my Gurl (Betta) is sick

[rjas007]

Help with my Gurl – I’ve just read most of the forums that have discussed sick betta’s and the use of melafix. I have been using melafix up until now, I just done a full water change (its less than a gallon tank) to get rid of the melafix (I was using it cause she has fin rot – the rot looks better and her fins appear to be coming back) but now my concern is that because of the melafix its affecting her breathing what can I do to help her. She is now sitting on her back fin in a diagonal fashion (breathing hard I know she’s stressed) and she has a hard time getting to the top for air, I did have an aeration rock (I took it out, there was not current due to my just barely having it in the tank). PLEASE HELP ME HELP MY GURL I don’t want to loose her (but I’m afraid that’s whats gonna happen) …. (she was in a 10gal tank with a plecos when she got the fin rot – and is it normal for plecos to poop all the time).

 

[An t-iasg]

Hi rjas007,
I'm sorry to hear about your betta. I'm glad you did a complete water change to get the MelaFix out, especially in such a small tank. I don't think I'd recommend another med right now. She's probably too stressed to add another med to the water.

Bettas must get to the surface of the water to breathe. If she can't, lower the water level to where she is comfortable reaching the surface. Hopefully that will perk her up. Make sure you keep the tank in a warm place. Bettas are also stressed by breathing cold air into their labyrinth. When the betta is breathing normally again, then we can see if she requires more finrot treatment.

I've never had a pleco. But I have read on here that they are very dirty fish. They do poop a lot. I would not recommend mixing bettas with plecos for that reason. You need very good filtration for a pleco, and this amount of filtration may make more current than a betta prefers. Also, sometimes, plecos will attach onto a sick or slow-moving fish. I wouldn't risk them latching onto your betta now.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[rjas007]

Thank You An t-iasg - she appears to be breathing a lil' better not as she should but i will keep an eye on her and drop the water level so she can get to the top better... I'll keep ya posted...