Sick Fish

[Dorri]

Both betta's are sick. Both were in separate tanks although I transfered them to smaller quarters with lower water levels to help them come up for air.
One sits at the bottom and tries to swim up but is finding it difficult. He remains in normal position and is not on his side. His tail is mostly gone, he's been treated for tail and fin rot before. He still seems to be interested in eating.

My second betta was also hanging around the bottom, with swelling just below the head and a whitish film forming on him, he looks paler and is bloated, he remains in normal position and is not on his side. He is now on top since being transferred, but he still looks sickly and seems to have lost his appetite.


I'm in Canada and looked for an OTC fish antibiotic but can't seem to find any, just fungus meds. I tried fungus meds and can't afford to take my sick fish to the vet, it's too expensive. How do I obtain antibiotics for fish? I would like to give them a try on antibiotics as nothing else that I've been doing seems to be working? Water tests come out fine.

Thanks..

 

[Luke_emma_23]

try giving the first one half a cooked pea, helps digestion incase he is constipated, will affect swimming.
could be white spot on the second one,
try some aquarium salt in the tank, 1 teaspoon per gallon of water, and soak their food in garlic before you feed them. i had white spot in my community aquarium, and my marine tank, i treated the marines with whitespot meds and lost most the fish, i treated the trops with salt & garlic and lost none, all cured!!

 

[Dorri]

One of my bettas died this morning. He was the healthier one. I'm so upset.

I had tried the peas and the aquarium salt and the fungus medication..he needed antibiotic, I didn't have it and I'm still wanting to know how to get antibiotics when a fish suffers with bacterial diseases.

The other betta, the one that has always been sickly is still hanging on.

Thank you for responding to my post. I will try soaking their food in garlic.

 

[loraxchick]

im sorry you lost your fish...lets try and save the other one.
which fish is stil lleft? the guy with the tail issues or the one with white on his body?
there are steps you can take even without meds. my first suggestion is do a big waterchange and clean the substrate...more suggestions to come once i know which fish is still alive.
keep us posted
cheers

 

[Dorri]

im sorry you lost your fish...lets try and save the other one.
which fish is stil lleft? the guy with the tail issues or the one with white on his body?
there are steps you can take even without meds. my first suggestion is do a big waterchange and clean the substrate...more suggestions to come once i know which fish is still alive.
keep us posted
cheers

The one that had a whitish cast over his purple body has died. He was always the healthy one. The other was always sickly almost from the time I brought him home.

He hardly has any tail and is hanging around the bottom yet seems to have an appetite.

I went to a couple of pet Stores looking to buy an antibotic but they said they don't sell it anymore, because it's cheaper to buy a new fish rather than buy double the cost antibiotic treatment. What an attitude..yet they sell all the antifungals? It doesn't make sense to me why not antibiotics?

I've been doing regular water changes.
Adding aquarium salts
Added Fungus medication ( to cover any of, fish bloat, red sores, gray skin, fin and mouth rot, film on eyes, swim bladder disease, red streaks etc...)

Water tests show normal ph.
Gave crushed peas incase of constipation..

 

[loraxchick]

you said you move him into smaller quarters. is it filtered? if not keep up big time with waterchanges. also get rid of any substrate that might be in there. some plants might make him more comfy.
you also said that he finds it hard to swim. but can he make it to the surface of his original tank with not too much struggle? if yes, id put him back in his original tank. give his gravel/ sand a GOOD clean under the hot tap, refill his tank with dechlorinated water and turn the thermometer down to 76-78 if youre able. add aquarium salt and reacclimate him into that tank. how much are you adding now? should be around 1 teaspoon/gal. you can always get some cheap plants that you can float in his "real" tank that he can rest on to make it easier to get to the surface.
right now, make sure he has clean water AND substrate (preferably at water at lower temp around 76-78), salt, plants to hide. keep up with waterchanges. keeping him in a larger volume of water with frequent changes would be best so i think the bigger tank if its not TOO much struggle for him would be best perhaps with some floating plants.
what do the ends of his fins look like. describe them (color, etc.).
is it possoble to add a pic of him?
it is very good that hes still eating. how is his overall color? change any since youve gotten him? is he getting paler/duller?
try soaking his food in garlic juice as it boosts immunity(if its bacterial fin rot and not just from poor water conditions it should help...that and adding salt and lowering temo if possible...hope a healthy fish can kick it and not succomb...hes eating so lets hope its all you can do if you cant get antibiotics. sulfa drugs would be ideal...do you have any other fish store around? what you have sounds like pimafix. good for dealing with funguses, not bacteria, but will help to keep secondary fungal infections away. probably wont help outright with the finrot tho.
best of luck. hang in there
CHEERS!

 

[Dorri]

Thanks, he's a real little trooper and trying hard to survive. He's white with pink on his upper torso and a pinch of back. His fins are pink, with light blue underside and black at the tips, his tail is the same colors. His fins nor tail look raggy anymore like before but are very short.

I moved him from his larger quarters because he was struggling too much. He seems more comfortable in the smaller and yes, I've been doing partial water changes but after adding the garlic soaked food today, maybe I should do full water changes. He's actually looking better this evening, brighter some how, and seems the garlic must have done something to help because he's lost some of the bloaty look. I noticed he is now coming to the top just fine, but staying there is another problem, he goes right down.

I was in more than one pet store over the last few days, and no one carried the antibiotics. I don't get it, some of the these pet stores have fish that are $80 and up per fish, I'm sure if they got sick they have their own supply of antibiotics to treat them. They just won't sell it to me.

Too bad I didn't know about the garlic a day or two sooner, maybe I would have been able to save my other betta. However I am happy that I was given this info so now my other beta has a fighting chance.

Thanks for all your help. will keep you posted.

 

[Dorri]

My other betta died today..I can't believe it..He was able to come to the top yesterday and stayed there for a long time. He was eating. He even looked better and brighter. Today he was back at the bottom and made several attempts to get to the top but displayed the same symptoms as before of not being able to do it. I was doing water changes, guess it didn't help. He was trying to swim to the top just a couple of hours ago, now he's gone.

I miss him, if it's possible to miss a fish. He was such a courageous little guy.

I think I'm done with betta's.