Betta Help Needed! (lost Sight + Smell)

[lilfishie]

try not to worry about him not eating to much, my guy when i got him took 2 weeks before he would eat anything, hope he gets well soon

 

[Loen210]

Thanks,
But he hasn't eaten for several days already. And now the main concern is that his stomach/chest is still quite bloated, even that it seems his face gills are elevated with some red showing underneath. AND no VISION or SMELL. So, seems that intestines have some problems and has become blind and can't smell food!
Thank you for all your support. - Hana

try not to worry about him not eating to much, my guy when i got him took 2 weeks before he would eat anything, hope he gets well soon

 

[Loen210]

Germ (oops, I noticed I thought it said "Q"erm before.

I just read your posting from last night. Yes, I had gone to sleep. Your feedback from your book seems helpful in trying to detect what's wrong. My helper, I had only asked to give a couple of blood worms, which she did, and turned 0ut gave maybe about 5 by accident. But NO TAP WATER at all. We used filtered water regularly. I only needed him fed for one night.

- Doesn't seem to have cataracts, but I'll take closer look. Don't see bubbles either.
- How do I treat for parasitic infection?

Well, I have to work in a bit, so probably won't get to check on here until later tonight. Thanks endlessly guys for your help and care. You're great!

Warmly, Hana

dug out my fish illness book...
Considering the ineptness of your helper (debatable) could they have put any tap water into the tank?
Temporary blindness can be caused by a sudden increase in chlorine.
If not with the bloated tummy i'd treat for a parasitic infection.
But other possibilities;
Eye flukes (diplostomum) , no treatment, but you'd see little cataracts on the fishes eye?
or gas bubble disease, unlikely are there any bubbles on the fish?

 

[-germ-]

I've heard of medicated food but never seen it, you could get a parasitic medication, dilute the required amount with a little bit of water and add yourpellets or better some freeze dried daphinia.
In your case unless you can diagnose the problem i'd go with a general treatment, although obviously it'd be better if you could be sure whats up with him and treat that specifically. Make sure his diet is good for now.
Don't whatever you do feed him any bloodworm till he's back on form its the fish equivalent of steak and he doesn't need that at this time.
Daphinia and or pea, he'll take them eventually....

 

[Loen210]

Thanks so much, Germ!
You are very helpful. But I am not sure how to get parasitic medication. I'd be a bit nervous about that. I had not heard of Daphnia food. I was at the PETCO store, and I had bought these items: Bloodworms (which I will not give for a while, I guess), Baby Shrimp, Tetra Color (as his color seems to be faded). Can I give the shrimp or color flakes?

Thanks, and happy wishes to all your fish,
Hana

I've heard of medicated food but never seen it, you could get a parasitic medication, dilute the required amount with a little bit of water and add yourpellets or better some freeze dried daphinia.
In your case unless you can diagnose the problem i'd go with a general treatment, although obviously it'd be better if you could be sure whats up with him and treat that specifically. Make sure his diet is good for now.
Don't whatever you do feed him any bloodworm till he's back on form its the fish equivalent of steak and he doesn't need that at this time.
Daphinia and or pea, he'll take them eventually....

 

[-germ-]

Tetra pro colour? Only feed him in small amounts, perhaps you could try posting the symptoms in the emergency part of this forum. I may have missed something but i'm stumped as to being able to guess the illness.
Its hard to say in case something does go wrong and he ends up worse, but IF it was me i'd be fasting him for at least a day and a half before trying pea. I fast all my fish once a week with no ill effects so far.
You can get a general tonic or parasitic treatment from any LFS, remove any charcoal from your filter, follow the instructions on the packet and you can't go wrong. How is he, has there been any improvement or deteriation?
Have you checked your tank stats? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate etc, or do you not have a tester?

happy wishes to all your fish

Cheers!

 

[alessasavoca]

when you say filtered water, what do you mean hun? ima bit slow this morning sorry!

