after introducing him to a new type of food besides his brineshrimp based pellets I started giving him sanfranciscobays freshwater frenzy, emerald entree, brine shrimp and bloodworms multipack frozen cubes. Just a tiny chunk of a cube rotating from the choices each time every 2-3 days and his pellets once or twice a day. I was doing 30 percent water changes daily /sometimes every other day. Removed any poop pretty much the day of. Temp kept between 78/82 ph 7.4-7.6. I have api master kit. Ammonia always showed 0, nitrites 0, and nitrates 0. I first tried api betta fix into tank it didn’t really help. I removed all tank decor and took carbon out of the filter I then tried Seachem Polyguard into tank along with api aquarium salt but his tail kept getting worst. I then moved him into a 1 gal hospital tank, unfiltered, heated and moved his airstone into it. While he is in HT I cleaned his main tank completely washed and bleached and sun dried and rinsed everything, refilled it with water and prime and am trying to cycle it while he is not in it. I put the filter in it , no lights, covered, and added frozen brine shrimp and QuickStart. Been about a week now and ammo shows .25, nitrites 0, and nitrates between 0-5ppm. Tested my tap water and shows 0,0,0. Ph is 7.6-7.8 for tap water. Tank water for main tank shows 7.4-7.6 tank water for HT is 7.6. After putting him into ht with prime, and salt and poly guard still no improvement. His fins stopped receding however hasn’t gotten better and now the tips are like bright red as if there’s blood just inside the very tips of the entire edge of his tail fin and analfin and dorsal fin. I stopped polyguard and started mixing Kanaplex and Focus with his food every 3 days then dosing the HT with Metroplex every other day while doing 30 percent water changes. Still no progress and now he stopped using his right pectoral fin and just keeps it clamped to his side and when he swims he doesn’t use any fins much so he swims slowly as if it is painful to use any fins. Im at a loss here. I’ve tried giving this fish everything from Indian almond leaves, frozen food, quality pellets, airstone, filter, heater, betta fix, salt, polyguard, kanaplex, metroplex, etc etc and I’m wondering if I should try something like meth blue or ?? His eyes used to be bulgy but have shrunk to normal but now also looks like he is getting a thin thin layer of blackish like filmy fuzzy slime and translucent black spots randomly on all his fins ( he is an all white cellophane half moon with one or 2 black marbling spots )

also, I have another betta.. a red male veil tail which I had in an identical tank/situation next to my white bettas who seemed to had gotten what maybe looked like bloating/ early dropsy/ velvet / or ich. His belly often gets bloated and eyes get red and swollen and he starts swimming really weird occasionally like slow motion s-shaped curved swim movements. I couldn’t really be sure it was hard to diagnose. But I fear I may have infected the red fish with whatever the white fish had and the white fish with whatever the red fish has because now both fish are showing signs of everything. I think maybe from using shared tools between both tanks… I did the exact same treatment and trials that I did with the white fish. And now my red fishs analfin tail is like shredding pretty deep and bad and losing shreds. I’m in too deep and need help. It’s such a hard thing to watch not only one fish-baby being I’ll but two of them at the same time just getting worst and worst I love them both so much and am willing to try anything to help them.

 

You might try HIKARI herbal betta revive it is good for fin rot, Pop eye, and Dropsy, good luck!

 

Hey Cocobeans008!

Sorry that you betta boys are still having issues!

First, you can disinfect your tank tools using some water and hydrogen peroxide. Rinse everything after using the tools with one before you use them on the other betta. Peroxide is great and should take care of anything bad. Just rinse it completely before you use the tools on the other fish.

I think that Prime and stresscoate are both dechlorinators. I would use only one of them.

For the white one, that looks like he is nipping his own tail. Do you see how it looks like chunks are missing in the 2nd and 3rd pics? He is probably at that age now...getting mature, and that can sometimes cause the problem. Getting him to stop may be hard. Sometimes they grow out of it. Sometimes they never stop. You just have to keep the water super clean. If you want, you can use the aquarium salt for another 2 weeks to help with the regrowth/healing.

And he is looking thin, too. Can you up his feedings a bit? Maybe feed him really small amounts 3 or 4 times a day instead of once or twice a day.

