Trying To Rehabilitate Betta... Advice?

HI all, recently I upgraded one of my bettas to a new tank, so I had an empty 5 gallon Fluval Chi. Being a sap, I ended up getting a very miserable looking betta from my LFS in the hopes of rehabilitating him. He is an unusual light yellow color. Picture below.

It has been a little over a day since I got him. He sits at the bottom of the tank. Sometimes he moves, but not too much. Just kind of creeps along the bottom of the tank. He did eat, which surprised me.

His fins are frayed and tattered - maybe mild to mild/moderate fin rot.

The tank is heated, filtered, and fully cycled. Water parameters are:

Ph 6.2. (This seems quite low, so I will be doing a water change tonight - usually Ph is around 7.0. I do have an almond leaf in the tank, which may be affecting Ph.)

Ammonia: Somewhere between 0 and .25... the vial is yellow with a tiny bit of green.

Nitrite: 0ppm

Nitrate: 2.5ppm

Other than doing a water change tonight, does anyone have suggestions for what I can do for this little guy? He is alive now, but hasn't moved in a while.

 

Poor guy looks bad. See how he does tonight and take another look at him tomorrow.

 

Compared to some Bettas I have rescued swimming only on their side with no fins left or skinnier than popsicle stick. He should do fine . See if you have any betta leaves would totally help him and give him high protein foods . Next keep water at 80-82 degrees to help him heal . Make sure water stays clean . Within a week he should look more active easily . Within a month he should be a very pretty betta . Good luck . Make sure to skip one feeding a week to keep his digestive track healthy . He looks like he will be fine . So don't worry . Key is to keep temps up , high protein foods , and clean water to heal well( clean water is most important).

 

I certainly hope so! He ate a little today, which was encouraging. I hope it gets better from here!

 

Freeze dried tubifex worms and good clean water is what I do to have miracle results for healing . Unless he has parasites . Then you need a parasite remover . But I doubt that he has anything like that by the pic . So you should be good . Give him a week and he should be like a new betta and give it a month and you might not be able to recognize him from this pic

 

Awwww. Poor guy. Hope he recovers alright. I've got a real soft spot for the "back-shelfers" as I call them, the not-so-pretty ones that no one usually picks. These honestly are the most exciting things to watch because once they do recover and start to color up, like Sean said, you sometimes can't even tell it's the same fish!

Fingers crossed!

 

Putting him in good water quality (0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrite and <20ppm nitrate) at 80 degrees Fahrenheit will be the best thing for him. As the others said, the Indian Almond Leaf you have could also help, but you're right they can lower the pH in a small tank.

You'll have to monitor him for more signs of anything besides generally bad health.

 

Methylene blue and AQ salt Bath pronto to treat those ammonia burns. MB will ease the pain and deliver added oxygen to the blood, the salt will help will the mild fin rot. Good save, we all love a good rescue. After all, first we rescue them, the. They rescue us!

I also recommend keeping the temp at or near 78, as ammonium turns to more harmful ammonia below a PH of 6.5 and, and again above 8, being more damaging at higher temps. Can send a chart to clarify if needed!

 

I agree with 80+ degree water, and frequent water changes being the best treatment. I don't think it would be wise to immediately assault him with meds and salt as he is already stressed and in bad shape, and may not tolerate the extra stress it would cause.

The betta I gave my mother was rescued, and he looked very much like yours when I brought him home. When he healed, he turned to a bright, iridescent white with purple, red, blue and black fins and grew to be ridiculously huge. He was the biggest splendens I've ever seen. I'll have to see if I can find a photo. You're gonna be so happy when this fish shows his true healthy colors

 

Actually, methylene blue is very gentle and nearly impossible to overdose, it's a god send for ammonia burns and septicemia and is by far the best first step to helping any sick fish. It's clear there are some good burns, as the dark colored/black areas on body and gills are from ammonia burns. You can use it short term In tank if baths are too stressful. Just do a couple small partial water changes to dilute the MB out of the main tank

 

While it may be a "gentle" medication, it's not as gentle as fresh clean water. It is a chemical and will inevitably cause some level of stress, it's just a matter of assessing benefit versus risk at the time. Since the fish is not in dire condition, my opinion is that it would be better to offer him a few days of pure clean water and rest and see how he fares before medicating him. Also, I feel it's kind to give fair warning when advising someone to put MB straight in their tank that it may very likely stain their silicone seals, as well as some decor and substrates - that would be unfortunate to find out afterwards!

I also don't think the black coloring is ammonia burn - the fish is still in the pet store cup in the photo. Ammonia burns turn black when they start healing, but he's still sitting in toxic water so I think he'd have fresh red sores if he was suffering ammonia burns. This leads me to believe that it's part of his coloration. As I said my mother's betta was very similar looking, including some black spots, maybe on his head like this one but I can't remember now. I never did look for a photo but I guess I should actually do that.

I don't mean to come off as rude or argumentative at all - like I said this is all just my opinion based on my personal experience and research. Different people know and experience different things, which is why I feel it's always helpful to add one's opinion around here just for some extra perspective, and why I always make sure to be clear that it's my opinion, not unarguable fact. When I post I like to get an idea of what a bunch of people think, and then usually go with the common consensus. KnownToSome I hope you don't take offense to my difference in opinion.

 

How is he doing this morning? Could we get a new picture. It could help a lot. Thanks

 

He is alive this morning!

Last night I did about a 65% water change. Before I went to bed, he was on the bottom of the tank and seemed to be gasping. At one point I thought he was dead. So I just braced myself for the worst and went to bed.

This morning, I was surprised to see him at the top of the tank, hanging out near the heater. He is swimming around, but it looks like he has a bit of fin clamping, maybe. I can also see some red irritation at the edges of his fins - I will post a picture of that. I noticed that when I saw him at the LFS though; it's not new.

He is eating. I've been feeding him blood worms.

Overall, he seems be doing a lot better. I'm hoping the improvement will continue!

Thank you to EVERYONE posting advice... I am reading all of it!!

 

So much better! Thank you for the picture. Keep doing the water changes and aquarium salt. If the fins don't seem to be progressing in a couple of days, I think you should start treating with nitrofurizone.

 

Glad to hear he's perking up!! It can be a slow process, but at least he's off to a good start make sure you don't feed him strictly bloodworms for too long - they cold make him constipated after awhile if he eats too much. For now though at least he's eating something!!

I've read many times about soaking fish food in garlic for the immune system boost, and supposedly it has been known to entice weak or sick fish to work up an appetite - perhaps you should smush up a clove and soak a few pellets in it and see if he takes it?

 

Oh he's a lovely color in that second photo! He'll be stunning! Good news so far - I hope he continues to improve.

 

Patience will help the little one recover. It takes time to recover from illness. Keep doing what your doing and it will be doing what betta's do...