Emergency Betta Rescue -- Advice?

HI all, this is my first post on this site so please excuse my lack of info. 2 hours ago I took my roommate's betta fish in an effort to save it from the poor living conditions it has been experiencing for a few months now.

History: The betta is a small female, about 2 inches, probably somewhere around 2 years old. She has been kept in a heated 2.5 gallon tank with gravel and a filter and one plant. I never saw her owner do water changes, and the owner is frequently gone for days so I'm not sure if she is being fed regularly. Her water was awfully dirty with dead plant debris, waste, and food gunk. She has severe finrot, to the point where it looks like one of her side fins is hanging on by a thread. She is also very lackluster in color, compared to how vibrant pink/purple she looked about a year ago. The poor conditions started about 6 months ago. She is in a Top Fin 3.5 gal Enchant aquarium, the kind with the color-changing LED lights. She is kept away from windows, but the owner goes back and forth between leaving the light off for a full week to leaving it ON a full week -- she hasn't gotten a normal light cycle in 3-4 months. About a month ago I noticed that she was acting like she couldn't see (this is when I started controlling the lights and changing the water more), so I started to hand-feed her. I believe she can see again now, but she cannot swim more than 1-2 inches off of the substrate now, and can't seem to control what direction she swims in.

Symptoms:
-Very pale color (went from vibrant pink/purple to an odd, cream-pink color
-Sits on the bottom 98% of the time, only moves sporadically to a new spot and then falls back to the bottom, EXTREMELY lethargic. Can't even move much to get food
-Bumps into everything as if she can't see, but is able to see when I push food towards her with a tongue depressor
-Sits crescent-shaped, like curling her body into a half-moon. Her spine looks bent (age?)
-Her head is a lot bigger than the rest of her body. Her eyes look fine, but her head looks swollen compared to the tiny tail (malnutrition?)
-Can't swim upwards at all, and acts like she has swim bladder despite defecating regularly
-Extreme finrot, missing most of her fins, especially the pectoral fins

Status:
-I have her in a small 1 gallon isolation tank, with softer substrate, one hiding spot, and one live plant. She is currently in front of the window in our dorm room, right in front of the radiator on the desk. I did not bring her heater over because it is too big, but because of the radiator there, her tank is sitting at 78-80 degrees (I am monitoring the thermometer). There is no filter currently.
-I have added API stress coat + water conditioner and one Tetra Lifeguard Halo-Shield all-in-one treatment tablet (I have had a lot of success with these despite some bad reviews) and was planning to do partial water changes two times a day for the next week, but I don't want to stress her out.

Other Info:
-I have maintained a heavily planted 5 gal tank with one female halfmoon betta for about 8 months. My betta looks to be in great condition (no fin rot, have tried to do all of my research, proper lighting, heating, filtration, and hiding spots). I am worried about possible contagious diseases and transmitting them to my own fish.
-I can transfer the sick fish back into the 2.5 gallon with the filter and heater if that is suggested, but I was worried about cleaning it out (in case of disease) without the roommate's permission

Any suggestions and help are greatly appreciated! I have posted pictures
of her in her shabby little setup, but I can get more if needed. Thank you in advance everyone!

 

Do you have a test kit for the water? And I'm glad you took charge!! Lots of water changes and healthy balanced diet and throw some indian almond leaves in her QT tank. She is probably at the bottom due to missing that fin. Maybe if you can find a plant that is tierd so she can get to the top to work her labyrinth lungs.

 

Since you took the fish out, I would definitely just clean out the tank. I doubt there's any disease in there, so I would rinse the filter media in the tank water that you take out, and refill the tank with treated water like a normal water change. You might need to take out the gravel and give it a good rinse. Once the tank is cleaned, let everything settle (you'll probably stir up a lot of dirt) and let the temperature get even before putting her back in. If you feel more comfortable with it, you can do all this while your roommate's out.

 

Side question...is a betta resting at the bottom of a tank a bad thing? My red male veiltail does it 50% I see him. He’s in a live planted ten gallon soon to have some more fish in that. His color and all are fine. Just asking...should I be worried in any way?

 

Side question...is a betta resting at the bottom of a tank a bad thing? My red male veiltail does it 50% I see him. He’s in a live planted ten gallon soon to have some more fish in that. His color and all are fine. Just asking...should I be worried in any way?

Mine likes the bottom too..hers just isn't able to go to the top and that is an issue.

 

Mine likes the bottom too..hers just isn't able to go to the top and that is an issue.

Thank you

 

Since you took the fish out, I would definitely just clean out the tank. I doubt there's any disease in there, so I would rinse the filter media in the tank water that you take out, and refill the tank with treated water like a normal water change. You might need to take out the gravel and give it a good rinse. Once the tank is cleaned, let everything settle (you'll probably stir up a lot of dirt) and let the temperature get even before putting her back in. If you feel more comfortable with it, you can do all this while your roommate's out.

Thank you for the advice! I've had her in the quarantine tank for a day now and have spoken to the roommate. She INSISTS that the problem isn't nearly as bad as it is, but also admitted that she has been doing every-other-day feedings since June...amounting to not much nutrition for the fish. Is it normal for the fish to go this pale with age, or is that from malnutrition?

Do you have a test kit for the water? And I'm glad you took charge!! Lots of water changes and healthy balanced diet and throw some indian almond leaves in her QT tank. She is probably at the bottom due to missing that fin. Maybe if you can find a plant that is tierd so she can get to the top to work her labyrinth lungs.

I do have a test kit, and am applying stress coat twice daily along with twice daily feedings, because I really don't think it's a swim-bladder issue. Do you suspect any illness along with this, or just bad finrot and malnutrition? I'm worried about how pale and odd her coloring is, since it used to be more vibrant purple.

 

Thank you for the advice! I've had her in the quarantine tank for a day now and have spoken to the roommate. She INSISTS that the problem isn't nearly as bad as it is, but also admitted that she has been doing every-other-day feedings since June...amounting to not much nutrition for the fish. Is it normal for the fish to go this pale with age, or is that from malnutrition?



I do have a test kit, and am applying stress coat twice daily along with twice daily feedings, because I really don't think it's a swim-bladder issue. Do you suspect any illness along with this, or just bad finrot and malnutrition? I'm worried about how pale and odd her coloring is, since it used to be more vibrant purple.

Bubbles_and_Fins knows more about illnesses and anything betta related..I can really only spot fin rot because my first one had it lol.

 

Thank you for the advice! I've had her in the quarantine tank for a day now and have spoken to the roommate. She INSISTS that the problem isn't nearly as bad as it is, but also admitted that she has been doing every-other-day feedings since June...amounting to not much nutrition for the fish. Is it normal for the fish to go this pale with age, or is that from malnutrition?



I do have a test kit, and am applying stress coat twice daily along with twice daily feedings, because I really don't think it's a swim-bladder issue. Do you suspect any illness along with this, or just bad finrot and malnutrition? I'm worried about how pale and odd her coloring is, since it used to be more vibrant purple.

The fish probably is just malnourished and has finrot.
Color can fade with stress, so once the betta is healthy again, she'll color up. I'd get her back into the (probably) cycled tank with larger water volume asap though.