Sick Betta - Very Worried, all help appreciated!

[toledoal234]

Hello, happy to have found this great site!

I have had a betta fish named Joe since November, and he’s usually very active and fun. He follows my finger around the front of the tank, comes out to greet me in the morning, and would even do little jumps out of the water when I held food out for him. He’s wonderful, and I’m very attached.

About a week ago, I noticed a spot on his left side. I immediately thought it was Ich, so I did a partial water change and put in part of an Ich Guard tablet. He was totally fine and happy the entire time, seemed his normal self. This past Sunday, however, I noticed that he wasn’t eating as much, and on Monday, he stopped eating entirely. He has not eaten since then, and had taken to just hiding in his little hideout spot all day, barely coming out. Every so often, he comes up to the surface for a gasp of air, and then goes back down to hide for very long periods of time. I started using Herbatone a few days ago, as well as a pinch of aquarium salt, but he has not gotten better. I’ve barely been able to get a look at him either, because he’s been hiding, and it looks like the spots have spread a little.

I’m starting to think it might actually be columnaris, because the spots look cottony rather than pure white, but I haven’t been able to tell at all because he barely comes out. I started using BettaFix instead tonight. The ammonia, nitrite, nitrite, and pH levels are all where they should be, and the water temperate is within the appropriate ranges.

I am very, very worried since he hasn’t been eating and doesn’t seem to be getting better, but I also don’t want to overmedicate and hurt him. Does anyone have any advice or insight? Thank you so much in advance! Joe is wonderful and I want him to be okay.

 

[Autumnsky]

Welcome to Aquarium Advice. I am so sorry to hear that Joe is unwell.

Did you recently change his conditions before this happened?

Added anything to the tank?

What is your water care schedule? Do you have a filter and did you recently throw out an old pad or clean it in tap water?

Keeping the water in perfect condition is the first thing to make sure of.

If you haven't done much for water changes recently, I would do a series of water changes to help refresh the water in the tank to be as fresh and good as possible.

Temperature matching his current water, and using water dechlorinator - check if your dechlorinator takes care of Chloramine, as in summers, many times cities use it because it is stronger.

What size tank is it?

So a 20% water change, then about an hour later do another one, and another in another hour. Then wait a few or 8 hours and do that again.

Also check out this article
https://www.aquariumadvice.com/fish-disease-index-for-diagnosis-and-treatment/

Also depending on of the water changes seem to help him you might consider
Epsom salt therapy. If the trouble needs antibiotic, then the Epsom salt will not cure him. But it can help with minor body problems and some ability for the fish to help regulate it's system better and help be able to fight off some things.

https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f17/using-epsom-salt-in-fish-therapy-374191.html

 

[toledoal234]

This is very helpful, thank you so much for all this!

I noticed the first spot on Wednesday, and so on Thursday, July 15, I did an approximately thirty percent water change and full tank cleaning. I took him out of the tank, rinsed the tank to try and clean it fully, dried it off completely, and then put in the new water with some of the old. I was worried about cleaning the tank that fully because I don’t want to shock him, but I was also worried about ich and didn’t want to let it spread. The tank does have a filter. I also changed the filter pad that day, and rinsed the new pad in tap water before putting it in. I didn’t even realize that that tiny act might be harmful, could that be causing problems? I was scared to change the water more than that that day because I didn’t want to overwhelm him, but your idea to slowly change the water makes sense. It’s a 2.5 gallon tank.

Thank you so much for these links, I will read them both and definitely look into epsom salt. Joe is my first betta fish, so all of this guidance is very helpful.

 

[Autumnsky]

Here was a situation I found myself in and treated for fin rot and ultimately used medication.

It is side reading, not necessarily a cure for you. But it was also successful. What I did find is that it seems to me more recently with the more popular colors and varieties of fish, they overall do not seem to live as long as they used to, and have more health issues than they used to as the hybridization increases.

What type of Betta is Joe?

My thread about a Betta
https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f23/importing-a-thai-betta-the-experience-367697.html