Very ill betta, need advice

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crystalbettas

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Mar 21, 2017
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USA
The picture attached is my male half moon betta, Sapphire. My profile picture is also of him, before he got sick.

When i got him, i also got one other male betta who i named Garnet. I was told that putting them together with a divider would be fine. I put them in a 10 gallon tank and surprisingly, they didn't actually have any issues after the first day of being in there. Garnet is more aggressive than Sapphire and would flare out at him from time to time but that was about it.

After a while, Sapphire's fins started looking torn and tattered. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I thought maybe fin rot but i had two people tell me no. One told me that it was the plastic plants tearing his fins so i took them out and replaced them with soft silk plants. It kept getting worse. The other person told me it was because he was stressed from being in the same tank as another betta. So i moved Garnet out into his own tank. Sapphires fins got even worse.

He was still very active and had a good appetite so i wasn't overly worried but i still was looking for a reason why he was falling apart. I rarely have my tank lights on to save on electricity (i currently have 8 tanks running in a very small home, there's really no need for the lights). I decided a few nights ago to take pictures of my fish as i do on occasion and when the flash went off i saw this. i was literally horrified. Sapphires normal colors are light to dark blue. he's green and yellow. he looks like he's rotting from the inside out.

so i did some research on that part of it and i concluded he has fin rot and velvet fish disease. I'm currently medicating him with a copper solution to get rid of the velvet (his tank is also covered with dark towels to keep the sunlight out and kill the parasites faster) and then i'm going to use a fungus cure to fight off the fin rot.

is there anything else i can do? i hate to see my little guy suffer so much. i wish i'd been able to catch it sooner. the majority of my fish are healthy but this is my second sick fish right now. any advice is appreciated.
 

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What are your water parameters? Sometimes adding a small amount of aquarium salt can be extremely beneficial to sick fish. Other than that, you seem to be doing everything you can. Goodluck :)
 
Are you sure your betta is not just changing color as many do and possibly biting it's own fins?
If it is fin rot then it is bacterial, not fungal..
Fungus usually look fuzzy.You can pretty clearly see it.
Bacterial issue often have a discoloration that could be white but is smooth and not fuzzy.
The copper or any ich med should work for velvet I believe although it is pretty uncommon somehow these days? The towels/darkness are important if it is velvet.
If it is bacterial then you should read this;
http://www.myaquariumclub.com/columnaris-and-what-i-have-learned...-1689.html
Good luck.
 
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