Extreme Case: Body/Fin Rot

[stonehel]

I’m in absolute desperate need of help! I have had my male, veil tail betta for over 2.5 years and his fins have only deteriorated from when I first brought him home. I’ve posted on his fin rot issue before and it is to the point where I don’t know what else to do and has become severe body rot where I’m now thinking about how humane it is for him to be suffering like this.

In the past, I’ve tried Seachem ParaGuard, Micribe-life Artemis, frequent water changes, and aquarium salt. In the last few months, I’ve used Seachem KanaPlex, API Fungus Cure, API E.M. Erythromycin, and am currently dosing using Seachem SulfPlex. At this point, the dorsal fin has completely dissolved and the infection has spread to the body causing discoloration and lighter spots (see pic). I’m at a complete loss on how to help this poor guy

Details: Only fish in an Aqueon 2.5 gallon BettaBow tank with a MiniBow filter and a Tetra HT Submersible Aquarium heater. I added aquarium foam on the end of the filter due to concern about the delicate fins and also did some crafting to add some of a plastic waterbottle to the filter water output to lessen the flow/disturbance. Water is kept at 78 degrees and fish is fed Aqueon Color Enhancing BettaFood with two pellets twice a day. Fish is still eating when he’s at the top of the tank, however he usually sits at the bottom.

I do 25% water changes once a week, mixing Ice Mountain Spring Water with my tap water (I live in a city and thought the water might be the issue). I treat the water with 5 drops of Prime and a small amount of Seachem Stability. I worry about the healthy bacteria balance in the tank from all the treatments, so I always use these two when changing water. I also use a turkey baster to suck up any waste, and I clean the tank walls if they get too much algae buildup. With this filter, the directions are to replace once a month. I’ve been doing this for several years and it’s never thrown off the cycle of the tank, but it does make me consider getting a new filter since I know this isn’t recommended. The filter pad does also get a dark brown slimy film on it which is also concerning.

Parameters: Ammonia- (used 2 different types of testing strips) one read around 0.3 the other looks to be <0.25 closer to 0, Nitrate- around 10/15ppm, Nitrite- about 0, pH- around 7.8, temp- 78

I’m willing to try anything! I don’t think it’s fair to him to let him go on suffering for more than a couple more weeks since it’s eating away at his body. I have an older 0.5 gallon tank with a small heater that I could switch him to for a hospital tank. I’m just not sure how to best proceed.

Pictures of : Fish, tank, tank filter, testing ammonia 1, testing ammonia 2, testing strip, testing strip for Nitrate

 

[Autumnsky]

That is a lot going on.

Often when the fish sits on the bottom a lot, it is bad for the fins.

What kind of food are you feeding?

Coralbandit might be the best one to help with the correct medication for this specifically.

Part 2 is being aware there is a euthanasia sticky here in unhealthy fish. Clove oil is the option which I prefer for humane end of life care. Can be obtained/ordered through a pharmacy store or one in a local grocery pharmacy as well, also real clove oil can be obtained through cake decorating shops if nearby.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f17/an-overview-of-euthanasia-73775.html

Fresh water (always meaning treated with conditioner) is a top priority.

At this point doing 50% water change every day wouldn't be too much.

I am a fan of Epsom salt for healing properties, but at this stage medication may be in order.

Too much treatments with medication can be detrimental to a fish. This fish is at a later stage of it's life and may heal up if treated correctly and live longer, though if not 2.5 years is common length of life for a Betta up to 4-5 years in some cases.

Certainly this guy seems to be struggling for years with issues. I had a Betta that had to have Epsom salt in its water tank for the rest of the last year of it's life because every time it was taken out he got ill again.

Epsom salt with no additives - also from grocery or pharmacy.

Do a 50- 75% pwc.

For this severe of a case I would use a rounded Tablespoon for each gallon so 2.5T.

Dissolve into a cup or 2 of hot water add cold water or ice to make it back to tank temp.

Treat ES concentrate water when back to tank temp- don't for get this.

Remove the same amount of water from the tank as the amount of concentrate you have.

Then add the water in to the tank gradually about 1/3. Then in an hour 1/3 more, and then the same at the 3rd hour.

It seems easier on them than to dump it in all at once. This much more accelerated than a regular treatment because of the urgency.

