Poor Betta dying?

[Gmb27]

Hi all,

I'm looking for any help possible for my Betta which I think is dying. A few weeks ago it developed large white patches (looking like cotton) and then tiny white dots (I believe this was a second issue of inch). He stopped eating and began sitting still at the bottom corner all the time. He then began suffering with swollen eyes. I treated him with LFS ich and also fungus treatment which got rid of the dots and cotton, but not the swollen eyes. I then switched to Kanaplex for the stated two doses. He seems to be worse now and almost never moves, with cloudy eyes and dull white patches. I haven't seen him eat in quite a few days and fear he's poss blind. The only change to the tank was the addition of a live plant from Pets at H. I'll try anything to save him but just don't know if he's too far gone.

Temp 78
Ammonia untraceable
PH 7.2-7.4
KH 50
GH 250
Nitrate 10
Nitrite 0
Had him over a year and twice weekly water changes of 25%.

Any advice would be gratefully received..

 

[FishBearer9845]

@Colin_T

 

[hansgruber7]

What does ammonia untraceable mean? I would verify that your ammonia is at zero, because that's often the source of the problem in my experience. I also wonder if he has developed popeye.

 

[Colin_T]

Can you post some more pictures of the fish?

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Stop adding chemicals unless you know what you are treating. Fish medications have poisonous chemicals in them that kill disease organisms but they also stress and harm the fish. If you expose the fish to too many chemicals it can die.

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Try doing a 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate every day for 2 weeks.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

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You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

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The following link has information about what to do if your fish get sick. It's long and boring but worth a read when you have some spare time. I recommend printing it out and reading it in bed to help fall asleep.

What to do if your fish gets sick

If your fish ever looks sick or unwell, then the following steps might help. Test the Water and Clean the Tank. Test the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH and write the results down in numbers. Check it for general hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH) too if you can, but...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Gmb27]

What does ammonia untraceable mean? I would verify that your ammonia is at zero, because that's often the source of the problem in my experience. I also wonder if he has developed popeye.

Hi, I test with British King and it shows as 0. I tried previously with a tetra kit and that was 0 too so I assumed this was correct. Do you think that's an unreliable result? Thanks

 

[Gmb27]

Can you post some more pictures of the fish?

----------
Stop adding chemicals unless you know what you are treating. Fish medications have poisonous chemicals in them that kill disease organisms but they also stress and harm the fish. If you expose the fish to too many chemicals it can die.

----------
Try doing a 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate every day for 2 weeks.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

----------
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

----------
The following link has information about what to do if your fish get sick. It's long and boring but worth a read when you have some spare time. I recommend printing it out and reading it in bed to help fall asleep.

What to do if your fish gets sick

If your fish ever looks sick or unwell, then the following steps might help. Test the Water and Clean the Tank. Test the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH and write the results down in numbers. Check it for general hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH) too if you can, but...

www.fishforums.net

Thanks for the reply. I'll get some more images up. I'll give the salt a try as directed.

 

[FishGuest5123]

To treat Popeye, do a 50% water change First. Then treat with Seachem Kanaplex as per directions. Also, three times a day, place fish in epsom salt dips. (1tsp. Of epsom salt to 1 gallon of dechlorinated water. Place fish in for 2 minutes each time. ). Epsom salt will pull fluid off the eye. Be sure no fragrance is in epsom salt. Just pure epsom salt. Edit: I see you are in UK so unable to get antibiotics.

 

[hansgruber7]

Hi, I test with British King and it shows as 0. I tried previously with a tetra kit and that was 0 too so I assumed this was correct. Do you think that's an unreliable result? Thanks

No, it's probably accurate. I think using a liquid test is more reliable than the test strips. Not sure what you're using. I like the API Test kit personally.