Betta Help! Fin Rot And Diamond Eye?

Not my Betta, I'm giving him a tank upgrade then back to the owner he goes...
I'm pretty sure he has finrot, does it look severe enough to start treating with kanaplex, or should I try daily water changes instead?
Also, I believe he has begun to develop diamond eye, can anyone confirm or deny? His eyes got cloudy a few days after I moved him to a new 5 gallon (not cycled, but his dinky 1 gallon didn't have a filter or anything), (drip acclimatio for an hour), they were only cloudy for two days but I'm worried it triggered the development of diamond eye. Other than tannins, is there anything that helps, thanks.
Also, currently I do not know the parameters because I'm cycling with TSS+ but I dropped in a cherry shrimp as a sort of canary (cruel, I know) and it's still doing fine so I assume they can't be that bad.

 

yeah That’s fin rot looks minor though do at least 25% water changes medicine is good too. Don’t know much about diamond eye but if it develops further make him a permeant home so he knows where everything is you can also set up a bamboo skewer with a water bottle ring and put his food in that and set up some signal so he knows he’s being fed like tapping lightly on the glass

 

Great, thank you! Would 50% water changes help more or be too stressful? And thanks for the idea about a feeding spot, I was wondering about that, it's a great idea

 

I think 50 would be ok you would have to see what he prefers

 

Doing water changes will mess up the TSS+, but I think water changes would be better than not doing them. You can do daily 50% water changes to help with the finrot. This will also help keep water parameters in check while it cycles. If you want to use bottled bacteria, you can use Stability while doing water changes.

 

Sorry, I realize I put very little information, today is day 11 for the TSS and I just tested, and dang ammonia is at .5, I do have some nitrates though and no nitrites, so it seems to have cycled somewhat at least. I'll try the water changes, should I try dosing kanaplex at the same time, or should I get ammonia down then dose?

 

I wouldn't dose with an antibiotic. I would do daily water changes of 50% to cure the fin rot.

 

Thank you! How long is a good time estimate for the 50% daily changes, around 2 weeks? Longer or shorter? Also what are some warning signs to look for if something starts to go wrong?

 

I'd do this for a few weeks. If he doesn't improve after that or it gets much worse, then I'd consider using an antibiotic.

 

I've been doing 50% daily, but it's still getting worse.... should I keep up with the water changes or try and medicate? Also, it's definitely diamond eye because it keeps spreading... someone is not going to be happy when I give them their fish back ops:

 

There's nothing you can do if it's just diamond eye - not your fault.

Could he be fin nipping? It doesn't look worse everywhere, just in a few spots.

 

There's nothing you can do if it's just diamond eye - not your fault.

Could he be fin nipping? It doesn't look worse everywhere, just in a few spots.

I've never observed him fin nipping, and I feel like I've watched him enough, but I can't really be sure. It's still white/black at the edges, and I think the fin rot is only on the tail fin, he's just got weirdly curved fins on the rest, but supposedly he'd been like that since the owner got him.

 

I'd say rearrange the decor, add some more, and continue with the daily changes. If it's still getting worse in a few days, a good medication may be needed. You can also dab some hydrogen peroxide on the infected parts of his fin.

 

How many days until I try to medicate? Sorry I'm just extra worried because he's not mine.... Also the only decor is live plants, most rooted, but I can add in some more anacharis if you think that will help

 

I like to test all possible options before medicating, so I'd personally go another week of the daily water changes. If that makes you uncomfortable, you could treat sooner.

Anacharis won't hurt, and it might give him more places to explore since you're changing up his environment.

 

Thank you, I'll try a few more days of water changes, but if it keeps getting worse, is kanaplex safe for bettas? It's just something I have on hand, and I read it's good for fin rot, but I'm open to any better/safer medication options.

 

It should be safe for bettas, as far as I'm aware.

 

Dang, his dorsal is entirely ripped, I have no idea what happened, and the finrot started to spread to the analfin and took up all of the tail fin, so I'm going to go ahead and dose kanaplex today.

 

Dang I need some serious help asap please! It spread to his body through the dorsal. The dorsal just ripped three days ago and is now in terrible shape and the flesh near is is all pink/white.

 

Well, I have to say that I have made an error on my part. Long story short, none of my tanks have carbon so I was used to only putting in carbon to remove meds...
Hopefully it will all go well now.

