Can I Save My Betta

For a while now my betta fish has been mostly out of view, hiding in his hut but occasionally he would come out and I would feed him and he would eat although his behavior was a lot different than what he did normally. When I would feed him he would go to the top of the tank to eat but instead he would go after the food that fell to the bottom of the tank but other than that he looked okay to me. But for a few days I did not see him at all and then this Saturday I did see him and I was shocked at what I saw. The beautiful fins that were his tail fins were completely gone and he has this black hole on his body where the fins should be. The other fins, top and bottom seem normal but when I saw him everything was all sort of stuck together and he looked like he would die any minute and I am still afraid he will die.

I did not know what to do and so I did a 50% water change and put some API General Cure in his tank but that only seemed to make him worse. So I found something called Imagitarium Bacterial Infection Cure at Petco and I once again did a water change, this time 75% and added this product and it seemed to work a little bit. At least his color looked better to me but he still hung out at the bottom of the tank. The next day I did more research and found out that most likely this new natural product I was using was most likely too weak since it was not a medication and only herbal. Continued research led me to a product called Jungle Fungus Clear which is Nitrofurazone and according to the reviews works well for fin rot which I thought was what my betta had but the problem is that the rot seems to have gotten to his body and I read somewhere on this site that if the rot reaches the body then the fish will die and so I am very worried that he will. I did another 50% water change and added the Jungle Fungus Clear and after a while he looked a little better as far as his color is concerned and he stays out of his hut but he still only hangs out on the bottom of the tank or on the top but he looks like he is dead when he is there. I also read that I should use Seachem Kanaplex for this condition which I ordered but won't get until Monday so I can only hope my betta will live until Monday. I am still not really sure what he has and what happened to him to make him lose his tail fins. He has absolutely no interest in eating and I wonder how long he can go without eating.

He is the only fish in my 5 gallon tank and I do 50% water changes twice a week and all the testing values are always normal. I have a meter on the tank to show me if the ammonia gets high but it never is as I am always changing his water and I use Prime and Stability each time I do.

So basically I have a betta with a hole in his body and I am wondering if there is anyway at all I can save him. I uploaded a photo but his color does not appear right in the photo. His color is normal and not the gold color it appears in the photo but the black spot is clearly visible. Is there any way that his fins can grow back? He is suffering so much and I hate to see him go through this.

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I am so sorry all this is happening. I think that you are overmedicating because you're trying so many medicines in such a short time period. You're not giving any of them a chance to work because most medicines take a week or more to treat fin rot. I would say Kanaplex is definitely you're best bet. I think you should stop medicating until you get the Kanaplex and instead do daily 50% water changes. Kanaplex is an extremely strong medicine and I am pretty sure you can't use it with other medicines.

 

HI there - first off, I'm so sorry about your fish. I think you've already come to this conclusion, but please manage your expectations with this one. It looks like this has gone awfully far, but I wouldn't give up yet. Definitely take it easy on the medication, as you can easily end up doing more harm than good. LagerthaM is right to recommend nothing but water changes until the kanaplex arrives.

What is the temperature of your tank?

 

Nitrofurazone and furazolidone in Jungle Fungus Cure should act as a bacteriostatics. Those two things are the same ingredients as furan-2, except your product also has a redox, potassium permanganate. I would continue that. You could combine it with kanaplex once you get that on monday for a synergistic effect if it alone doesn't stop his fin and body rot. However, I would be surprised if just that product doesn't fix your betta's issues. For your concern about your betta's prognosis, for bacteria eating flesh, bettas usually recover from such condition, so I would be hopeful.

I don't think herbal treatments would work for fin rot. From my experience, I have used melafix, which is tea tree oil, on three occasions, and it never stopped the progression of fin rot. In fact, I am a little suspicious that I have a bad bottle. However, you have stated that your different herbal brand helped bottle your betta, so I don't know. However, too many medications can cause stress on his body, such as making him have more difficulty breathing and functioning.

For one of my bettas that has gotten fin rot three times off and on during the past year, I have used furan-2, which is the same as your product except for that redox, and kanaplex together. This third time around though, it was too much for him as he was having difficulty breathing, so I am treating him instead with sulfaplex, which is more mild treatment for him. For this third time treatment, didn't really use that previous combination very long, only there days, so I didn't see him recover much.

