Sick betta, help diagnosing?

[Everlasting]

Hi there, I'll start by giving my tank specs:

Loki is in a 3 gallon eclipse biowheel system. The temp is at a constant 82, the tank is reading 0 ppm ammonia, 7.6 pH (my water for years has been very alkaline and it never bothers the fiish with frequent water changes), 0 ppm Nirites and 0ppm - 5.0 Nitrates. He's in there with a few MT snails (2 small ones), some gravel, a hiding spot and 3 silk plants. I use Prime water conditioner and aquarium salt during water changes.


He has become very emaciated. He's extremely skinny and one of his gills is red and emflamed looking. He is still very eager to eat and comes to the top of the tank when I approach but when I drop the pellets in front of him he hasn't been lunging for them as he normally does he didn't seem to be able to find them until he bumped into them but his eyes appear clear and there's no sign of pop eye. He's still very active and swimming around but he is nearly half the size of my other 2 bettas when he used to be the largest. I've had him for roughly a year now.

here's what Ive got on hand if any of it will be of any use:
-Indian Almond leaves
-Jungle Anti-Parasite Medicated food for Internal parasites
-black water extract
-Jungle Parasite Guard
-Betta Ultimate Slime Coat / Water conditioner
-Maracyn -Two
-Maracyn - TC
-Furan 2
-Parasite Clear tank buddies


If I need to medicate him should i remove him to a hospital tank or simply pull out my filter and bio wheel and apply the medication where he is to reduce stress? I have no issue doing either.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[joy13]

Do you feed him any type of live/frozen food? I know that some of the processed foods don't have as much protein as others. I alternate the food I feed my bettas between pellets, peas and frozen brine shrimp. When I find fruit flies or anything like that they go in the tank as well (I don't use any type of bug sprays in my house).

 

[thatmagicguy]

Ask yourself this question. "What would I medicate for, and what medication would I use for this?" I bet your answer is "I don't know". And unfortunately it is impossible to diagnose any possible disease process without tissue samples and proper diagnostic equipment. Otherwise you are hitting and missing with guesses and arbitrary treatments. Picking any one of the things you listed might help him,,or not. That is why over the course of time some people have come to trust medicating fish. Because some times it works. Most of the time it does not. So in this case you need to try and figure out what may be going on in his tank that is causeing a slow degenerative problem. Questions like, are you using fresh commercially reliable betta pellets for this fish? Or are they stale and possibly even moldy from being kept in the humid area around the fish tank? How long has the container been open? Other questions might be, you have had him a year, how old was he when you got him? Now more than ever bettas are living a bit longer because of better care and quality foods available to them. But store bought bettas still come from inferior stock sometimes and two years is all they live. Some better lines live much longer. But with no history you have no way of knowing for sure. Has this weight loss been over a long period of time,,months? Or just a couple weeks? Disease processes occur because an animal's natural immune system has been compromised and pathogens can rapidly overtake their bodies and cause major problems. But if symptoms are occuring over a very long time it is less likely a pathogen problem and more likely a problem with body function, which could be glandular and such. In these cases it is sometimes good to concentrate on better diets. It is all a guessing game but all you CAN do is provide an excellent habitat, as you are, and a superior diet. Otherwise play a guessing game and medicate him and hope for the best. I don't choose to do that. Bill