Betta help tropical fish emergency

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I just did a paragaurd dip and he loved it, I think he was happiest in a 2-gallon tub than his tank, to be honest. I am just going to dose the tank daily now, I was afraid it would make the water really blue but it didn't so that's
my next plan
It's not that he loves it. I only suggested it to delay it a bit so he doesn't tear himself even more than the sickness does.
I actually had something like this with my female endlers I used furan 2 with a pinch of salt.
Out of the 2 only 1 lived and it only had like half a body..it died about a month ago after spawning.
I wish you good luck
 
Something else has triggered my curiosity on this....its actually been mentioned as a potential variant or connected to the necrotic disease first found in blue Betta in 2012, there are a few reports that the necrotic issue appeared to be symptomatic of a severe and fast forming variant of Mycobacterium Marinum

Mycobacterium Marinum can mimic symptoms of other diseases such as columnaris, dropsy and is often misdiagnosed as other illnesses or diseases.

It is always fatal, there is no treatment and more alarmingly it can sometimes spread to humans via cuts or scratches on hands when in an aquarium where a diseased fish is housed with symptoms only appearing several months after the fish has died..

@Colin_T
@Byron

Can you jump in on this please, this might be something or nothing but the symptomatic side of things and severa damage to the fish sort of lends itself to something along these lines.

I looked into this but it doesn't seem to exhibit what he has going on
 
It's not that he loves it. I only suggested it to delay it a bit so he doesn't tear himself even more than the sickness does.
I actually had something like this with my female endlers I used furan 2 with a pinch of salt.
Out of the 2 only 1 lived and it only had like half a body..it died about a month ago after spawning.
I wish you good luck
I can't find fur
Paraguard will do nothing to help this slowly dying, suffering fish.

But if you choose to ignore suggestions and info provided here, then nothing else will help the fish, either.
How can it do nothing? @Colin_T said to use a broad spectrum non-antibiotic, and paragaurd is one of them?
 
It's not that he loves it. I only suggested it to delay it a bit so he doesn't tear himself even more than the sickness does.
I actually had something like this with my female endlers I used furan 2 with a pinch of salt.
Out of the 2 only 1 lived and it only had like half a body..it died about a month ago after spawning.
I wish you good luck
I cannon find furan 2 anywhere! local fish stores, 3 near me, nor amazon or api website!?? Any ideas
 
I can't find fur

How can it do nothing? @Colin_T said to use a broad spectrum non-antibiotic, and paragaurd is one of them?
Also, he is not slowly dying and suffering. I am trying to stay positive. He has no problem swimming and eating knowing his name. Yes, his fin is destroyed, by what who knows, but I know when a fish is suffering this is not my first rodeo. I'm asking for help because this is something new to me that I have never seen that didn't come on right away, he shows no distress but his body does.
 
I can't find fur

How can it do nothing? @Colin_T said to use a broad spectrum non-antibiotic, and paragaurd is one of them?
@Colin_T will have to answer that question

But with fishkeeping, fish deaths are inevitable, TBH...we have to deal with them, learn from them, and move on
 
Thank you so much for the tag and the vote of confidence! Sadly though, I'm far from a fish expert, let alone in diseases. I just often end up in the emergency threads because I can usually talk someone through an emergency first aid water change and my heart goes out to people having an emergency and I want to help where I can! Which usually just means urging a large water change and tagging @Colin_T for all else, since he really is the disease expert!

Hi OP. I do have to agree though that he's in very rough shape. Can someone link me to whichever product Parguard is, please? When I search I'm only getting results for the birth control device, and lots of US products aren't available in the UK. I don't want to advise trying a med when I don't know what's in it.

@mll6966 I'm sorry that this is happening to your fish, and that the news isn't great. @Colin_T might sound a little cold when he recommends euthanising him, because for you, he's your pet fish with a name and you can't imagine doing it while he's swimming around, but Colin is looking at the damage - look closely again at the progression in the photographs.. it isn't just that he's lost his tail. It has eaten into his body! No matter how active he is, that has to be causing a lot of pain, and the chances of successfully treating it at this late stage, without knowing the precise bacteria that's causing it, are incredibly low. But throwing random antibiotics at him in the hope it might work isn't a solution either, since it means extending his suffering while you try different antibiotic courses in a "hit 'em and hope" approach, and that kind of misuse of antibiotics is why we now have drug resistant bacteria at all, and drug resistant bacteria are killing humans as well as animals. Mis-using antibiotics without knowing what the actual bacteria involved is, in order to save a single pet fish that is unlikely to survive at this point - isn't something we can encourage in good faith for that reason.

