Betta lost more fin since last month

[SuomiBetta]

Nitrate will never leave on its own- more Bb won't get rid of it. Water changes will thought. 10 is not too bad but considering the fish is sick I would try and lower it. Non planted 5 is pretty good. If you have plants a little bit more is better because the plants will use it


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

Thanks for clearing that up. There are some bacteria that can use nitrate but they might not be aquatic then. At the very least dragon can keep the ammonia and nitrite to a minimum and use water changes to bring the nitrate down.

Sent from my SM-T210R using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Angela1108]

Yeah. Def water changes

Hornwort and anacharis are very easy floating plants that suck up nitrates very quickly so they are a good choice for helping


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Matt68005]

I always wondered why the water in some ponds or tubs/vats or tanks is so brownish even tho theres no driftwood but the fish are SOO healthy, if the water is that BROWN holy crap the nitrates must be around 100 but the fish don't seem to care at all. Why buy erythomycin when terramycin is so much more broad spectrum and cheaper and it goes directly into the fish thru the feed, you can buy that for $3.00 a POUND here in the states, Sumoi you sound like you know your fish, have you been in the hobby a long time?
I guess it depends on how much money you want to put into one $5 beta, LOL do you have other kinds of fish or just one beta? The easiest way would just go buy some "fungus cure" or "beta fix" from petsmart and just not even worry about taking the tank down at all as long as its reasonably clean now, think were going a little far with this conv. about one sick beta.
There sure is alot to learn about the fish hobby. I been in it 5 years and im still learning stuff, had like 30 tanks at one point and i was selling fish to the petstore and online and locally, its fun but sometimes we tend to get too caught up in it when the fish probably just want to be left alone in some still, seasoned old water with gravel. It dosent have to be crystal clear at all times, nor does this hobby have to be overly expensive....... My beta lived in a tupperware tub with some gravel for the entire spring/summer and hes just fine. I just take out some water with a cup and fill it back up every so often and scrub the algae off with a scratch pad for dishes.

 

[dragon14]

Thanks Suomi!

And thank you Angela for the info.

 

[dragon14]

Yeah. Def water changes

Hornwort and anacharis are very easy floating plants that suck up nitrates very quickly so they are a good choice for helping


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

I'm afraid of a snail invasion lol but if a plant would help him... Also the catfish would love it I'm sure.

 

[dragon14]

Why buy erythomycin when terramycin is so much more broad spectrum and cheaper and it goes directly into the fish thru the feed.

I guess it depends on how much money you want to put into one $5 beta, LOL do you have other kinds of fish or just one beta? The easiest way would just go buy some "fungus cure" or "beta fix" from petsmart and just not even worry about taking the tank down at all as long as its reasonably clean now, think were going a little far with this conv. about one sick beta.

There sure is alot to learn about the fish hobby. I been in it 5 years and im still learning stuff, had like 30 tanks at one point and i was selling fish to the petstore and online and locally, its fun but sometimes we tend to get too caught up in it when the fish probably just want to be left alone in some still, seasoned old water with gravel.

@Matt
He was $14.99 but anyway

It may sound silly but. I love this fish so much. Like a lot. And I'm already super attached to him. I am scared he could lose his tail and not be able to swim . I want to help him get better. At the very least I want it to not get worse. It doesn't matter to me if he was $100 or $1. I love him.

How would I put it in his food anyway if I did that medicine? He gets pellets and freeze dried blood worms.

We have 7 Pygmy catfish in a separate 5g tank for now. The betta and the catfish are my first fish ever.

The water is nice and clear in both tanks.

Maybe it's silly sounding but if something happens to him I'm going to bawl. And bawl. And be really sad. And maybe swear off pets for a while. I dunno.

::sigh::

It's hard with fish especially your first. We have to create an entire ecosystem for them to live in, and if that's screwed up then . A lot more complicated than a cat or dog, at least in the respect of recreating an ecosystem that they must live in.

Thanks again everyone for the help and I'll post some pics tomorrow.

