Saving My Betta...is He Too Far Gone?

[barb-e]

I bought a betta about 11 days ago. He is in a 2.5 gallon tank with a filter and a heater. Early on I noticed that he wasn't eating. He would just sit in the front of the tank and not move much and ignored all food. I removed some of the decorations in the tank and suddenly he became more active. He still wasn't eating so I tried giving him a pea but he wouldn't eat it. Surprisingly he still had energy and swam around. Then he started hiding under the filter all day and then I would go downstairs at night and see him swimming around like normal. Now things aren't looking so good. He is floating on his side. He spent most of yesterday laying on his side at the bottom of the tank. I noticed that he had stringy white poop and figured maybe he had a parasite so I added some parasite medicine. I gave him a salt bath...i've done everything I can think of. I keep checking in on him and he looks dead until I look at his gills and see that they are still moving. Has anyone ever had any luck reviving a betta that was this sick and had gone this long without eating?

 

[Tizer]

tested your water?

 

[Hmongol]

tested your water?

I'm in the same boat as you >.<
I can't bare to see him ill but I can't bring myself to kill him.

 

[demented pea]

Test the water and if its ok then you are going to have to tough up and euthanase him. get some Clove oil and put a teaspoon into a bowl of boiling water and mix it REALLY well. Then put your sick fish into a bowl of tank water but just enough to allow him to swim. Then drop by drop add the oily water to the tank water. He will thrash a bit as it is a nasty taste but it is anaesthetic and he will slowly go to sleep keeping adding oily mix and eventually he will not wake up. DO NOT put him in the freezer or boil him or any of the other suposedly humane crap people suggest. It is this way or the vets.
Nothing about this is nice but it is the way I use and its a natural product not a chemical anaesthetic. In the UK you cannot buy these anyway if you are not a vet.

I don't like killing anything but also can't stand to see things suffer. After a few trips to the vet with sad little fish I googled this and found this info from some koi keepers, sometimes fish need to go sooner rather vet trips later.

If anyone knows of an better way I would like to know too.

 

[hanny93]

Right, you need to test your water.

I'm also guessing (please correct me if I'm wrong) that your tank isn't cycled, although you do have a filter so I suppose thats alright.

Post your exact test readings and we can help you more.


Also, bowls are only good for soup and cocktails, not fish.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Test the water for ammonia, nitrites & nitrates. The tank is most likely cycling (going through nitrogen cycle), see here for more info: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/ ). Ammonia & nitrites should be 0 at all times, if they are above 0 do a partial water change (between 15-60% depending on the severity of the problem) with dechlorinator. Nitrates are the end product of the nitrogen cycle, so they are 0 then this is a sure sign the tank is cycling. Nitrates should ideally be between 1-40.

That aside, while white stringy poop can be a sign of internal parasites it can also be a sign of internal bacterial infection. But its vital to rule out water quality problems first as the fish won't get better no matter what you do if you don't sort out any potential water quality problems.

 

[ms.tofuluv]

Sounds like something's wrong with his swim bladder, that's probably why he floats on his side. Did you by any chance clean his tank or any of his equipment with dish soap? You situation is exactly what happened to one of my bettas. I got some bad advice to wash his tank with soap and the next day...dead fish. I would check online for swim bladder treatment, but he may already be too far gone.