Betta Fish Crisis

I have a problem arising on my hands. My betta is dying and I don’t know why. His fins are ragged and run through, he doesn’t see his food and misses it a lot, and he constantly rests, never swimming around the tank like he used to. Please help. His symptoms have been progressing for a while, but it’s gotten bad. I’ve tried salt and medicine but that doesn’t work either. He eats well, despite missing when lunging, yet he looks thin. I’m worried. The tank has not changed. The parameters are the same (ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrates 20, ph 7.5)z please HELP!!!

 

That appears to be severe fin rot. How big is the tank? Is it heated and filtered? How often have you been doing water changes?

The best treatment for fin rot is always lots and lots of clean water- depending on the size of the tank, you should change 50%-75% of the water every other day until he improves. I normally don't recommend medication for fin rot as it's a gram negative bacteria (meaning it's difficult to treat with antibiotics) but this is a severe case- if you can get some Kanamycin to treat him, do so. Don't just use any random fish antibiotic as most will not be effective in this case. Don't use aquarium salt, as it will likely make him much sicker at this point.

 

That appears to be severe fin rot. How big is the tank? Is it heated and filtered? How often have you been doing water changes?

The best treatment for fin rot is always lots and lots of clean water- depending on the size of the tank, you should change 50%-75% of the water every other day until he improves. I normally don't recommend medication for fin rot as it's a gram negative bacteria (meaning it's difficult to treat with antibiotics) but this is a severe case- if you can get some Kanamycin to treat him, do so. Don't just use any random fish antibiotic as most will not be effective in this case. Don't use aquarium salt, as it will likely make him much sicker at this point.

The tank is 20 gallons. It is heated to 78 degrees Fahrenheit. It is filtered by a canister filter outside the tank. I do water changes every week at around 15 percent. I looked for Kanamycin but I couldn't find any in my lfs. I have a generic treatment from Marineland called "All-in-one." I have a quarantine 5 gallon, in which I could put the betta in. Should I proceed? The 20 is a community with invertebrates so I can't medicate that tank.

I also found it strange that this progressed extremely fast. The picture you see is the product of just 2-3 days. Is this normal for fin rot??

 

Again, please do not use random medications if you can't find Kanamycin (I think in the US it's sold as Kanaplex). The "all in one" will likely not help.

The fact that it progressed so quickly means that there likely is a bacterial issue going on here.

 

Again, please do not use random medications if you can't find Kanamycin (I think in the US it's sold as Kanaplex). The "all in one" will likely not help.

The fact that it progressed so quickly means that there likely is a bacterial issue going on here.

Alright. I'll look for that medication.

 

Can you take a picture from the top? His scales don't look entirely flat.

If you can't find an antibiotic, get some hydrogen peroxide 3% solution (they sell it at any local pharmacy). Take a quart-gallon cup of tank water and float it in the tank. Put 2-3 drops of the solution (if you can't dose individual drops, take a teaspoon and dilute by 50% 8 times) and stir well. Then plop in the betta. Keep an eye on him, if he starts to act strangely dump out half the cup in a bucket and refill with tank water in order to dilute the solution by 50%. Don't panic if you see some fin tissue flaking, this treatment tends to make the fish shed dead tissue.
This will nuke any and all bacteria so don't dump the content back into the tank (though probably in 20G it will be so diluted it shouldn't damage your cycle, but let's be sure). It will work instantly (unless internalised, see below) so the fin rot should stop progressing. (It will take a long time to regrow though).
This will only work if the infection is still external, if it has internalised (and he has started to pinecone) it will be too late. You can still try antibiotics in that scenario, but odds of the fish surviving in that case are still slim.

 

How long have you had him? That’s all the signs of a geriatric betta. He may just be declining with old age. I had one that did the same thing and he was old. In that case all you can do is keep him warm and comfortable. Older bettas like a temp of 80-82F. Water changes need to be at least 50% weekly. The fin rot just beginning 3 days ago indicates something else though. I’d do the Kanaplex along with Furan-2. They work best together. Please keep us posted.

 

In the past I had a really bad case of finrot that wouldn't NOT go away with daily water changes and kept getting closer and closer to my Betta's body. I ended up having to treat him with a combination of Jungle fungus cure (main antibiotic is nitrofurazone) and Kanaplex - I order both from Amazon. It's a somewhat more complicated treatment regimen. I'm not recommending this for you yet but if you need to escalate to big gun treatment, here's what I did:

Step 1:
50% water change
1st Dose Jungle Fungus Cure: Leave in the tank for 4 days (1-4)
1st, 2nd Dose of Kanaplex: Day 1 and Day 3

Step 2:
50% Water Change on Day 5
2nd Dose of Jungle Fungus Cure on Day 5: Leave in tank for 4 days
3rd Dose of Kanaplex on Day 5

Step 4
50% Water Change after 4 Days. I also added a charcoal filter for a few days after this last big water change but that is optional