 

[-germ-]

Yeah, just noticed the bit about red-gill covers, i'm thinking whatever the cause of that is, is probably water related....
Do you dechlorinate your water?
And has anyone explained cycling to you?
If not you need some sea-chem prime, your tank/container won't be cycled and the sea-chem prime will immediately help with any toxic (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, chlorine, chloramine) issues you have in there. You can get small tubs of it quite cheap.

 

[alessasavoca]

germ's right, if you filter it (like put it in a britta filter etc) it won't remove the chlorine which is potentially deadly to fish, and may cause temporary blindness. Do you add anything to the water before you put it in the tank ?

 

[Loen210]

OH NO!!!
I feel ashamed now. I did not know. I had never had experience with fish before this. But we'd used Britta filtered water for two years, and he had been in great condition.

Late last night, more blood chunks dropped down from his gills (definitely blood looking under there). I tried again to feed, and no luck. But he keeps nipping at the surface asking for food, and I put it right on his face, and he seems to butt it off, thinking it is a leaf or so.

We do not have a filter/water ingredient reader. He'd been so healthy, so we thought we were doing well. A friend who has had huge tanks of fish came over, and when saw him a month or so ago, said "Whatever you're doing, don't change a thing! Betta living over 2 years is great." I didn't believe that totally, but thought we were doing.

GERM: Where/What is LFS, where I can get the medications you mentioned? Please let me know. PETCO? I am in the Boston area.

Thank you,
Hana

germ's right, if you filter it (like put it in a britta filter etc) it won't remove the chlorine which is potentially deadly to fish, and may cause temporary blindness. Do you add anything to the water before you put it in the tank ?

 

[Loen210]

Tetra BettaSafe is the brand we use.

Although our water is filtered, and as of now, I learned about how that is not safe, this bottle of water says:

MAKES TAP WATER SAFE FOR BETTAS, Complete forumular works in seconds. Water conditioner. So, wouldn't that be enough? I think I am about to run off to PETCO, but not sure fully what to ask for for meds and such.

thank guys!!

Yeah, just noticed the bit about red-gill covers, i'm thinking whatever the cause of that is, is probably water related....
Do you dechlorinate your water?
And has anyone explained cycling to you?
If not you need some sea-chem prime, your tank/container won't be cycled and the sea-chem prime will immediately help with any toxic (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, chlorine, chloramine) issues you have in there. You can get small tubs of it quite cheap.

 

[lilfishie]

LFS = local fish store, hope your lil guy gets better soon

 

[Loen210]

LFS = local fish store, hope your lil guy gets better soon

Thank you lilfishie,

I am going to ask for a ride to the pet store today, but am going to wait just a bit more in case others reply with some thoughts/directions on what to get, so I won't be running back and forth constantly. I have to have somebody give me a ride, so have to let them know what time.

Thx, Hana

 

[-germ-]

The tetra stuff should be getting the dechlorinating done....
Maybe it is old age.
If it isn't then it is most likely (based on his sudden deterioration and mixed symptoms) down to the water condition. I'd get some SeaChem Prime as mentioned earlier, this should get rid of any ammonia or nitrite that has built up in his tank. It can also be used as a dechlorinator, don't use both, just the prime. How big is the tank? I'd put half a capful in a 5gal, it doesn't need diluting or adding during a water change (which may lethally stress him), just pour straight in.
Take a sample of your tank water with you and ask them to test it, if they do such a service (most in the U.K do) and post the stats on here.
See if they have any live or freezedried daphinia as well, may be labelled as waterflea.
I apologise in advance if it is old age and you end up wasting your money, if not and he can be sorted, Good Luck!
Got to go to work now, won't be able to post for another 3 hours, if there is a serious emergency i'd try personal messaging a memebr of this site called wilder, i'm not sure if he knows about Betta, or even if he'll be on but he's brilliant at fish illnesses and the correct treatments. Go to search on the tool bar, click on advanced search and search uder members name, hope that made sense. Late for work!!!!!!

 

[Loen210]

Germ,
I owe you so much. Okay, I am going to go through all the replies you and others have posted, and copy the most important parts to bring to the pet store. I may also try sendign some of you photos, because I can't figure out how to turn them into "URLs" to post them

Thank you so much. I'll keep you guys up to date. I really owe you a lot.

Hana