In addition to antibiotics for bacteria infections, I also use methylene blue. I would recommend that product if you weren't using jungle fungus cure. The potassium permanganate in your jungle product acts similar to methylene blue as they are each redoxers. They each transform cells to be more optimal with oxygen.

 

I did get the Kanaplex which arrived after I had used the Jungle Clear by itself about 3 times and I also did numerous water changes. When the Kanaplex arrived I used it in combination with the Jungle Clear the first time and they I used the Kanaplex alone 2 times after that following the instructions on the box. After the third time I stopped all medications and am now just doing frequent water changes. I stopped because I don't know what to do next. I have used everything that has been recommended and while I don't see any further body rot, and I think it is possible that I see some healing, my betta still seems to have no interest in living. He lays around all day and almost never moves. His body, except for where the black spot is, looks good but he never eats and it has been weeks since he has stopped eating. Once in a while I can manage to get a pellet to land on him and he will eat it but this only happens once in a great while. How long can a betta go without eating? I have heard that a betta can go 2 weeks without eating but mine has gone about a month now without eating and yet, he does not look like he is losing weight. When he swims around, he actually looks good except for the black spot. What else can I do for this poor fish to help him get better? I am so frustrated that it looks as if he body rot has stopped but he still just lays around all day and never moves and doesn't eat.

What also puzzles me is that fin rot occurs with poor water conditions but I have a 5 gallon, filtered, heated tank and I do 50% water changes twice a week and still he developed fin rot and I don't know from what. I did notice that there used to be a lot of particles floating around which stopped when I used the medications and I have no idea where the particles came from since I never fed my betta very much. Right now all I am doing for him is changing his water about every other day. Is there anything else I can do?

 

I am so surprised that he’s hung on! At this point honestly I wouldn’t give up. Keep the water clean, and try spot feeding with blunt tweezers or your hand. I’ve hand fed flakes to a betta, and bloodworms. If you have a pair of dull tweezers, you should be able to offer food straight to his mouth, and find that he will probably eat it. Could you post an updated photo?

 

So, you used jungle fungus clear by itself for how many days, two days with fungus clear combined with kanaplex, and four days with just kanaplex? Or how many days of each?

Your betta still has a black spot of infection you say, or is it a healed black spot?

I, personally, would continue treating him with jungle fungus clear and kanaplex together again until he isn't lethargic anymore. He shouldn't move around more I think.

 

So, you used jungle fungus clear by itself for how many days, two days with fungus clear combined with kanaplex, and four days with just kanaplex? Or how many days of each?

Your betta still has a black spot of infection you say, or is it a healed black spot?

I, personally, would continue treating him with jungle fungus clear and kanaplex together again until he isn't lethargic anymore. He shouldn't move around more I think.

When I started him on Jungle Clear I did not have any Kanaplex. So I used just Jungle Clear. I started Jungle Clear on a Tuesday, used it again on FrI and then again on Sunday but this time added Kanaplex. Then I used just Kanaplex the following Tuesday and Thursday. So now it has been a week since he has had any medication at all. As for the black spot I cannot tell if it is healed or not. It hasn't gotten any worse and I can imagine that it would take a lot of time for his fins to grow back. Other than that black spot the rest of his fins look good and I never did see any sign of fin rot on them. When he swims he actually looks good, but that is the problem. He almost never swims and he never eats and I just don't know how long he can go without eating. Other than one pellet every few days he hasn't eaten in months. Some days I think he is dead as he is hardly breathing but if I disturb him he swims away in a hurry so he still has energy to swim but I don't know where he is getting it from.

 

I don't know, but I think if he dosen't swim, doesn't eat, or is lethargic, then he still has some kind bacteria infection, maybe it is internal. Two of my bettas have bacteria problems, besides kanaplex and furan-2, which your jungle clear has, I am using lots of aquarium salt. I started with .8 tsp per gallon and now I am using 1.2tsp /g for one and 1.6 tsp/g for another. However, jungle fungus clear has potassium dichromate, so I am unsure, but I don't think you should combine it with aquarium salt, rather I think potassium dichromate is a more effective kind of salt for bacteria. So, I think you should start treatment again with those two medications combine. But, I think he still has some kind of bacteria infection if it doesn't eat or is lethargic.