# Horrible fish owner



## ksd (Apr 25, 2014)

Ok so apparently I'm a horrible fish owner. 
I'm still fighting the fin rot with my first Betta. He appeared to be doing better and the rot had slowed way down to the point I was trying to tell if it was completely gone. Yesterday I did about a 50% water change in the 5gal tank and this morning his fins are much worse. He has a heater and it stays between 82 and 84°. Should I increase the temp? Our first round of meds was Bettafix which we went through an entire bottle of. The small bottle. I'm now trying Metafix which I started a couple days ago. I've been reading on it and some say daily water changes of 100% while some say treatment over 7 days and then water change and some say anywhere from 25% to 50% water changes daily to every other day. Not sure what to do. Oh I also have been adding the aquarium salt to the water. I keep 1 gal jugs filled with the salt and conditioner already added to it so it's treated before I add it to the tank. 

Next fish has been in a 1.5 gal tank and was doing great until I changed his water and he got ick. He has a small heater in his tank and stays around 80 to 82°. I started the ick treatment and two days later he seems much better. I was worried because he wanted to lie at the bottom of the tank across a rock on his side and looked dead. Now he's swimming around and asking for more food. 

The third Betta suddenly started acting very sick and stayed at the top of the tank hiding He would squeeze himself between the glass and anything with his mouth at the top of the water. Then he would stay just below the top of the water but still wedges between things. I started treating him with tetracycline to see if it takes care of whatever it was. I'm wondering if I accidentally poisoned him with glue from a hot glue gun when fixing a plant for the tank. I also noticed he's showing a bunch of red in his fins which wasn't there before he started acting sick, he's a turquoise blue normally. I moved him to a small one gal tank to treat him. He was in the 5 gal divided tank with another Betta. Also wondering if I should be doing 100% water changes or just the 25% recommended by the med instructions. Any suggestions on how best to treat him? Also, all tanks have heaters and filters. I've removed the carbon from the filters so it's just keeping the surface water moving. I'm worried if it counteracts the medicines. I swear I think I must be the worst fish owner in the world. All I hear is how easy Betta are to keep. My mom has several all over her house and she doesn't even have heaters or filters and hers do great. Ugh!!


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

Fin rot I cured with bettafix. Its basically the same as metafix or melafix, but its the proper dosing for the bettas. I have heard melafix and metafix is too strong for bettas and cause damage. I don't know that for sure. Bettafix I have never had a problem with, its always been beneficial to me.

Ick, I use rid ick. Glad that betta is doing better! 

The third betta, I'm not sure. Hot glue will not poison a fish, it is just plastic. He may be stressed. Is he new? New bettas will act this way as they haven't settled in yet. Also sometimes bettas will come to you carrying things that just haven't kicked in yet. Bought a betta with swim bladder (unknowingly) and after that was cured, he got velvet. I didn't do anything wrong, the fish was most likely was carrying it and it hadn't set in yet.

Good luck, and do not be discouraged! I've been keeping fish for years now, and recently this year I had a catastrophe which could not have been prevented. Things have been fixed now, but the point is, these things happen. They will happen to everyone at some point. Just think of them as a learning experience. Stay positive, things will work out!

~ZD


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## ksd (Apr 25, 2014)

Any suggestions on the water changes?


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## ksd (Apr 25, 2014)

I just saw Mr Fin Rot biting his own tail! Why would he do this?


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

Bettas sometimes bite their own tails as they are long and flowing and confuse the betta, but I saw a picture of your finrot betta and his fins are pretty short. I know this is useless to say, but next time don't get more fish until you can keep one happy. ANyways, I use bettafix myself to cure finrot as well. Nox ixh for ich (many medications that work) and I don't know what your third betta has. Make sure you don't use any of the same equipment for the different betta tanks, you don't want the three bettas to have multiple ilnesses. 

The betta with finrot could have gotten worse because you remove medication from the water when you do a water change, make sure you dose the new water you add it. 

The betta with ick, turn the heat up higher if you can, it will just speed up the ichs life cycle. DON'T stop medicating that tank for a couple of days. Ich is only volunerable to medication when it is off the fish (so right now) if you stop medicating right now the ich will just attach to your fish again, and worse. 

No clue on the third betta either. 

For all three tanks, water changes are good, as long as you keep the same dose of medicin (for the tanks that are treated) in the water.


