When to consider euthanasia?

[Roewooden2]

Hey there, folks. Hate for this to be my first post on here, but I see that MyAquariumClub is gone now (which is crazy for me to have to believe now.)

I somewhat recently bought a betta from Petco to try to give a chance at healing. Well. It's only been four days (got him on the 21st,) but I'm fearing there may not be much of a point to me thinking I can actually rehabilitate him. His spine is either broken or deformed, he can't much swim off the ground for more than air and... I guess that's it, but isn't that kind of just enough to determine that he doesn't have much "quality" to his body's living conditions? Like isn't it just cruelty to keep a fish that can't swim like a normal fish alive? I know about the clove oil method, I've had to do it in the past for bettas in other poor situations, but I've never dealt with a sickly fish that has such a will to live and be happy / friendly (I cry every time he comes up to the glass to say hi, because most times he just hangs out by his heater for extra warmth.) I guess my other fear is that he may be in pain and there's no real way for me to confirm that suspicion because at the end of the day, he's a fish. He's not going to show me that he's in pain, right? I've seen sickly bettas act depressed, but never any in any pain (in my eyes.)

Does anyone have any advice? Or what would you do in this situation, keep him alive in these conditions (I would get him a filter of some kind, I think, I just don't know how I would do it when the water level should, ideally, be kept low for him. So there comes my "is it even practical to keep him alive" on top of the already "is it human to keep him alive." I do daily water changes and have been using aquarium salt to treat the bacterial / fungal infection going over his eye / eyes. Seems to have gotten better, but I'll still be adding that to his fresh water for a bit. Put in the almond leaves today, so we'll see if that helps relax him any (I do have relatively hard water now.)

Any and all help, suggestions, or advice is very much welcome and very much appreciated. Please don't refrain from being honest. But here's the little guy I've lovingly named Romero (after Sheriff Alex Romero from Bates Motel,) or Romie. First video was taken on his first day with me, second video is from today.

 

[GaryE27 142]

The never to be resolved debate is whether buying a Betta with either a severe injury or more likely tuberculosis is an act of kindness or folly. Does it support the store selling sick fish? Does it simply introduce a disease into your tank?

That fish isn't going to get better, and I would strip and clean the tank, and possibly get rid of all organic things in there while you're doing it. If I had an open cut on my hands, I would wear gloves. I would disinfect my hands at the end of the sad process. If I see any possible signs of Mycobacteriosis (fish tb) in a fish I've bought, I euthanize it immediately. It's not a pathogen to play with. It can technically linger and shorten the lives of future fish. You don't have to go scorch and burn on the tank, because without an autopsy, you can't be 100% certain that's the cause. But given the prevalence of tb in fancy Betta splendens now, you have played with fire.

You're very kind, but the corporation isn't. It's just numbers to them, and if Bettas reared in tb spreading conditions are both cheaper and still popular for buyers, it's a win win for them. They have no incentive to work with suppliers who charge them a little more because they themselves spend a little more on raising healthier fish. The Betta dies young and the hobbyist either buys/'rescues' a new, short lived sick one, the store gets a race to the bottom cheap Betta, and they get a nicer markup. They can churn out sick Bettas for rescue buyers as much as they want to. There should be no market for them, to force the pet corporations to clean up their act.