Omar is sick

[hclifford]

Hi there! I need advice for my fish Omar. He is a betta fish.
I set up a 4 gallon Biorb tank 3 months ago and everything seemed to go fine at first. I let the tank cycle for a month and then added Omar. He was doing well but then I noticed that the end of his tail looked like it was missing and he had developed some black patches on his body. I read up on what this could be and it seemed like fin rot. I tried Melafix which did not seem to help so then I tried API Fin and Body antibiotics. I also used some aquarium salt for freshwater fish as I read that this can help sometimes as well. I noticed my pH and kH were also very high so I used a pH decreaser which made the water very murky and didn't really seem to help decrease the levels. Please understand that I am new to owning fish and did not realize that you are supposed to use a hospital tank when doing antibiotics, so I do realize that I made an error in giving the meds in his regular tank. I also have been researching his Biorb tank and the ceramic media that it comes with and am wondering if this could be part of the problem as well. Nothing seems to be improving his fin and I'm worried that it won't grow back. I think I'm going to try putting him in a hospital tank and redoing antibiotics. In the meantime I'm going to thoroughly clean his main tank and let it cycle for a bit again. Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[Aiken Drum]

What are your water parameters? pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

What is your normal water change schedule? How much? How often?

Those biorb aquariums have no place in the aquatics hobby. They provide essentially zero filtration and a very poor habitat to keep fish in. They know their product is poor, they have been advised on a simple cheap solution that can easily be incorporated at manufacture to improve the poor filtration to a very good filtration system. They are quite clear they don't want to implement it because it would reduce their aftersales. They are quite happy selling a rubbish product, with built in issues, because they then get to sell more product to fix it.

 

[hclifford]

Yeah...I'm wondering if I should get a new tank altogether. I didn't realize there were so many issues with them until after I bought it. The pH was between 8.0 and 8.4 and the kH was around 360

 

[Aiken Drum]

pH and KH are probably the least useful parameters to know.

Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? Preferably taken before a water change. If you cant test for these now, then remove a sample of water to test when you are able.

How much water do you change, and how often?

Good clean water will do more than anything to help your fish heal up. Frequent water changes, 30 to 50% daily.

 

[hclifford]

Good to know, thanks. I am unsure about the other levels, but I can find out.
I didn't realize you could change the water that often, I've been changing it 1-2 times weekly 25 to 50%. I will start doing daily changes. Thanks!

 

[Aiken Drum]

Ordinarily your water change schedule is very good. But more frequent water changes will give you better water quality which will help your fish.

Your problems probably stem from poor water quality and living in a poor environment. The black patches sound like ammonia issues. All the treatments and medication cant fix that. The only treatment for poor water quality is improving the water quality.

Can you post a photo of the fish?

Make sure you take a sample of water before you start your water changes, otherwise your test will just tell you what your tapwater is like, and not what the water is like that your fish has been living in.

 

[hclifford]

Here’s a photo of him, best I could get. You can see the fin damage though.