I've had my betta fish for two years now, he's lived happily in a glass fish bowl. He is very active and only recently has started to slow down. I found him the other day with stringy white film coming off him and I was sure he was dying, researched cotton wool disease.. Changed his water and added some salt.. The film disappears but his long trailing fin has rotted off!! Is there anything more I can do for him, or is this the end? He is still swimming around and eating, but he doesn't look too good.
Betta fish severe fin rot
- Thread starter shleeunit
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Greta1981
Aquarium Advice Freak
Bettas really can't live in bowls. No fish can, regardless of what pet stores tell you. Yes, he can definitely recover and his tail can grow back if you do the following things:
Get him a 5 gallon bowl ASAP.
Get a low-flow filter (Whisper 10i is highly recommended.)
Get a tank heater.
Get Prime water conditioner.
Get an API water testing kit.
Stop adding salt or anything else other than Prime to the water.
Clean water and the right living space is the cure for almost all fish ailments. Please try the above and I think you will be amazed at how quickly he recovers. I've seen fish with almost zero fins left have a complete recovery under three weeks.
Get him a 5 gallon bowl ASAP.
Get a low-flow filter (Whisper 10i is highly recommended.)
Get a tank heater.
Get Prime water conditioner.
Get an API water testing kit.
Stop adding salt or anything else other than Prime to the water.
Clean water and the right living space is the cure for almost all fish ailments. Please try the above and I think you will be amazed at how quickly he recovers. I've seen fish with almost zero fins left have a complete recovery under three weeks.
Mebbid
Aquarium Advice Addict
You are going to have to keep the water very clean in the new 2g tank. Probably 50% water changes will be necessary every day to keep the ammonia down.
Fin rot happens because of deteriorating water conditions and especially from being in an unfiltered unheated tank.
Fin rot happens because of deteriorating water conditions and especially from being in an unfiltered unheated tank.
Greta1981
Aquarium Advice Freak
2 gallons is better than a bowl, but still extremely small. If you could get him a 5 gallon tank, maintenance would be much easier for you and those few extra gallons would make a world of difference to the fish. As Mebbid said, fin rot is largely caused by poor water quality and this in turn is caused because of a tank that is too small, where the nitrogen cycle cannot establish itself because of the lack of surface area for beneficial bacteria to adhere to.