So until you get a better direction with a medication, you might be able to do a dip type treatment too, I would do the ES concentrate.

Each day do a 50% pwc and add a few extra drops of Prime. And add the concentrate for the amount of water you remove into the pwc water you add back in.

Try this for about 14 days if the results are positive you can keep it up for another week 21 days then start reducing amount of ES to 1 teaspoon per gallon for a week or 2, then if he is better, you can wait a week after seeing him growing fins back and just leave the ES out of the pwc.

This works great for fins, as for him, again maybe needs proper medication treatment or euthanasia.

The filter pad needs to be swished/rinsed in tank water or treated tap water to get the gunk off. Changing the filter pad disrupts the BB cycle because you remove any BB their may be.

Maybe your strips are not correctly reading I have had that experience before - one week they worked ant the next time I used them my tank was dying and my readings were fine with the strip. After using the liquid test I found there was a catastrophic failure in the strips accuracy. Only one section of the strip was wrong, and deadly.

 

[Angellove78]

I’m in absolute desperate need of help! I have had my male, veil tail betta for over 2.5 years and his fins have only deteriorated from when I first brought him home. I’ve posted on his fin rot issue before and it is to the point where I don’t know what else to do and has become severe body rot where I’m now thinking about how humane it is for him to be suffering like this.

In the past, I’ve tried Seachem ParaGuard, Micribe-life Artemis, frequent water changes, and aquarium salt. In the last few months, I’ve used Seachem KanaPlex, API Fungus Cure, API E.M. Erythromycin, and am currently dosing using Seachem SulfPlex. At this point, the dorsal fin has completely dissolved and the infection has spread to the body causing discoloration and lighter spots (see pic). I’m at a complete loss on how to help this poor guy

Details: Only fish in an Aqueon 2.5 gallon BettaBow tank with a MiniBow filter and a Tetra HT Submersible Aquarium heater. I added aquarium foam on the end of the filter due to concern about the delicate fins and also did some crafting to add some of a plastic waterbottle to the filter water output to lessen the flow/disturbance. Water is kept at 78 degrees and fish is fed Aqueon Color Enhancing BettaFood with two pellets twice a day. Fish is still eating when he’s at the top of the tank, however he usually sits at the bottom.

I do 25% water changes once a week, mixing Ice Mountain Spring Water with my tap water (I live in a city and thought the water might be the issue). I treat the water with 5 drops of Prime and a small amount of Seachem Stability. I worry about the healthy bacteria balance in the tank from all the treatments, so I always use these two when changing water. I also use a turkey baster to suck up any waste, and I clean the tank walls if they get too much algae buildup. With this filter, the directions are to replace once a month. I’ve been doing this for several years and it’s never thrown off the cycle of the tank, but it does make me consider getting a new filter since I know this isn’t recommended. The filter pad does also get a dark brown slimy film on it which is also concerning.

Parameters: Ammonia- (used 2 different types of testing strips) one read around 0.3 the other looks to be <0.25 closer to 0, Nitrate- around 10/15ppm, Nitrite- about 0, pH- around 7.8, temp- 78

I’m willing to try anything! I don’t think it’s fair to him to let him go on suffering for more than a couple more weeks since it’s eating away at his body. I have an older 0.5 gallon tank with a small heater that I could switch him to for a hospital tank. I’m just not sure how to best proceed.

Pictures of : Fish, tank, tank filter, testing ammonia 1, testing ammonia 2, testing strip, testing strip for Nitrate

Stop using everything you have used for him on meds. He still has his tail. I've seen much worse than this. First, imo. I think you're using too much prime. Test your tap water and if it's good use it for your water changes. (2) your not doing enough water changes in a 2.5 gallon. 25% once a wk?... I do 50% every 3 days on my 5g with a filter. (3) try tetra AquaSafe for conditioner/ water treatment. And (4) feed him more. A pinch of blood worms later afternoon. And 4-5 pellets (soaked) at night. Keep his water clean. It's gonna take some time to get him back. Water changes top priority! And all my betta's love the tetra betta plus. Try it. Be patient with him. Give an update on how he's doing, and what you do. If he's still clamping fins then your most likely overdosing or not enough.

 

[Matt68005]

2.5 years means the betta is probably getting old and dying just like everything does.
People forget fish dont live forever, its not always our fault they get old and die.