If you want to try methylene blue, I would do a fish bath. Put him in a separate container with one gallon of heated water and 1/4th teaspoon of methylene blue. Watch it as that stuff gets everywhere and stains everything. You can leave him in the bath for an hour as long as the temp stays at the same temp as his tank. You want to make sure that he doesn't get cold. When I do this, I use a bucket with a small heater inside.

Mr. Red doesn't look too bad. He probably has a grumpy digestive system. I would put him on only the frozen foods. If you can find some daphnia, that works like a laxative. Giving him that two times a week should keep his system working properly.

His fins don't look bad at all. You can expect some ripping and tearing. It is common with long finned bettas. He could do that just by rubbing on the gravel at the bottom of the tank. Small frequent water changes will help.

I don't see dropsy, velvet, or ich. The s curved swimming is probably natural. My red does that too. Their bodies get long. If you see his spine in a constant curve, then that is a different story.

And is that 4th pic a pic of a rabbit??? Trying to figure that one out!

Hope this helps!!

 

You need to let them heal, you are killing them with all the meds!, Neither one of them looks sick or looks like they have fin rot. The white one might be biting its tail, IDK,
Betta fix is not medicine, it is tea tree oil and it has been known to coat the labyrinth organ of anabantoid fish like bettas and prevent them from breathing!, Kanaplex is very harsh medicine.
Quit adding meds, quit adding salt, and get the fish into 5-10 gallon tanks. Half moon bettas especially need room to stretch those fins for proper growth.

 

Hey Cocobeans008!

Sorry that you betta boys are still having issues!

First, you can disinfect your tank tools using some water and hydrogen peroxide. Rinse everything after using the tools with one before you use them on the other betta. Peroxide is great and should take care of anything bad. Just rinse it completely before you use the tools on the other fish.

I think that Prime and stresscoate are both dechlorinators. I would use only one of them.

For the white one, that looks like he is nipping his own tail. Do you see how it looks like chunks are missing in the 2nd and 3rd pics? He is probably at that age now...getting mature, and that can sometimes cause the problem. Getting him to stop may be hard. Sometimes they grow out of it. Sometimes they never stop. You just have to keep the water super clean. If you want, you can use the aquarium salt for another 2 weeks to help with the regrowth/healing.

And he is looking thin, too. Can you up his feedings a bit? Maybe feed him really small amounts 3 or 4 times a day instead of once or twice a day.

If you want to try methylene blue, I would do a fish bath. Put him in a separate container with one gallon of heated water and 1/4th teaspoon of methylene blue. Watch it as that stuff gets everywhere and stains everything. You can leave him in the bath for an hour as long as the temp stays at the same temp as his tank. You want to make sure that he doesn't get cold. When I do this, I use a bucket with a small heater inside.

Mr. Red doesn't look too bad. He probably has a grumpy digestive system. I would put him on only the frozen foods. If you can find some daphnia, that works like a laxative. Giving him that two times a week should keep his system working properly.

His fins don't look bad at all. You can expect some ripping and tearing. It is common with long finned bettas. He could do that just by rubbing on the gravel at the bottom of the tank. Small frequent water changes will help.

I don't see dropsy, velvet, or ich. The s curved swimming is probably natural. My red does that too. Their bodies get long. If you see his spine in a constant curve, then that is a different story.

And is that 4th pic a pic of a rabbit??? Trying to figure that one out!

Hope this helps!!

Lol Oh my god! I didn’t mean to upload the picture of my rabbit sneaking into a box that I had candy hiding( from my daughter)inside lol. But Umm, okay so I actually caught mr red nipping his tail fin one night when I came to check on them ( I moved them into hospital tanks in my kitchen while I cycle their main tanks the proper fish less way this time. I haven’t yet seen my white one do it yet. He’s still on the road to worst though sadly. I’ve already upped his food intake ALOT because he was so skinny still. Do you think he could have an internal parasite that is eating all his nutrients? Because I’ve literally upped his feedings from 1-2 times a day to 3-4 times a day and increased the amount from 2 or 3 pellets each time to about 5-6 pellets each time. I’ve been doing 50 percent water changes 1-2 times a day using just prime and aqua salt. Keeping temp around 82-84 degrees. I’ll update his photo.. he started getting this weird black colored ring around his mouth now. And tail fin looks like complete trash now … ugh it’s heartbreaking to just sit and watch and try to guesstimate what’s wrong with him from trial and error. I just got meth blue and will do a quick dip bath in another container of water. Mr red seems normal and happy again no bloating, normal colored and sized poops again. He’s ready to go back home as soon as it’s finished cycling. The white fishs poops are still pale/white colored mixed with dark colored poops but it’s less and less white each time. Question about the cycles though… both identical tanks side by side same dosing same fish food added, same water conditioner and same everything!!! But I just tested the waters and they are showing different results which is crazy cuz I’d think they’d have the same readings right ?? The tank on the left is showing .25 ammonia 0 nitrite 20ppm nitrate. The tank on the right is showing 2.0 ammonia 0 nitrite & between 0-5ppm nitrate. What should I do?

