# Probably a lost cause...



## BęttãBåbë1 (Feb 11, 2013)

Soo my boss has had this betta for three years and he was purchased at petsmart. Lately he has been laying on the ground or on a plant. He has clamped fins. Scales that are sticking away from his body. He's not eating his gills seem to be stiking out or swollen and when he does swim its a little erratically.














Here he is. Any suggestions or guesses to what this old guy is suffering from? 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## weedkiller (Nov 18, 2012)

if hes looking like a pine cone it could be dropsy, http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/termsandtables/p/Dropsy.htm


----------



## BęttãBåbë1 (Feb 11, 2013)

He only has 6 of the 12 symptoms including
Scales stand out (not quite as severe as a pinecone bit still apparent)
Spine may become curved
Fish clamps fins
Fish becomes lethargic
Fish stops eating
Fish hangs near the surface 

Also he looked pretty skinny to me. 



Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Guest (Feb 23, 2013)

I say dropsy, and possibly swim bladder disorder, because of the swimming erractically. This betta is pretty old, but let's see if we can save him.

There is medicine for dropsy: Anti-Bacteria from API will treat dropsy. For swim bladder feed peas, peas help with cleaning out the bladder of the fish. Another thing, how often does this fish get fed?


----------



## kakoratcheese (Feb 20, 2013)

This is bettababe's room mate...it gets fed 3 pellets a day


----------



## Chard56 (Oct 10, 2010)

It looks like it's on it's last fin. Fin rot and hardly any body mass. He looks like some forgotten sick and starving pet shop Betta that's been on the back shelf for a month because nobody wants to buy it like that. If not from bad care he's just old and fading fast.


----------



## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

Hmmmm. Broad spectrum antibiotic and some clean and warm water is all I'd say. Maybe a bit of salt too.


----------



## BęttãBåbë1 (Feb 11, 2013)

Chard56 said:


> It looks like it's on it's last fin. Fin rot and hardly any body mass. He looks like some forgotten sick and starving pet shop Betta that's been on the back shelf for a month because nobody wants to buy it like that. If not from bad care he's just old and fading fast.


Believe me he's defiantly loved and cared for. He's was a gift from coworkers to my boss after she went through her first breast cancer surgery. She is very attached to him.


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## BęttãBåbë1 (Feb 11, 2013)

Can the anti bacteria and salt be used at the same time?


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## BęttãBåbë1 (Feb 11, 2013)

* I mean the API anti bacteria and salt. *


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Guest (Feb 24, 2013)

I haven't done API Anti-Bacteria and salt. Of course I never use salt with my fish.


----------



## weedkiller (Nov 18, 2012)

had a gold fish years back that had dropsy, would always come back from time to time, none of the others were affected but salt alone used to clear it up, he lasted another 2 years from the 1st time he had it.. R.I.P chocco


----------



## BęttãBåbë1 (Feb 11, 2013)

I'll go ahead and put some salt in tomorrow night when I see him. Thanks guys!


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

Follow the directions on the back. Though Bettas have a high salt tolerance, you can still OD. Actually, a species in the betta splendens complex lives and breeds in brackish.


----------



## Ladayen (Jun 20, 2011)

Dont use salt. Theres no reason to. Will only be one more thing the fish has to fight with.


----------



## weedkiller (Nov 18, 2012)

Ladayen said:


> Dont use salt. Theres no reason to. Will only be one more thing the fish has to fight with.


I use 5g of aquarium salt for every 10 L of water.... none of my fish are having problems with it and salt is a known treatment for dropsy well it was few years back and salt helps with a large variety of infections. ........


----------



## C. King (Dec 14, 2012)

I have also used salt for a variety of treatments. It works well on ich, some infections. Just be sure you use aquarium salt, not table salt!


----------



## BęttãBåbë1 (Feb 11, 2013)

Lol ya I know but thanks anyways. Always good to double check.


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## e048 (Dec 23, 2010)

i say no to salt as well, I would just do the anti-biotic
salt isn't really proven to do anything for bacterial infections, ich is a whole other story... He doesn't seem old to me, I had a beta for close to 7 years and he died when he jumped out of the tank.... try that anti-biotic, give him so clean warm water


----------



## weedkiller (Nov 18, 2012)

Not sure if any one has ever noticed but in freshwater enviroment there is salt content, in rivers there is salt content, in the sea there is a much higher salt content, a majority of fish come from a place where salt is in there natural enviroment, why would you not add salt? I add salt to water before I add it to my tanks when I clean them, ever heard of preventative medicine?
salt is always been an anti septic in medicine for us why not for other animals including fish


----------



## Guest (Feb 25, 2013)

weedkiller said:


> Not sure if any one has ever noticed but in freshwater enviroment there is salt content, in rivers there is salt content, in the sea there is a much higher salt content, a majority of fish come from a place where salt is in there natural enviroment, why would you not add salt? I add salt to water before I add it to my tanks when I clean them, ever heard of preventative medicine?
> salt is always been an anti septic in medicine for us why not for other animals including fish


Most fish are not tolerant of salt. Clown loaches are not salt tolerant. Salt does more harm than good. Salt really doesn't prevent any diseases. Salt should only be used for marine aquariums not freshwater aquariums. I doubt that freshwater has traces of salt in it.