 

What do you mean? Did you add carbon to the tank?

 

Yaaay you're back! Are you doing okay? I normally see your posts daily and I hadn't seen anything recently...
No, there was carbon in the filter and I didn't think to check....
It's since been removed, but the body rot has spread quickly and isn't getting better, second dose of kanaplex today. Fin rot hasn't let up either.

 

I've been around a little bit, just busy in RL

Ah okay, hopefully the Kanaplex without the carbon will actually help now!

 

Thanks, here's hoping! If it doesn't work, do you have a medicine recommendation?
And I'm glad to hear you're doing good

 

You might try meth blue (in a QT, not the main tank) or another complementary antibiotic, like erythromycin.

 

He's gotten a good bit worse, and most of his dorsal has just been reduced to tiny strands... I ordered methylene blue, it won't get here until Monday, but that gives the kanaplex time to finish the dose. What medications have erythromycin in that are good for bettas?
Also in the first pic, his whole tail isn't black/gray just the edges are, it's just a shadow from an IAL I put in. Also the body rot is worse on his other side... And I know the second pic sucks, he still has a lot of energy and I can't believe I got the first one, but I just wanted to show how bad the dorsal got. Also that side of his face is turning white as well.
I need to get him fixed asap, there's no way I can give him back like this. It's just so frustrating, especially because my meds and water changes aren't doing anything.
Side note, I accidentally did like a 90% water change yesterday, drained onto my floor, but I had read that an 80% water change can help with bacterial infections, so maybe a happy accident?

 

80% isn't a magical number for bacterial infections, but as we've been discussing, large water changes in general can be beneficial.

I think you can get erythromycin for fish from Ebay.

 

Great, thank you. And I assume it's time to go ahead and buy the erythromycin? What are his chances of making it?

 

I have no idea about his chances. I don't think anyone can give you an accurate estimate.

He really doesn't look that bad though. The color change may not be related to body rot.

 

Okay thank you. My main concern about his face is that it's only on one side, though it is more white than the pink body rot. I'm just really surprised how quickly it's moving...

 

If the flesh on his face was being eaten away, I'd be a lot more concerned, but color change by itself isn't always a bad thing.

 

Thank you for all your help, and super fast replies, I really appreciate all of it.

 

Sorry to bother so much, but I have a few questions about the methylene blue. I see it's toxic to inverts, not surprising, but I am housing the betta with a cherry shrimp and nerite. Do I need to give him the M. Blue dip and then dip in a different container to get most of it off, then move to the main tank? I'm just worried because the tank is relatively small, (5.2 gallons) and I don't want to nuke the inverts.

 

I don't think you need to dip him in dechlorinated water before putting him back in the tank, but you can do do that if you're worried about it - after the meth blue bath, just leave him in the net and dip the whole thing in a bucket of tank water, then put him back into the tank.

 

Thank you! It's supposed to arrive tomorrow, fingers crossed. He's still getting worse, but apparently had enough energy to eat his shrimpy tank mate that had been in there for three weeks

 

And I'm getting more worried that it spread to the one side of his face... It's spreading at the same rate.
Edit: oops sorry posted one twice

 

I am very afraid this is not finrot. It has definitely spread to his face and the coverage has doubled in just a day. Also, he never had finrot on his dorsal, it was body rot that appeared there first then spread up the dorsal. It's also causing the dorsal to lose color, and parts of the ends of the tail fin are now losing color, when before they just had black edges. Please help, I'm really freaking out, I can't lose this betta. The dang m blue got lost in the mail or some because it says delivered but guess what??!! It wasn't. I re-ordered it and picked the fastedt shipping (again) but it won't get here till Wednesday. I also found the erythromycin online but haven't ordered yet because I'm now just really confused. I don't mean to insult you and your experience in any way, shape, or form, I know you have an incredible amount and you're always helping people. Sorry for the wall of text...

 

Is there any damage to his body besides the color change? I know the dorsal fin is messed up, but is there actually body rot, or just the color change?

 

I'm not really sure, but it's very hard to distinguish individual scales and it's edged in black like the finrot. Also, I'm probably wrong, but I thought solid colored bettas didn't change color? I'm not really sure, I'll be able to get a better look when I get back.

 

They don't usually change colors like marbles do, but a color change isn't necessarily bad.