Please help me help my betta :(

[fishychick]

Lol, Dangit. I pretty much did the exact opposite of everything you just posted. He's in a quarantine tank, but I put his small cave in to help him feel comfortable, and a few rocks. I tried to get him to eat a Hikari Bio-Pure frozen blood worm, but no luck. I put two drops of Betta revive and covered his tank to hopefully reduce stress. I did get the New Life food though. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all your time, help and advice. Seriously, thank you.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[StrangelyNormal]

You will need to be careful with acclimation as it may stress him out more. Whenever you are acclimating sick or sensitive fish you will want to use a drip acclimation. It helps them get used to it before going into the main new tank. Since he is in there though l would keep him there.


I actually just went through the same thing you are now.. my betta came down with sbd and acted the same exact way. The other type of sbd you're referring to is whirling disease. They can either whirl in whirling disease or sink to the bottom/float to the top.

It's no problem. Unfortunately I speak from experience this time and not Google!

Okay, so you might want to get a new or clean pair of tweezers and try the bloodworm that way. So you can put it right up to his mouth.

 

[fishychick]

"Okay, so you might want to get a new or clean pair of tweezers and try the bloodworm that way. So you can put it right up to his mouth." {quote}

That's totally what I did, dangled the darn thing right in front of him, nothing. BUT, he did eat a flake of the new food you told me to buy!! So I'm pretty excited about that. Just have to wait and see if the betta revive does any good. Not sure what more I can do.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[StrangelyNormal]

You could get an anti bacterial antibiotic.

 

[fishychick]

He actually seems a little better! I don't want to get my hopes up, but he ate tonight and is definitely swimming around more and coming over to say hello when i go to check on him. Does Betta Revive actually work?


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[StrangelyNormal]

No clue, I've never used it before. Let's see how he does. Crossing fingers.

It could have been a dietary thing - lack of proper vitamins. anything "Min" is the worst you could get.

Think of Min as the minimum!

 

[fishychick]

You are my hero.



Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[StrangelyNormal]

Glad I helped. Keep me posted. Keep up with the varied diet, Bloodworms will help fatten him up but be sure to not feed too much or too little just in case. You don't want to fatten him at the cost of bloat.

 

[StrangelyNormal]

Decided to take a look at Betta Revive.

Ingredients:

Water, neomycin sulfate (<10%), methylene blue (<0.5%), proprietary polymer mixture, buffers, EDTA, malachite green chloride (<0.01%), cyanoccobalamin, and electrolytes.

Very interesting. Wonder if the neomycin sulfate did it. It is a broad spectrum anti bacterial.

 

[fishychick]

Hmm, not sure. Whatever it was, seemed to work quick. I read the ingredients too but didn't know what any of it was. Guy at lfs suggested, betta revive because he said ingredients were non invasive or something like that, and might be a good place to start. He also told me to check my ph, which I don't normally do. It was 7.6-8. But I'm still unclear about ph.


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[StrangelyNormal]

Truthfully unless there are wide PH swings, PH isn't usually a problem. (Wide PH swings being putting in things like "PH up" or "PH down).
Most fish are equipped to deal with whatever PH you have. For example I moved a fish that likes basic water into an acidic tank, and he was alright - the water is now back to acidic/basic borderline, so he's just as happy.
Especially for bettas - bettas are pretty much solely captive bred, unless you have a wild type (which he isn't a wild type). So I can't imagine it being a problem unless the acidity or basic level was totally off the charts.

If you're ever going to change your PH, use natural things like driftwood or coral (always disinfect first).

 

[fishychick]

I'm afraid to get my hopes up, but he's doing much much better! Been eating again for the last two days and is moving around more. Last treatment of BettaRevive is today and I'll move him back to his tank tomorrow. I'm paranoid he'll get sick again as soon as I move him back. Hopefully the BettaRevive isn't just a quick symptom mask and he'll continue to get better.