Ok so my white betta started to get fin rot and tail was just getting and worst and more frayed and started to piece off more and more. He had a big half moon tail and so much of it has shredded off that his tail now looks like the shape of a shark tail. He was in an uncycled but filtered, heated, 1.5 gallon Aqueon Cube with gravel, silk plants, and SpongeBob hideout decor/alternating with a silicone anemone wiggly decoration. I use Seachem Prime, api QuickStart, and also have apiStressCoat, api AmmoLock, Fluval bio cleaner. I noticed his fins starting to do this shortly after I introduced Indian Almond Leaves to his tank. And noticed it progressing more rapidly after introducing him to a new type of food besides his brineshrimp based pellets I started giving him sanfranciscobays freshwater frenzy, emerald entree, brine shrimp and bloodworms multipack frozen cubes. Just a tiny chunk of a cube rotating from the choices each time every 2-3 days and his pellets once or twice a day. I was doing 30 percent water changes daily /sometimes every other day. Removed any poop pretty much the day of. Temp kept between 78/82 ph 7.4-7.6. I have api master kit. Ammonia always showed 0, nitrites 0, and nitrates 0. I first tried api betta fix into tank it didn’t really help. I removed all tank decor and took carbon out of the filter I then tried Seachem Polyguard into tank along with api aquarium salt but his tail kept getting worst. I then moved him into a 1 gal hospital tank, unfiltered, heated and moved his airstone into it. While he is in HT I cleaned his main tank completely washed and bleached and sun dried and rinsed everything, refilled it with water and prime and am trying to cycle it while he is not in it. I put the filter in it , no lights, covered, and added frozen brine shrimp and QuickStart. Been about a week now and ammo shows .25, nitrites 0, and nitrates between 0-5ppm. Tested my tap water and shows 0,0,0. Ph is 7.6-7.8 for tap water. Tank water for main tank shows 7.4-7.6 tank water for HT is 7.6. After putting him into ht with prime, and salt and poly guard still no improvement. His fins stopped receding however hasn’t gotten better and now the tips are like bright red as if there’s blood just inside the very tips of the entire edge of his tail fin and analfin and dorsal fin. I stopped polyguard and started mixing Kanaplex and Focus with his food every 3 days then dosing the HT with Metroplex every other day while doing 30 percent water changes. Still no progress and now he stopped using his right pectoral fin and just keeps it clamped to his side and when he swims he doesn’t use any fins much so he swims slowly as if it is painful to use any fins. Im at a loss here. I’ve tried giving this fish everything from Indian almond leaves, frozen food, quality pellets, airstone, filter, heater, betta fix, salt, polyguard, kanaplex, metroplex, etc etc and I’m wondering if I should try something like meth blue or ?? His eyes used to be bulgy but have shrunk to normal but now also looks like he is getting a thin thin layer of blackish like filmy fuzzy slime and translucent black spots randomly on all his fins ( he is an all white cellophane half moon with one or 2 black marbling spots )

also, I have another betta.. a red male veil tail which I had in an identical tank/situation next to my white bettas who seemed to had gotten what maybe looked like bloating/ early dropsy/ velvet / or ich. His belly often gets bloated and eyes get red and swollen and he starts swimming really weird occasionally like slow motion s-shaped curved swim movements. I couldn’t really be sure it was hard to diagnose. But I fear I may have infected the red fish with whatever the white fish had and the white fish with whatever the red fish has because now both fish are showing signs of everything. I think maybe from using shared tools between both tanks… I did the exact same treatment and trials that I did with the white fish. And now my red fishs analfin tail is like shredding pretty deep and bad and losing shreds. I’m in too deep and need help. It’s such a hard thing to watch not only one fish-baby being I’ll but two of them at the same time just getting worst and worst I love them both so much and am willing to try anything to help them.

