Help! My Fish Won't Get Better

Okay so I bought a betta fish over thanksgiving break of this year from my local pet store (bad I know) anyway he was doing awesome. I had him in a 6 gallon tank that was decked out. It had a filter, a heater and plently of entertainment. Over christmas I had to leave him alone for a week. (I could not get anyone to take care of him because I live in dorms) so he did not eat for a week. When I got back he was slow. The biggest thing was that his entire tail looked like it was shredded. Of course I felt so awful. I assumed that it was fin rot so I took him out of the tank and put him into a 1 gallon to make treatment easier. I started with a natural tea tree oil based solution. I did that for about 3 weeks and noticed no improvment. I then changed to a chemical treatment and again it has been about 3 weeks and no improvment. In fact it seems to be getting worse. He does not seem sick. He is always swimming around the tank and eats all the time. He acts the same as when I got him. I just want his tail to heal. Please any suggestions would help!

 

Okay so I bought a betta fish over thanksgiving break of this year from my local pet store (bad I know) anyway he was doing awesome. I had him in a 6 gallon tank that was decked out. It had a filter, a heater and plently of entertainment. Over christmas I had to leave him alone for a week. (I could not get anyone to take care of him because I live in dorms) so he did not eat for a week. When I got back he was slow. The biggest thing was that his entire tail looked like it was shredded. Of course I felt so awful. I assumed that it was fin rot so I took him out of the tank and put him into a 1 gallon to make treatment easier. I started with a natural tea tree oil based solution. I did that for about 3 weeks and noticed no improvment. I then changed to a chemical treatment and again it has been about 3 weeks and no improvment. In fact it seems to be getting worse. He does not seem sick. He is always swimming around the tank and eats all the time. He acts the same as when I got him. I just want his tail to heal. Please any suggestions would help!

Honestly, the best thing for fin rot is just keeping his tank water clean.

Do you have a test kit to check the parameters of your water? How often do you do water changes? And do what do you use to treat the water?

 

Honestly, the best thing for fin rot is just keeping his tank water clean.

Do you have a test kit to check the parameters of your water? How often do you do water changes? And do what do you use to treat the water?

I don't have a test kit but recently I have been doing 50% water changes every other day and full water changes every week. I always use stress coat to treat the water

 

I don't have a test kit but recently I have been doing 50% water changes every other day and full water changes every week. I always use stress coat to treat the water

Ok, I would definitely look into get a test kit. I didn't have one for ages, but I was advised by many here to get the API Master Test Kit, and I don't regret following g their advice. It seems pricey at first, but you get a ton of tests out of it, not to mention that it's way more accurate than test strips. Knowing your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are the most important, and can really help diagnose any problems your fish may have. Most often, it's the water that's causing the issues.

If I were you, I would cut back on the size of your wc, maybe just do 20% instead of 50%. My betta gets super stressed if I do too many, and stress can contribute to many diseases. In fact, I generally do a 40% weekly as long as the tests show 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. If I get a reading for those, I do a wc more often.

Without knowing your exact parameters though, it's hard to reccomend a course of action.

 

Hi! Welcome to Fishlore.
Let's see what we can do to help the little guy.

The first problem is "I started with a natural tea tree oil based solution. I did that for about 3 weeks and noticed no improvment." Most of anything advertised as 'natural remedies' in fish world are are basically snake oil. Part 2 of the problem is tea tree oil is for preventing fungus, not treating anything. Sometimes daily WC and limited movement is all it takes to stop fin rot.

Also, from that pic the fin rot is gone, and when the tail grows back, it's never really the same. Though by now you should be seeing new growth, which looks like clear plastic cellophane. If the fin rot is gone and he is fine, having a chunk of tail missing doesn't really hurt him and it's best to leave him alone to heal on his own. What 'chemical' treatment are you using?

 

I do not mind that it's not going to be the same I just want him to feel better. but the treatment that I used was API furan-2. It says on the box "treats bacterial fish disease" and on the back fin rot was one of the things that it treated.