betta disinegrating?

[bittersweet]

I am pretty new to the whole fish community, and recently bought 3 male bettas from petco. I tried to pick the ones that looked healthiest and 2 of them ended up doing very well when I got them home, but the blue/purple male started developing parasites I believe (im sure he already had them) about a day after I got him he started scratching himself on everything. so I got some aqual-sol and treated him. the next day when I woke up all his fins appeared to be rotting and disinegrating. I quarinteend him and continued treating him, but the rotting spread violently to the point of all his scales and fins falling off..I couldnt let him suffer and had to euthanize. . my question is..is it common for fin rot and parasites so spread to rapidly even with treatment? I'm afraid my other bettas might develop it because they came from the same place, even though they seem fine now.

BTW hello to everyone here, I am a newbie

 

[mike777]

Did you put them in the same tank? I certinatly hope not! But if you didn't then it kinda sounds like fin rot to me. But I'm definetly not an expert. HTH

 

[bkk_group]

did you notice little white spots on him? from the way you described him scratching everything around him it sort of sounds like ich. fin rot is usually not associated with ich though..

 

[bittersweet]

no i didnt notice any white spots on him, i looked closely for them..he was just spastic flying around the tank and plants, and eventually just started rotting, i know it happens, but it was just sad and I felt bad that he was suffering

 

[bkk_group]

no i didnt notice any white spots on him, i looked closely for them..he was just spastic flying around the tank and plants, and eventually just started rotting, i know it happens, but it was just sad and I felt bad that he was suffering

i'm sorry for your loss bittersweet
no matter how well we treat our fish sometimes bad things happen we have no control over. who knows how he was kept at the petco. i do know the fish endure a lot of stress when they are shipped which makes them more succeptable to infection.

 

[staredecisis]

Well, firstly let me express my strong distaste for Petco. There's a reason there are so many Petco boycotts going on in so many locations right now. They neglect their animals, leaving them to get stuck and die in pest traps, they leave their bettas in transport cups which are 1/3 the standard size, which results in them starving and swimming in pure waste.. There is no telling what your poor betta had to endure at that shop before you got him.

But to respond about the speed of diseases like finrot and such, I just recently bought a fancy tailed guppy who had a huge beautiful tail fin with a TINY nip in it. Within 2 days, his entire tail was GONE and he was dead. I started treatment on the first day, but it acted so fast there was nothing I could do.

Sorry to hear about your betta, bkk is right, sometimes there are conditions that are just out of our control no matter what we do.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi bittersweet and welcome to the forum.

I'm so sorry to hear about your disappointing start with bettas.

These poor fish are kept in deplorable conditions when they are shipped to your lfs. They travel in little packets of water that barely cover them. Since this water rapidly becomes polluted, it's a wonder to me that many survive at all.

I think your betta was suffering from nitrite poisoning and finrot, which is a bacterial infection that will often come when the fish are exposed to conditions such as they get while being shipped. It can develop either rapidly or slowly.

It's a good idea to treat incoming bettas with BettaMax to heal any beginning infections or prevent them from starting, especially if they will be ultimately put into a tank with other fish. There are certainly other preparations that can be used for this, but I've had good luck with BettaMax.

Bettas are lovely and exciting fish. Please do not let this bad experience discourage you from keeping them.

 

[bittersweet]

Thank you all for your consoling words. I definetly wont let this one bad experience get me down because I think that bettas are a beautiful fish and I am planning on ordering some fancy bettas and getting a 15 or 20 gal tank with dividers to hopefully someday breed them. I more than agree with you on Petco, not only do they not treat there animals well but I dont even think they hire staff that knows how to. I bought them on a pure spur of the moment and was hoping to maybe fatten them up and get them healthy. Now the 2nd betta I bought there is starting to lose his color and turn a pale brown, even though I've been keeping his water very clean and feeding him well, and also using preventative stress treatments. It is definetly the quality of how they were raised on why there health is depleated. I just know now not to buy fish from them again. the only betta that is healthy and very active is the youngest one I bought, I think his age saved him.

Anyways I thank you all again for your nice words and great input