 

[Angela1108]

Well worst case if you got the annoying snails you could always buy an assasin snail if they got out of hand. They eat the annoying snails and will be ok with a betta. Also when the snails are small the betta would eat them so I wouldn't worry too much about getting snails in a plant


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[SuomiBetta]

I'm studying molecular biology hehe. That's where I get most of my know how. I have kept fish since I was 8. But I'm only legal drinking age so that isn't a long time. And Dragon had a lot of questions. I wanted to answer them to the best of my knowledge. But being a scientist it's practically in my job description to be wrong about 98.8% of the time.

Sent from my SM-T210R using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[SuomiBetta]

Yeah. Def water changes

Hornwort and anacharis are very easy floating plants that suck up nitrates very quickly so they are a good choice for helping


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

Even for black thumbs like me? I managed to kill an anubius plant

Sent from my SM-T210R using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[SuomiBetta]

@Matt
He was $14.99 but anyway

It may sound silly but. I love this fish so much. Like a lot. And I'm already super attached to him. I am scared he could lose his tail and not be able to swim . I want to help him get better. At the very least I want it to not get worse. It doesn't matter to me if he was $100 or $1. I love him.

How would I put it in his food anyway if I did that medicine? He gets pellets and freeze dried blood worms.

We have 7 Pygmy catfish in a separate 5g tank for now. The betta and the catfish are my first fish ever.

The water is nice and clear in both tanks.

Maybe it's silly sounding but if something happens to him I'm going to bawl. And bawl. And be really sad. And maybe swear off pets for a while. I dunno.

::sigh::

It's hard with fish especially your first. We have to create an entire ecosystem for them to live in, and if that's screwed up then . A lot more complicated than a cat or dog, at least in the respect of recreating an ecosystem that they must live in.

Thanks again everyone for the help and I'll post some pics tomorrow.

Matt was talking about flakes that were already medicated. They're excellent...but only if the fish eat them.

Sent from my SM-T210R using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Matt68005]

That is cool suomi. I thought you might be! i didn't want to say it because it would have been a long shot but wow, i am good at guessing. My wifes dad is a microbiologist, he works with animal pharmecicutals company here in nebraska that mostly does animal feed and medicine.
They come in small pellets OP guy (its 7am here i just woke up, sorry i forgot your name) you just buy them but you gotta pay shipping and wait it out, so i mean i suppose you could just go to a fish store and buy erythomycin, it would be alot for one little beta.
Sunomi, are you suggesting that erythomycin is broad spectrum antibitioc for gram negative bacteria? I have heard that people use it alot, but every time i check it says its motsly gram positive.... anyways, i do'nt think he has an active infection, so i wouldnt worry about the bacterium as much as the mold in his tank, just go to a petsore and get some "rid ich plus" or "fungus cure" or of course the methylene, any of those 3 products will cure his problem, but by far the best is the methylene for at least a week, i will post a link to order Terramycin feed if you so choose, but i wouldnt be worried about infections (if it is one it may well be gram positive and the erythomycin should work) anyways i hope you can understand all that.
Antibiotic feed. Ken's Premium Sinking Pellets with Oxytetracycline 2.5mm 6-10 days
Methylene B. Kordon Methylene Blue 4 oz. Use duration of Feed treatment at least 7 days
As you can see, the Terramycin is $1.50 and the Methylene $2.95 and their both guarenteed to work for him, hope i have helped you not confused you. Maybe you can call and ask ken to put it in a envelope since its such a small order and shipping wont be much and he could "rush" it. Just keep the water nice and clean til then.
"Betafix" might work if you dont want to wait for shipping,But he may be too far gone, that stuff is pretty weak just tea tree oil. Sometimes you can get to a good "Fish" store and find the methyelne for $6 and some antibiotic food, or at least a packet of 8 for 8 bucks. I would call around you city and ask about what they have for broad spectrum antibiotics and their prices, make an informed decision and NOT waste too much money.
Methylene + Erythomycin would probably work, im sure you can combine that stuff with ANY antibiotic because its cometely diffrent type of dye.
Peep at this too, Aquarium Medications Part 2 | Antibiotic & Antimicrobial Treatments
not knowing what if any bacterial infection he has, you might not buy any antibiotic or just whatever is broad spectrum and cheap. But if youve had him in dirty water, and also hes been stressed, he could probably use it. (Just dont buy the Tetracycline, its crap and it will also cause a cycle in your tank and make your water brown and frothy like a cappichino)
Good luck with your little beta