So while Colin's bedside manner might be upsetting when you want to save your pet fish, he really is considering how painful that must be for the fish. I winced when I saw how much it had eaten into his body, that's a nasty infection. Had treatment begun back when the lump first appeared and grew in March, or when the tail first began to recede, we'd have a better chance of saving him. But now you can really only follow Colin's advice and try using the methylene blue (can still use it with a blue fish, but it will stain the silicone on your tank) or the broad spectrum non-antibiotic treatment until you can get him to a fish vet. But you need to start that urgently, because despite swimming around, and looking "happy" (we really cannot tell, as humans, if fish are happy" that poor betta is being eaten alive and is suffering.

The aquatic vet isn't likely to operate, more likely to take a scraping and identify which bacteria is involved, so an antibiotic can be chosen that targets the specific bacteria involved. But not many people will or can afford to take a £10 betta to an aquatic vet. So they end up trying random antibiotics hoping that they will work and causing more problems as I wrote above and extending the animal's suffering. If the vet says that he's too far gone and also recommends euthanising, then it would be best to listen to them, I'm sorry.

But this began back in March, he's only just had a second attempt at treatment, and you were reluctant to try a third, so the slowness in reacting/treating is a bit alarming to me... if you want to try to save him (and I completely understand that you can't face the idea of euthanising him yourself) and you truly are willing to take him to the aquatic vets as soon as possible - then you need to get hold of and start treating him with that broad spectrum non-antibiotic or methylene blue immmediately - go to a store to buy it I mean, rather than order it online and wait days for delivery, because the fish is being eaten alive and suffering.

I'm sorry I don't have more optimistic news for you. :(
I did start the paragaurd today!
 
I have a tidal 35 it came with matrix, it doesn't specify it has carbon in it but I am now wondering if it does and has rendered all my work useless?
 
fish-keeping* is proper grammar NBD, and again, why do you think paragard isn't something that is broad-spectrum non-antibiotic, such as what was recommended?
 
I think you really need to be realistic here.

Your fish is in pain, it has lost a significant amount of not just its tail but its body too. The animal is suffering.

What you assumed was the fish enjoying the treatment was more likely to be increased pain that caused an increased level of activity.....just as you would if you had sliced your hand and plunged it into salt water.

The fish needs to be euthanised. A Betta only has a very small body and it is now missing a chunk of that body. It is cruel to continue letting the fish live with such irreversible damage that is slowly eating the fish away.

You would not keep any other animal alive with that level of damage so why force a fish to live like it?

Every movement will be agony.

Give him a dignified death, do not force him to live out his days in pain. That is not fair and as a fishkeeper you have a responsibility to that fish and that includes euthanising it when its little body is wracked with pain and it has suffered such substantial damage.
 
I cannon find furan 2 anywhere! local fish stores, 3 near me, nor amazon or api website!?? Any ideas
1661491121968.png

from my research these are the main ingredients from api's furan 2
you could do Hikari bifuran plus which has the same active ingredients
on api's website you can find a list of stores that carry their products near your postal code and start calling each store..
https://brotherscountrysupply.com/api-furan-2-powder-packets-10-pack.html (these guys have next day delivery)
also the reviews from both products...the api's one has tons of reviews and way higher than the hikari one with only 14 on amazon
one thing for sure from both products....---> salt
also from your location you have only 1 store selling api products within 5 miles....
Petco on, 280 School St. 1 508-261-2366
call them in the morning and ask..
 
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fish-keeping* is proper grammar NBD, and again, why do you think paragard isn't something that is broad-spectrum non-antibiotic, such as what was recommended?

"A: PolyGuard™ is different from ParaGuard™ in the fact that PolyGuard™ contains antibiotics and ParaGuard™ acts more like a disinfectant/antiseptic and does not contain antibiotics."

That's why I think that, because it's written by seachem.
 

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