Pics…

Hey Cocobeans008!

Sorry that you betta boys are still having issues!

First, you can disinfect your tank tools using some water and hydrogen peroxide. Rinse everything after using the tools with one before you use them on the other betta. Peroxide is great and should take care of anything bad. Just rinse it completely before you use the tools on the other fish.

I think that Prime and stresscoate are both dechlorinators. I would use only one of them.

For the white one, that looks like he is nipping his own tail. Do you see how it looks like chunks are missing in the 2nd and 3rd pics? He is probably at that age now...getting mature, and that can sometimes cause the problem. Getting him to stop may be hard. Sometimes they grow out of it. Sometimes they never stop. You just have to keep the water super clean. If you want, you can use the aquarium salt for another 2 weeks to help with the regrowth/healing.

And he is looking thin, too. Can you up his feedings a bit? Maybe feed him really small amounts 3 or 4 times a day instead of once or twice a day.

If you want to try methylene blue, I would do a fish bath. Put him in a separate container with one gallon of heated water and 1/4th teaspoon of methylene blue. Watch it as that stuff gets everywhere and stains everything. You can leave him in the bath for an hour as long as the temp stays at the same temp as his tank. You want to make sure that he doesn't get cold. When I do this, I use a bucket with a small heater inside.

Mr. Red doesn't look too bad. He probably has a grumpy digestive system. I would put him on only the frozen foods. If you can find some daphnia, that works like a laxative. Giving him that two times a week should keep his system working properly.

His fins don't look bad at all. You can expect some ripping and tearing. It is common with long finned bettas. He could do that just by rubbing on the gravel at the bottom of the tank. Small frequent water changes will help.

I don't see dropsy, velvet, or ich. The s curved swimming is probably natural. My red does that too. Their bodies get long. If you see his spine in a constant curve, then that is a different story.

And is that 4th pic a pic of a rabbit??? Trying to figure that one out!

Hope this helps!!

oh here’s the pics of the white fish now and the water tests.. the first and second tube is ammonia and nitrate from left tank and the 3rd and 4th tube is ammonia and nitrate from right tank. Both tanks were 0 nitrite so I just left those tubes out of the photo

 

Progress pics… still getting worst. I wasn’t using all the meds at the same time by the way… only using one or two then giving time without meds then trying something new. I’ve been battling my white fishs tail and fins wasting away for a few months now and is still not getting better.

 

Hi Cocobeans008,

Sorry it's been a while. We were having some serious issues with our internet service for quite some time.

It looks as though the white betta has a marble gene. That would account for his color change. You can do some research about that, if you like.

Concerning the cycling question, whenever you see ammonia or nitrites, it would be good to do a water change as soon as possible. If you are using Prime conditioner, it will hold that toxicity of low levels of ammonia and nitrite for a day or so. Are your tanks still cycling?

If he is still very thin, you might want to try a dewormer of some sort. Fritz Expel-P works on belly worms (nematodes, round worms, hookworms), or levamisole will too. I have a medciated fish flake food that is levamisole, but I don't know how hard it is to find that.

Did you want to try the hour long fish bath with methylene blue and an antibiotic mixed? (one gallon of heated water matched to the temp of his tank, with 1/4th of a teaspoon of methylene blue along with a small quarter dose of an antibiotic - enough for one gallon of water, like kanaplex). If you try this, and you put him in the bath and he doesn't have a big stress response, then leave him for an hour. It's best to have a small heater to keep the water warm. If you see him poop right away, then he is very, very stressed, and you would want to remove him right away. I like the baths more than the very quick dip method.


Another more radical treatment would be to try swabing hydrogen peroxide directly on to his fins. You would need to net him (hopefully you have a very fine net that won't hurt his fins), and carefully use a q-tip, and paint the peroxide on the affected areas. He will not like this at all, but the hydrogen peroxide will not hurt him.



I hope he gets better soon!!!!!