 

[SuomiBetta]

That is cool suomi. I thought you might be! i didn't want to say it because it would have been a long shot but wow, i am good at guessing. My wifes dad is a microbiologist, he works with animal pharmecicutals company here in nebraska that mostly does animal feed and medicine.
They come in small pellets OP guy (its 7am here i just woke up, sorry i forgot your name) you just buy them but you gotta pay shipping and wait it out, so i mean i suppose you could just go to a fish store and buy erythomycin, it would be alot for one little beta.
Sunomi, are you suggesting that erythomycin is broad spectrum antibitioc for gram negative bacteria? I have heard that people use it alot, but every time i check it says its motsly gram positive.... anyways, i do'nt think he has an active infection, so i wouldnt worry about the bacterium as much as the mold in his tank, just go to a petsore and get some "rid ich plus" or "fungus cure" or of course the methylene, any of those 3 products will cure his problem, but by far the best is the methylene for at least a week, i will post a link to order Terramycin feed if you so choose, but i wouldnt be worried about infections (if it is one it may well be gram positive and the erythomycin should work) anyways i hope you can understand all that.
Antibiotic feed. Ken's Premium Sinking Pellets with Oxytetracycline 2.5mm 6-10 days
Methylene B. Kordon Methylene Blue 4 oz. Use duration of Feed treatment at least 7 days
As you can see, the Terramycin is $1.50 and the Methylene $2.95 and their both guarenteed to work for him, hope i have helped you not confused you. Maybe you can call and ask ken to put it in a envelope since its such a small order and shipping wont be much and he could "rush" it. Just keep the water nice and clean til then.
"Betafix" might work if you dont want to wait for shipping,But he may be too far gone, that stuff is pretty weak just tea tree oil. Sometimes you can get to a good "Fish" store and find the methyelne for $6 and some antibiotic food, or at least a packet of 8 for 8 bucks. I would call around you city and ask about what they have for broad spectrum antibiotics and their prices, make an informed decision and NOT waste too much money.
Methylene + Erythomycin would probably work, im sure you can combine that stuff with ANY antibiotic because its cometely diffrent type of dye.
Peep at this too, Aquarium Medications Part 2 | Antibiotic & Antimicrobial Treatments
not knowing what if any bacterial infection he has, you might not buy any antibiotic or just whatever is broad spectrum and cheap. But if youve had him in dirty water, and also hes been stressed, he could probably use it. (Just dont buy the Tetracycline, its crap and it will also cause a cycle in your tank and make your water brown and frothy like a cappichino)
Good luck with your little beta

Dragon hardly needs Methylene Blue at this point. I'd only use it if nothing else is working because that is more or less a big blue reset bomb. And without taking a fin sample, culturing it and doing a Gram stain I took a guess at an antibiotic. And don't knock Tea Tree oil, it can be a very powerful antibiotic. Denmark is studying it alongside garlic to develop new antibiotics. It only took two days of Bettafix to clear up my little betta's infection. Plus four days of Pimafix to clear out white water mold. It's not great for serious infections but it can buy you time until you can get a stronger medicine. She also said that there's no obvious mold growing in the tank right now, so it may be a chemical burn that's not healing. I only suggested an antibiotic in the event that dropping NH3, NO3 and NO2 wasn't helping. I've had plenty of bettas with permanent burns in their tails do just fine.

Sent from my SM-T210R using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Matt68005]

Okay so you might be a college student studying microbiology, but you nothing about fish i can tell. Please stop giving this guy bad advice.
THAT IS FUNGAL/MOLD TAIL ROT
True bacterial tail rot IS BLACK not white, and its rare.
He need an anti-fungal agent, by far the best at this is methylene.
Look it up ^ if you don't believe me!!
I posted a picture to show you but you STILL don't believe me. And saying "ive never heard of fungal tail rot" shows you no nothing about fish.
Whatever, i tried to help.

