Help me save my betta fish

[corneliusmom]

Hello,

I have two betta fish, each in their own tanks. I have posted almost two months ago when I first noticed them get sick. The first one to get sick (Fineas) didn't have any physical symptoms but started acting very lethargic, disoriented, and just in general bobbing at the surface and refusing food. The second fish's (Leopold) illness started out looking just like fin rot, with no change in behaviour. I started treating Fineas with Kanaplex and Leopold with daily water changes and tannins.

This did not help; Fineas got worse and seemed to barely be able to swim anymore. He would lie down on the gravel with this head and upper body pointing up like he was suffocating. Leopold slowly lost most of his fins and also became lethargic, weak and refusing food. I was told on this forum to try API General Cure for Fineas and Polyguard for Leopold.

To make matters worse, this happened right before an overseas move during which I planned on bringing my fish with me on the plane in individual bottles. It also took me a couple days once arrived to get my new tanks in the mail. I was changing the water every day, but it must have been very stressful for them.

After this, Fineas got better. The API seemed to work, as his behavior was back to normal! His fins had shortened a bit (did not look like fin rot though), but otherwise he seemed fully recovered. Leopold however got slowly worse. He was losing almost all his color, being very lethargic and panicking/overreacting as soon as I approached the tank, and barely eating. I shifted to treating him with API as it seemed to work for Fineas. I have not been able to do a full uninterrupted treatment however as I needed to do daily water changes. I was planning on getting seeded filter media from an LFS to kick start my cycle, but with both my bettas being sick, I felt it was too risky. Again, having to do a fish in cycle, even with daily large water changes and tannins, certainly didn't help. I was also advised to use spring water to replenish the water, but this did not seem to work.

As of a week ago, my tanks have finally cycled. I still have been doing water changes every 1-2 days because the nitrates have been high. Leopold is in a horrible state. He is completely colorless, transparent even, and so skeletal that I can see his spine. On top of having lost nearly all finnage, tail looks nipped, which he's never done before. I have been trying to get him to eat as best I can, by waterlogging pellets so they sink and dropping them right where he is lying, and he visibly has trouble swimming and eating, although he does eat maybe 2-3 per day. I think he might die soon as his breathing seems to have really slowed down. On top of this, Fineas has now started acting sick again; lethargic and not eating much, with his fins seemingly degrading (but visually different from fin rot).

It breaks my heart to see them like this and I have no idea what to do anymore. To make things worse; I will be leaving for the holidays in two weeks and will have to leave them with a pet sitter. Please help me.

To recap, this is what I tried:
- Daily larger water changes
- Tannins
- Kanaplex
- Polyguard
- API General Cure
- Spring water

Tank size: 6 gallons
tank age: 1 month
pH: 8.2
ammonia: 0 ppm
nitrite: 0 ppm
nitrate: 0 ppm
kH:
gH:
tank temp: 80-81 F

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): Lethargy, difficulty swimming, refusing food, heavy breathing, fin loss, color loss, weight loss

Volume and Frequency of water changes: Until a week ago, 25-50% (depending on parameters). This week, 25-40% every other day

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: Prime, fertilizer

Tank inhabitants: One male betta

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): Plants

Exposure to chemicals: None other than additives listed above and medications I tried.

 

[wayfareranima]

You pH is way too high to start with, betta fish like 6.5-7.0 slightly acidic water.
Is there an update?

 

[wayfareranima]

Also tank cycling can take up to 3 months, the absence of ammonia isnt a guarantee that the tank is cycled, and the complete absence of nitrites and nitrates seems to indicate that the tank isn’t cycled yet.
if you’re changing the water that frequently in those proportions you could be further disrupting the cycling process.

 

[wayfareranima]

Also 6 gallons isn’t enough water for any fish to live a long and happy life in, my betta lives in an 18 gallon tank with only neo caridina shrimp as tank mates and is very happy. Consider getting at least a 12 gallon tank.

 

[Lcc86]

If he has been unwell and deteriorating for some time now (about 2 months from the look of your post) it may be time to consider euthanising him. I don't say it lightly as you've clearly tried your absolute best, but it may be that he is weaker than your other one who's been able to recover more.

Don't try and adjust your pH overnight, the shock of that will likely cause death (I speak from experience sadly). Have you been able to check the parameters of your tap water where you now live? It may be that it's quite different and that could be contributing. The only solution to that would realistically be using RO water and remineralisation, but again I'd be really reluctant to start messing with that given how unwell Leopold is.

Re changing tanks to a larger one etc, the stress of something like that will likely push the poor fish over the edge at the moment given they are unwell/recovering. You could always consider at a later date if they recover fully, but a betta in a 6 gallon isn't that unheard of.

Hopefully others can give additional advice, I think if he were my betta I would give him a few more days to see if there's any positive change and then make the call.