rachaeljuno Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 (edited) I rescued this little guy last night from someone who wasn't caring for him properly. He said he didn't do much maintenence for the tank and I saw the water and it was GREEN, and there wasn't a heater in his previous tank. He's very lethargic. He spends most of his time on the bottom of the tank (sometimes on his side not moving but breathing heavily), and when he swims it's mostly must to go up for air, then he swims back down to the bottom. He didn't eat last night but ate two small pellets this morning. I replaced the filter with a sponge filter, put in a heater at 79º, and took 1 gallon from an established tank with a very healthy betta, and did 4 gallons of new water. What should I do? It's saying that the photo upload is failing, but hes a white halfmoon male betta. He currently looks more pink than white, and his tail is much shorter in some sections, with long (maybe the bones of his tail?) sticking out. Edited February 8, 2021 by rachaeljuno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAC Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 It sounds like your giving him everything for a chance to recover. Hopefully with the warmer and clean waters he will start coming around. If you wanted to treat the fin rot an antibiotic like maracyn would be what you're looking for. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/fin-rot 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachaeljuno Posted February 8, 2021 Author Share Posted February 8, 2021 Great, thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenFins Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 (edited) I would suggest salt at this point. Salt works MIRACLES in my experiance, and I'm sure it can help yours. Not only will it reduce the stress but also help with any bacterial infections or parasites. Heres a link:https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/fritz-freshwater-salt-1lb?_pos=1&_sid=22dfe3afd&_ss=r If you scroll down it will tell you the ratio of salt, I would reccemoend to take all live plants out. Is there a way you could try uploading the photo again, some people on the forum upload them to google photos or dropbox and share a link that way, you could try that. You could also try copy and pasting the photo onto the message (thats what I do). To do this on google photos, simply upload the photo, click on the photo when in google photos, click share, click create link, click create link again, click copy. Now simply paste the link into the message Heres a video KG Tropicals did on betta ilnesses, perhaps it could help. Heres another video by KG Tropicals and how they rescued there betta, bubbles Also just a little FYI: Green water is not harmful to fish in anyway, its actually probably beneficial to the fish. Small little fry will use the green water as a food source. Green water is simply algae in the water. Edited February 8, 2021 by James Black Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachaeljuno Posted February 8, 2021 Author Share Posted February 8, 2021 The copy and paste worked, thanks for that suggestion. And about the green water part, I probably should have instead written that the previous owner told me he didn't really ever to maintenance on the tank like water changes. And also idk if this is normal but in the picture (easier to see in person not on camera) you can kind of see that his gills (I guess the 'beard' part) are black, as well as there is some black underneath his body on his anal fin. I read about that and it seemed like it's either normal or it's caused by poor water quality? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 It could be ammonia burn that is starting to heal on the gills Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachaeljuno Posted February 8, 2021 Author Share Posted February 8, 2021 How would I treat that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 You could use aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 2 gallons for 1week or could use salt and maracyn together Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachaeljuno Posted February 8, 2021 Author Share Posted February 8, 2021 (edited) Okay thanks. Would I put him in a quarantine tank? Bc I have 2 nerite snails and live plants in there. And could I use an air stone instead of a sponge filter in the quarantine tank? I'd have to put the heater in the quarantine tank Edited February 8, 2021 by rachaeljuno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenFins Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 1 hour ago, rachaeljuno said: Okay thanks. Would I put him in a quarantine tank? Bc I have 2 nerite snails and live plants in there. And could I use an air stone instead of a sponge filter in the quarantine tank? I'd have to put the heater in the quarantine tank Yes put him in a qt tank. That ratio of salt is not plant safe and probably not snail safe either. Looks like he could have a major case of fin rot too, maracyn may be a better way to go then salt. I would do maracyn and salt treatment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachaeljuno Posted February 8, 2021 Author Share Posted February 8, 2021 Okay, thanks. Do you think I could move the live plants, snails, and rocks to a 2.5g I have and then leave the fish and the heater and sponge filter in the 5g to do the salt and maracyn? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenFins Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 1 minute ago, rachaeljuno said: Okay, thanks. Do you think I could move the live plants, snails, and rocks to a 2.5g I have and then leave the fish and the heater and sponge filter in the 5g to do the salt and maracyn? It would be easier if you just moved the fish to the 2.5 gallon. They will do fine in a 2.5 gallon for a week or two. Just keep up on the waterchanges to make sure you amonia/ nitrites are down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachaeljuno Posted February 8, 2021 Author Share Posted February 8, 2021 Would I put the heater and (airstone or sponge filter?) in there or just the heater? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenFins Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 I would do the heater and the sponge filter. The heater is the most important part as bettas have a labrynth organ meaning that they breathe from the surface of the water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachaeljuno Posted February 8, 2021 Author Share Posted February 8, 2021 (edited) Yeah, I'm just worried the sponge filter may be too tall for the 2.5 gallon lol, I've heard though that maracyn is snail and live plant safe, if I used that instead of salt would I be able to keep everything in the 5 gallon? And would I have to just dose once and then not change the water for a week? or do I dose and then water change and then dose then water chance etc daily for a week? Edited February 8, 2021 by rachaeljuno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachaeljuno Posted February 8, 2021 Author Share Posted February 8, 2021 Also though he seems to be doing much better today, he's a lot more active and this morning he swam right up to the top to get food instead of me having to wait for him to go up for air to feed him. Should I just wait a few more days to see if he keeps improving? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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