----------



## weedkiller (Nov 18, 2012)

rainwater has salt a small trace so I should imagine where rainwater lands ends up with the salt it contains no matter how small the trace is, the amount of aquarium salt you actually add to 10L of water (approx. 5gram) is tiny,


----------



## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

Hold a second angelclown, this is a betta. Quote from me "betta mahachaiensis lives in brackish water". Now, betta mahachaiensis is closely related to betta splendens. It is commonly interbred and its descendants are the dragon scales. Now, I'm not guaranteeing that the fish in that picture has any mahachaiensis in it, but I seriously doubt that it is a pure blood splendens. I wouldn't be at all surprised if somewhere down the line, it had a bit of mahachaiensis in it actually! Anyways, to get to the point. Salt does not harm bettas if dosed in the correct amount. Bettas have a high salt tolerance. Salt adds electrolytes to the water which are beneficial. I have spoken to betta breeders who instead of sterilizing their nets with peroxide, make a super salt solution. The concept of salt is that the disease has a lower salt tolerance than the fish does. Now, if you look at the fins, it looks like fin rot. Salt helps prevent rotting from what I have heard. Why does salt pork supposedly have a longer shelf life? My bet is that its because of the high salt content. Now you don't put that much salt with your fish unless you're planning on eating it! My point is, salt is beneficial, helps prevent rotting, and will not harm the fish in the correct dosage.


----------



## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Increasing the ions in the water is good for some fish and bad for some diseases. Cichlids tolerate salt well, but many species don't,so do your research. Ich, external parasites, fin-rot, fungus, and dropsy are often treated with salt. Sea salt is generally better for fish than "aquarium salt" which isn't much different from table salt. But sea salt can raise your pH because of the buffers in it. Rainwater has almost nothing in it, but as water runs across the ground it picks up minerals. Lakes generally have more than streams but less than oceans, but it is always wise to look up natural conditions for your fish. Rapid change in the amount of salts, especially downward, can be fatal, so be sure to do only gradual changes. 

Some people do maintain a heavily salted QT tanks, but slowly reduce salt levels before moving the fish to the main FW tank.

High concentrations of salt or sugar do break cell walls and kill bacteria, making them good for preservation and sterilization. Salt baths to clean nets or ornaments should work. But fish that live in soft water will be stressed by high ion levels, as fish from alkaline lakes can be stressed by soft water. 

As far as "preventative" medicine. That is fine for a QT tank. But, IMO, just about anything will lose effectiveness if used everyday in the main tank. For example, fish is salty water will get the salt-resistant strain of ich. But salt won't "prevent" ich, neither will ich-guard or any of the other low-dose "preventative" medicine. All that stuff is profit for the store, but not likely to be effective month after month, year after year. IMO it is better to treat all new fish in QT with a real med as if they have ich (with some chains this is a safe assumption) that to try to "prevent" ich by over-medicated or over-salting all your fish indefinitely. Treating for external and internal parasites is also a sensible QT plan, especially for wild-caught fish.

IMO, Always QT all fish and medicate in the QT/hopt tank when needed and keep the fish in the main tank(s) healthy with good food, clean water, and no exposure to un-QTed fish and you will hopefully never need to medicate it, certainly not every day.


----------



## BęttãBåbë1 (Feb 11, 2013)

Well all arguing aside. Me and my roommate decided to bring Bob (our bosses sick betta) home and place him in our hospital tank. Tomorrow I will work on getting some more images of him to help with advice. But till then he is just getting salt and warm water and frequent changes. He doesn't want to eat but his whole life he's only been fed boring pellets so tomorrow I'll start try ing to entice him to something more tasty and maybe get a piece of pea in there too. Also we found out tht he is only 2 years old. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Guest (Feb 27, 2013)

That may be the reason why he isn't too thrilled on eating, not enough variety in his diet. Peas are a good thing, as they can help prevent swim bladder disorder. Also once you get him on a routine, you can fast him once a week, so that he doesn't get swim bladder disorder.


----------



## BęttãBåbë1 (Feb 11, 2013)

Yup every Monday is fasting day here with our bettas. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Guest (Feb 27, 2013)

Very good! Keep it that way. I had a betta that had swim bladder twice. I always fast my fish every Sunday, sometimes I fast them twice a week.


----------



## BęttãBåbë1 (Feb 11, 2013)

Well bob didn't make it. Not looking forward to telling my boss. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## weedkiller (Nov 18, 2012)

shame... he cant complain


----------



## BęttãBåbë1 (Feb 11, 2013)

I don't think she'll complain I'm worried she' ll cry... She's a sensitive little gal with a rough life, but we did get her a new one. . .


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------

