grace12 Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 My giant koi betta fish, Turkey, has been suffering various issues and I would really appreciate help in healing him. His normal home is a 10 gallon planted tank with no tank mates, and in the beginning of December 2023, I noticed he had Popeye in one eye. Popeye Treatment I treated him with a course of Maracyn, which crashed my cycle. After testing and receiving high nitrate and nitrite levels and him sitting at the bottom of the tank, I put him in a hospital 3 gallon tank with heater and cycled filter while I did numerous water changes on the 10g. hospital tank is at 80 degrees Fahrenheit and has cycled nano filter with air stone in it water parameters are all normal (no ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and pH is 6.8-ish). I don't have a hardness test. I do have a water softener, however it is currently bypassed due to unrelated water pressure issues so tap water is hard water with minerals. While in the hospital tank, the Popeye got worse so I did another round of maracyn, and when his eye looked better I put him back in the 10g (which had tested for normal parameters). A few days after that I noticed him on the bottom of the tank and lethargic so I put him back in the hospital tank again and since then, while his eye is better he appears to be struggling with swim bladder disease now. I will note that any time I move him out of a tank I acclimate him for at least 20 minutes to new tank/temperature so as not to shock him. Swim Bladder Treatment I thought he was struggling with a bacterial infection so I did a course of Kanaplex starting on 12/28/23 and he would bounce back and forth from appearing to doing better, and then either sinking to the bottom of the tank and being lethargic, or he floats to the top because of swollen belly/swim bladder and struggles with swimming. I took a break for a week of no medications and just changing his water because he would perk up during small water changes and I also used Level 1 aquarium salt treatments. This whole time I was dosing with Sachem Stress Guard, and after reading a post here about it potentially causing lethargy I stopped using it (1.5 weeks no Stress Guard and after a few water changes). I started dosing Metroplex on Monday 1/15/24, second does was Wednesday 1/17. Today I did a 10 minute epsom salt bath (1 tablespoon per 1 gallon of water) and he was actively swimming and curious, although he still had a swollen belly. Because he had issues seeing, I had previously been feeding him Aqueon betta pellets. I know I went wrong with feeding him one (bad) food with no variety. I have since bought Fluval Bug Bites betta pellets because he does not swim after sinking pellets, but only eats off the surface. I have freeze dried daphnia in the mail on the way, and am considering buying frozen food as well. I know this was a lot to read, so thank you if you made it this far. I have been frantically researching and Charlie-Day-yarn-map-plotting how I can help him, so I appreciate any help possible! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 (edited) I wouldn't treat with any more medication they can be stressful what I would do is keep stable water parameters and add Indian almond leaves as they have antibacterial and antifungal properties you might need to add one leaf per gallon to get a beneficial effect I would fast him for a couple of days and keep doing the epsom salt baths for another 4 days @grace12 Edited January 19 by Colu 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grace12 Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 Does anyone know if it's possible to do epsom salt baths over the recommended 5 days? My betta is still eating and active but I'm concerned about possible pineconing/bloating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 On 1/23/2024 at 10:15 PM, grace12 said: Does anyone know if it's possible to do epsom salt baths over the recommended 5 days? My betta is still eating and active but I'm concerned about possible pineconing/bloating. You can do epsom salt baths for longer than 5 days the reason I recommend no longer than 5 days is because it's very stressful to keep catching the fish have you seem any improvement with fasting and epsom salt baths Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grace12 Posted January 24 Author Share Posted January 24 I thought he was turning a corner and improving with the Indian almond leaves + epsom baths, and daphnia feedings but yesterday he showed signs of pineconing. He still has his normal personality so I'm really upset his symptoms keep changing and getting worse. I'm at a loss for what to do and feel like a bad fish keeper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 On 1/24/2024 at 11:42 PM, grace12 said: I thought he was turning a corner and improving with the Indian almond leaves + epsom baths, and daphnia feedings but yesterday he showed signs of pineconing. He still has his normal personality so I'm really upset his symptoms keep changing and getting worse. I'm at a loss for what to do and feel like a bad fish keeper. What I would do is start treating aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 2 gallons and metroplex in food feeding a small amount twice a day for upto 3 weeks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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