Betta fish Help

[PrimoT11]

I recently purchased a betta fish from a friend. He is in extremely poor condition and was kept in very poor water with no filter. He has hardly any fins left as he has very bad fin rot, so much to the point where he can’t swim. I put him in a filtered 5 gallon tank. The only problem is he can’t swim with the filter on. He hardly has any color to him and I can’t tell if it’s a girl or boy. He said he purchased it as a baby boy but if it’s a boy he’s definitely a runt. I’ve never had a betta fish and don’t know how to take care of him. Is there any way I can revive this fish? Like I said he hardly has any fins and can hardly swim. Very hard fish I’m not sure how he’s still alive through the conditions he was living through. Please help on how to get his fins back and what I can do since he can’t swim with a filter on. Thanks

 

[Blueberrybetta]

is your 5gal cycled? could you post a picture as well?

 

[PrimoT11]

Yes it is cycled. I will post a picture tomorrow

 

[Blueberrybetta]

the best thing for fin rot is water changes. start by doing 25% wc every other day + Prime conditioner. make sure the water you add back is temp matched and conditioned. you should order some indian almond leaves for natural tannin to help promote din growth and Seachem Paraguard to help with fin rot and bacterial issues

what type of filter do you have?

 

[Salem]

Alright so for the filter that's a fairly simple fix, you'll want to baffle the output. How you do this will depend on what sort of filter you have. The water bottle baffle is the easiest and will work for most basic filters. It's a bit awkward to describe but a quick google search should bring up a lot of examples.

Blueberry's advice about the water changes and the almond leaves is a solid plan that should work with most cases of fin rot. Eventually once the fins are no longer rotting away they still will likely be a bit short- don't panic. They will grow back but they can sometimes take a while to do so. The regrowth may also look ugly depending on the extent of the previous damage. For example they may have bends in them or be a dull colour at first.

 

[PrimoT11]

I forgot I had pictures of him so I’ll just show you now. As you can see in very poor condition. And the filter I use is the filter that came with the tank I bought. The tank is a 5 gallon Aqueon LED MiniBow Aquarium Kit. Not sure what the filter is. And thank you

Alright so for the filter that's a fairly simple fix, you'll want to baffle the output. How you do this will depend on what sort of filter you have. The water bottle baffle is the easiest and will work for most basic filters. It's a bit awkward to describe but a quick google search should bring up a lot of examples.

Blueberry's advice about the water changes and the almond leaves is a solid plan that should work with most cases of fin rot. Eventually once the fins are no longer rotting away they still will likely be a bit short- don't panic. They will grow back but they can sometimes take a while to do so. The regrowth may also look ugly depending on the extent of the previous damage. For example they may have bends in them or be a dull colour at first.

Thank you! I’ll look it up. And I posted some pictures of him if you wanted to look at his fins

 

[AquaCaitlin]

I forgot I had pictures of him so I’ll just show you now. As you can see in very poor condition. And the filter I use is the filter that came with the tank I bought. The tank is a 5 gallon Aqueon LED MiniBow Aquarium Kit. Not sure what the filter is. And thank you

Oh my goodness that poor fish. I’m so glad you’re trying to help him. Everyone has already given the advice I would have given, but just wanted to wish you luck!

 

[Blueberrybetta]

oh my, I didn't think the poor guys fins would be so short! I would definitely get him a betta suction cup hammock as well (if not already), so if he get tired swimming, he can float above it and hangout at the top of the tank still. try to get the indian almond leaves and Paraguard still if you can. both will help from my experience. good luck and keep us updated if you need help!

 

[PrimoT11]

oh my, I didn't think the poor guys fins would be so short! I would definitely get him a betta suction cup hammock as well (if not already), so if he get tired swimming, he can float above it and hangout at the top of the tank still. try to get the indian almond leaves and Paraguard still if you can. both will help from my experience. good luck and keep us updated if you need help!

Thank you! And ya he’s been in some bad conditions. Can you tell if it’s a boy or a girl from that photo?

 

[Blueberrybetta]

I want to say male, I can see he had some red on him and his fins seemed long before , females generally have shorter fins & your betta does look bigger than a female betta would. I'm not an expert on sexting bettas but Id say its a male.

 

[MarioDario]

Make sure you’re doing daily water changes like said before, make sure he has plenty of places to rest on like betta hammocks or just plants near the surface so he can breathe, if he is having a lot of trouble swimming and can’t make it to the top some people will lower the water level, this is usually with bettas who have very severe swim bladder issues and can’t get up for food but maybe it would help him? As for your filter, you can usually slow the output with plants in from and other people will put shells if your filter allows you to, a sponge filter can be surrounded by plants to reduce suction power. I’m so happy to hear you’re helping him out and giving him a proper home, btw for sexing you can look a little below his head and if you see a white dot (egg sac) then it’s a female if there isn’t a tiny white dot there chances are it’s a male, I think he’s a male but then again I’m not 100% sure. Almond leaves are good as someone said before! Best of luck!