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## ksd (Apr 25, 2014)

Yes I know what you're saying. I had the first one for two mos and it was all going great until he got stuck in the plant and tore his tail. I didn't think it would be so hard to get rid of the rot as it's been. I added the other two too quickly to my plate. 
Now I'm seeing that he's biting his own tail which makes me wonder if the fin rot is not the issue any longer. 

The ick Betta is doing better and the white spots are gone. He has some dark spots on his body but looks like it's all clearing up. I'm still using the ick med to make sure. 

The crazy Betta is doing better today. I decided to do the frequent water changes. I add the medication to the new water. I gave him a pea today and noticed he had a big poop. 

So I think bettas two and three are on the mend and I need to get Betta one to stop biting his tail. They are super short now.


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

Those fins are short, but not dangerously short. I would still use the fin rot medication but it doesn`t look that bad


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## ksd (Apr 25, 2014)

Thanks BettaGuy


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## jennifer (Jun 24, 2014)

Don't beat yourself up too much either. I have a firm belief that some bettas strains are genetically more susceptible to things like fin rot and other diseases.

This was something that pushed me out of working with splendens and into working with wild types years ago. The breeding of bettas became very popular and there was so little stock put into health issues like that. People bred only for initial looks trying to fix and set color and fin patterns and over looked things like how hardy the fish really were and the kind of longevity there were getting out of certain lines.

I think that's changed quite a bit over the years, or at least it has appeared to. Many of your top breeders now are paying more attention to "the whole package" or at least they appear to be. But we will always have fish coming in from third world countries where they're pumped out as quickly as they can be by people who are just trying to make a living. 

But as far as the fin biting betta, I don't think it's a behavioral thing, I tend to think it's a symptom of a parasitic infection of some kind or possibly still fin rot. It's hard to say without being able to see it first hand. Keep up with water changes. Keep medicating and perhaps try a little aquarium salt. And of course, keep your betta from getting chilled. And I hope it would go without saying to keep him anything you use for him, nets, tank, filer, heaters ... away from other fish without first sterilizing them completely. 

You may also need to blow your cycle and start from scratch from that. If you do, raid some cycled media from a health fish's tank because the ammonia and nitrite buildup of an initial cycle will exasperate any kind of infection be it bacterial, viral, fungal or parasitic with all fish. 

But again, don't blame yourself. The hobby is filled with peaks and valleys. This is just a valley. The peaks will come if you stick with it.


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## ksd (Apr 25, 2014)

Update. All three bettas are doing great now. The fin biter has stopped biting for now and his fins look much better. They are shorter now but the shape has rounded again without the frayed ends. The ick fish has now built himself a bubble nest and doesn't want me near it. When I drop his food in he jumps out of the water at my fingers as if to attack them. He never realizes the food is there until I move away. My pretty little double fin that was acting off has changed colors on me. He now has red in his fins he didn't have initially. I kept thinking there was a hint of red in them but it's more pronounced now. I keep the heater at about 83° so nobody is getting cold. Still using the salt too. I was away for 10 days on vacation and my mom watched them for me. I came back with low water levels and worried my heaters were blown but they are still working. I cleaned both tanks and added the Bettafix to both to be safe. The fin rot one still has a couple small holes in his fins so I want to make sure it's totally gone. Overall they are all doing well though. Whew!


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

awesome sounds good


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## ksd (Apr 25, 2014)

Ok so the fin rot/fin biter is back to biting his fins. It looked like he had stopped when I was gone because they were back to a smooth edge and not torn up and jagged any longer. Now I'm back and I'm sitting here watching him swim in frantic circles biting his fins. Ugh!!
Changes: while away I had the divided 5 gal tank in the kitchen on the counter and obviously nobody was home for most of the time other than my mom coming by to check on the fish and the cats.
Return from vaca and moved the tank back to my office desk where I sit all day. This is the location he's been in since I got him and he wasn't a fin biter until recently. He was in a 1 gal tank when I got him and he now is in a divided 5 gal with a Betta on the other side of mesh divide. They don't go after each other. The other seems very passive. He never flares. He was in this same tank while I was away and wasn't fin biting. I added a live plant to his tank to see if he had any interest in it but he hasn't and it hasn't changed his behavior. I wonder if I need to move the tank back to the counter in the kitchen or if that even matters. Maybe put him in a tank alone and in the kitchen? The fact that his behavior changed while I was away is confusing and honestly a bit sad for me. Feels like he hates me. He was doing so great all up to the point where he tore his fin getting stuck in the plant. After that it's all been a challenge with the fin rot then the fin biting.


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