Rescuing friend's betta fish

[PaprikaFish]

Hello everyone,

I have decided to rescue/rehome my friend's betta fish. He is a doubletail male betta from a chain pet store. He is underfed and has severe fin rot. I will be bringing him home sometime tonight or early tomorrow. I will start with small amounts, but put him on a diet of rich foods (frozen foods and also pellets) as well as heated and cycled water (using sponges from my established tank to jump start the nitrification cycle). I don't have any Indian almond leaves at the moment, but I do have aquarium salt. I'll be regularly testing and changing water - and using prime to neutralize ammonia - and hopefully he will recover soon.

Are there any other things I should do to speed up his recovery? Do you guys think I should use aquarium salt (if so what dose keeping in mind there will be live plants and possibly snails) or any other medications?

 

[FoldedCheese]

I would only use aquarium salt if he has clear signs of an infection/moderate-severe fin rot. I would not add any medications without knowing if he has a particular disease/fungus/parasite otherwise you could stress him out further which would not be good. Clean water will do him wonders and he will likely improve greatly from that alone.

 

[PaprikaFish]

Just received a picture, and it looks like severe fin rot. I’m not sure what I can do to help, but I’ll try my best. Based off this pic are there any tips anyone has?

 

[fishot]

Wow, that's pretty bad. I have used melafix on fin rot, and it always works. but I wouldn't suggest to add it until about a week or so after the transfer, if you haven't seen any improvement. once he is transfered, things will most likely just heal on their own, and if you don't have to medicate, then that's much better!

 

[ForBettaorForWorse]

Melafix is bad for bettas, it has tea tree oil that can coat the labyrinth organ that they use to breathe.
I'm not sure exactly what to do, but clean water and indian almond leaves would be a good first plan.

 

[PaprikaFish]

Just wanted to update you guys on the situation

I made the first post a little over a year ago and although he hung on for about a week or two, he made no progress (refusing to eat and spending most of his time on the bottom) and eventually died. While i was sad to see him go, he was clearly suffering and he lived his last bit of life in warm, clean water before passing overnight.

thanks for your help and concern though !!