My Friend's Rotting Betta.. Help

Freshyfishy

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I don't have a photo, but it's about i think 4 years old. It's rotting near the tail, it built back enough strength to swim so it's not dead muscles or tissue. They just got it a filtered tank, and are financially struggling. (they just moved in with their parents/grandparents due to selling house). I am willing to pay up to $50 to help their fish. I don't know what to do as i only had a betta once.. and not for long either. Any help is appreciated. I can try to get a photo later.
 
Nobody has taken a crack at this post since the morning. Without a picture it is difficult to assess, and I am not a Betta expert but I know my first step would be to ensure the tank is clean and maintained. Likely you might want to consider a salt treatment for the Betta for the fin rot, but I would wait for someone that has more experience with fin rot and bettas to weigh in on the matter.

I really don't know how long bettas can live but 4 or 5 years is the most I managed, so the poor fellow might be near the end of his time.

Start with a clean well maintained home then work from there would be my advise. Shouldn't cost much.
 
I don't have a photo, but it's about i think 4 years old. It's rotting near the tail, it built back enough strength to swim so it's not dead muscles or tissue. They just got it a filtered tank, and are financially struggling. (they just moved in with their parents/grandparents due to selling house). I am willing to pay up to $50 to help their fish. I don't know what to do as i only had a betta once.. and not for long either. Any help is appreciated. I can try to get a photo later.
Do they/you have any type of freshwater test kit? Typically first line of issue with fin rot is checking the water parameters. Also, what size is the tank that it is in?
 
Post pictures of the sick fish.

Test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. Post the results in numbers here.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Add some salt, (see directions below).

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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

When you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.
 
The first line with rot type diseases is to change water. If you like using test kits, then have fun. But start changing the water. Reduce the ammonia, don't read it.
The infection won't go away on its own. And don't pay anyone.
I'll offer an old school remedy here, one that actually worked twice when I had a good hearted, not sensible friend who 'rescued' bedraggled store Bettas. Get some betadine at the pharmacy. It's a topical antiseptic that stains things red (iodine), and was used to paint human skin prior to surgery. They probably have something better now, and I had to ask a pharmacist for my last bottle, which a vet had suggested for an injured turtle. It cost me $18 in Canada. I tried it on fish and got good results. You set up something to absorb the red stain so you don't destroy your table (paper towel, old towels). Net the fish and holding it in a net over the table, quickly and carefully drip a couple of drops of betadine right onto the rot, avoiding the gills and eyes. Drop the fish right back in to a tank with clean water.
You might want neoprene gloves or you will have stained fingers.

It's a remedy modified from an old fish book written by a doctor (he used iodine) back when antibiotics weren't available, and since where I am, I can't buy them, I've gone back to old methods a few times. If the infection is really advanced, it won't work. But I cleared fungus off two of my friend's betta projects with it.
 
I got a photo! Her fish had to have swum from the bottom of the tank into her hand. It has enough strength to swim, but Any ideas on this?
Screenshot 2023-03-02 8.07.21 AM.png
 
My honest opinion is that this betta probably doesn't have too much time left, no matter what, so I wouldn't spend $50 trying to save it. I would definitely do as others suggested, clean water, a little salt to help with fin rot...and just help the owners with education of proper fish care so it doesn't happen again.
 
I got a photo! Her fish had to have swum from the bottom of the tank into her hand. It has enough strength to swim, but Any ideas on this?
View attachment 312690
That is a bad infection, although there is a slight chance it might pull through if treated. I’d try fungal infection treatment if it was my fish.

Bettas are not prone to diseases if they are kept in a large enough tank (say 10G) with substrate and filtering like we would any other fish.

It’s also beneficial to have live plants. If plants don’t grow in the tank, assuming there’s adequate light, then the chances are that pH and GH are too high and the water is not suitable for bettas.
 

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