 

[SuomiBetta]

Okay so you might be a college student studying microbiology, but you nothing about fish i can tell. Please stop giving this guy bad advice.
THAT IS FUNGAL/MOLD TAIL ROT
True bacterial tail rot IS BLACK not white, and its rare.
He need an anti-fungal agent, by far the best at this is methylene.
Look it up ^ if you don't believe me!!
I posted a picture to show you but you STILL don't believe me. And saying "ive never heard of fungal tail rot" shows you no nothing about fish.
Whatever, i tried to help.

I said I haven't seen it on my fish, but entirely possible. Also, her fish has a white tail. Many antibiotics are also antifungal. She sent me pictures of her fish and there are no black or white spots/patches. Yes, Methylene blue is an excellent antifungal. It's in fact so powerful it's used to sterilize equipment. That's why it's a last resort for truly resistant infections. I work with it all the time.

Sent from my SM-T210R using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[dragon14]

Well worst case if you got the annoying snails you could always buy an assasin snail if they got out of hand. They eat the annoying snails and will be ok with a betta. Also when the snails are small the betta would eat them so I wouldn't worry too much about getting snails in a plant


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

. Sounds good! Are plants hard to care for??

 

[dragon14]

Matt was talking about flakes that were already medicated. They're excellent...but only if the fish eat them.

Sent from my SM-T210R using Aquarium Advice mobile app

Ah. I hadn't clicked on the link yet. Never tried flakes with him yet. I had a feeling he wouldn't eat them.

 

[SuomiBetta]

Ah. I hadn't clicked on the link yet. Never tried flakes with him yet. I had a feeling he wouldn't eat them.

There's also pellets but I don't think your fish is sick, just burned. I saw your pictures and it looks like a classic fin burn.

Sent from my SM-T210R using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[dragon14]

Matt,

Thank you so much for being helpful

I studied him last night and I see no black or white stuff in his tail frays or body at all. I never have. When it first started and every time I've inspected him since I've never seen any growths. Could it still be that if I don't see it?? He stayed close by last night when I was inspecting him because I guess he thought I was going to feed him lol. Too bad it was his fast day lol. So that gave me an even better look.

His white tail is gone now, it's frayed or split off . There's a few remnants of white still. When this first started he had tiny pinholes in dorsal fin and tail and water was .25ppm ammonia. Then we put him in some salt. 1/2 tsp then up to 1 tsp. About 10 days or so later, the ammonia was at .5ppm (our fault for not changing the water soon enough). He had bigger pinholes and his tail began to split. Salt 1 1-2tsp then up to 2tsp after about 4 days. We've been meticulous about water changes ever since. I don't think there's any mold growing in what he's in now.

I'm going to post some pics soon. They're clear on my iPod but since they were taken w my iPod, they aren't always clear on a computer . So I wanted to make sure they were clear before posting.

I think he's lost roughly half his tail. He's a red and blue fish, used to have a beautiful white at the end of his tail.

I don't want to overdo it for him. He's been through a lot of tank moving and salt moving and putting him in a pitcher temporarily when we had to completely fill his tank w salt and then completely fill with no salt water, and then repeat that again about 10 days later. He's happily swimming in his 10g now. I want to stop this from getting worse without having to move him around or medicating him too much if possible.

If it's truly mold or fungal of course I want to treat it as such but it may not be so would it be overkill for him to treat it that way if thats not what it is?

 

[dragon14]

There's also pellets but I don't think your fish is sick, just burned. I saw your pictures and it looks like a classic fin burn.

Sent from my SM-T210R using Aquarium Advice mobile app

Food would be better than medicating the tank if medicating the tank is not necessary. But as I explained above and as you saw from the pics, I don't think it's mold or fungus hurting him.

 

[SuomiBetta]

Food would be better than medicating the tank if medicating the tank is not necessary. But as I explained above and as you saw from the pics, I don't think it's mold or fungus hurting him.

I don't think so either. You just need a few adjustments in your tank care and he'll be fine. He looks like a ton of my previous bettas with beat up fins.

Sent from my SM-T210R using Aquarium Advice mobile app