Betta Fin Rot?

[Jessman]

I just took a picture of my betta and it looks as if he has fin rot, either that or his tail is recovering from fin rot because it is a dull black colour, completely different to his greeny/blue red colour. i only bought him yesterday and did not notice this till now. it is not possible to contract it overnight is it:s? 
if it is fin rot can anyone tell me how severe it is? and how long it will take to treat? (with aquarium salt if i am correct?)
any help will be much appreciated, thanks!

 

 

[FishHelper101]

Well 1st from the picture it looks to me like that betta is in a glass or bowl, is he? Sorry if he's not that's just what I think I see. But it may be early fin rot if it's just the tips so to say. Just keep and eye on him but if it seems to get worst add some aquarium salt to his tank pronto. And the aquarium salt for injury not marine salts.

 

[VickyChaiTea]

That is a severe infection that spreads incredibly fast. I think it's bacterial in nature but I'm not sure. Unfortunately every fish I've seen with it passes away either overnight or within a few days. It's not fin rot, I think it's related to columnaris.
 
I would try to treat it with a broad spectrum antibiotic and aquarium salt and hope for the best.

 

[Jessman]

Well 1st from the picture it looks to me like that betta is in a glass or bowl, is he? Sorry if he's not that's just what I think I see. But it may be early fin rot if it's just the tips so to say. Just keep and eye on him but if it seems to get worst add some aquarium salt to his tank pronto. And the aquarium salt for injury not marine salts.

 
Yes he is in a 25l bowl which is heated and filtered. He has plenty of room and I have seen people house bettas in much smaller conditions without filtration and heating even, so personally i dont see anything wrong with it. 
 
if the fin rot is early, will it be easier to treat and will he heal? thanks for the help
 
 
 

That is a severe infection that spreads incredibly fast. I think it's bacterial in nature but I'm not sure. Unfortunately every fish I've seen with it passes away either overnight or within a few days. It's not fin rot, I think it's related to columnaris.
 
I would try to treat it with a broad spectrum antibiotic and aquarium salt and hope for the best.

do you by any chance know the name of the infection or can give me any more details? and where could i get a broad spectrum antibiotic? would it be at any pet shop or would i have to go to the vets? thanks for your help

 

[techen]

I would say fin rot, Am not sure what Vicky is speaking about? But Fin rot is treatable and you can recover the fish.
 
There's lots of places that sell fin rot meds, Give a LFS a call and ask, failing that there's a few sites online that sell it.
 
Make sure to have nice, clean water to avoid more infections.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I believe I've had a guppy with what Vicky is talking about.  I thought it was tail rot and his entire tails vanished in less than 2 days and began eating away his body (euthanized him).  However, it didn't look like the picture of the betta.

 

[Jessman]

I went out tonight with friends, when i left the betta was fine, i came back just now and it is dead!!!! I cant believe this. I bought the betta, and 5 guppies from there saturday and they all died within a day!!! ( they were housed seperately) Clearly the lfs has very bad water conditions and i am never going to purchase anything there again. I will be sure to make a complaint asap tomorrow morning. Surely a lfs should have clean and uninfected water! I am disgusted in them that not only they have such bad water conditions, but that they still actually sell the bad fish without saying anything! Every single one of my other fish are 100% healthy. I am sickened and they will hear from me very very soon.
Money flushed down the toilet basically. They could have taken more care to examine the fish and atleast tried to treat them, very dissapointed.

 

[attibones]

An LFS is not out to treat fish properly. Its sole purpose is to make money. They aren't going to tell you that their fish are sickly. They know they will lose money. It is up to the buyer to be aware of early signs of disease, check tank conditions, ask for a water sample to test at home, and to find the healthiest fish.

 

[Jessman]

Yes that's true, ill buy fish from the nearest pets at home store from now on, I've never had a fish die from there, and as you can clearly see on their policy, they are more concerned about the fish than the customers which is good. The fish all seem very healthy there every time I visit.

 

[attibones]

I don't know much about Pets at Home, aside from the fact that they are not in the US, but I do know that they are a fairly large chain store. I go to an independent store for my fish which appears to keep healthier, happier, larger fish than my local PetSmart. I go to the chain store which is much closer for supplies. The other one is thirty minutes away, but it is also two miles away from my work. Do you have something like that?

 

[FishHelper101]

Well 1st from the picture it looks to me like that betta is in a glass or bowl, is he? Sorry if he's not that's just what I think I see. But it may be early fin rot if it's just the tips so to say. Just keep and eye on him but if it seems to get worst add some aquarium salt to his tank pronto. And the aquarium salt for injury not marine salts.

 
Yes he is in a 25l bowl which is heated and filtered. He has plenty of room and I have seen people house bettas in much smaller conditions without filtration and heating even, so personally i dont see anything wrong with it. 
 
if the fin rot is early, will it be easier to treat and will he heal? thanks for the help
 
 
 

>That is a severe infection that spreads incredibly fast. I think it's bacterial in nature but I'm not sure. Unfortunately every fish I've seen with it passes away either overnight or within a few days. It's not fin rot, I think it's related to columnaris.
 
I would try to treat it with a broad spectrum antibiotic and aquarium salt and hope for the best.

do you by any chance know the name of the infection or can give me any more details? and where could i get a broad spectrum antibiotic? would it be at any pet shop or would i have to go to the vets? thanks for your help
 

Okay thanks for that information. Yes it is an bacterial infection but bettas can out live it if treated properly. If you want to see the video I made on treating fin rot, click here. That should help !

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Do you have maidenhead aquatics somewhere near you?  I really appreciate one of the two branches near me especially.  Plus they have a 2 week quarantine policy before selling fish.  They have also advised me on fish NOT to keep which is a thumbs up to them too from me.

 

[Jessman]

Attibones, I would love to have independent fish stores close to where I live but unfortunately there are none the one I knew about **** down around 2 years ago. The place I got the fish saturday is also a large chain store, but they concerntrate more on farm animal supplies. I have to drive 30 mins to my nearest pets at home but I don't really mind, I imagine pets at home is very much like petco.

Thank you fishhelper101 for the video, it will help a lot if something else like this happens

Prairesunflower, I don't think I have a maidenhead aquatics anywhere near me, which is a shame. Ill do someresearch later I think to find small independent fish stores around my area in anglesey, and I know a few people have an aquatic shop as such running from their home, so that might be interesting

 

[FishHelper101]

No problem glad to help! Best of luck for the little guy!

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Here is the store finder for Maidenhead... there are some in Wales, maybe one is near you?
 
http/fishkeeper.co.uk/site/storefinder