Slow Decline of Betta Pal

[ronin71]

I have 5 Bettas. 4 are in a 5.5 gallon tank, separated by glass sheets. My 5th Betta used to be in this tank, until I noticed that his fins began to disintegrate. I isolated him to his own gallon container, and began treating him for fin rot. He wound up losing a good deal of his fins. Not long after this, I had to give him to a co-worker to babysit, because I had to leave town for two weeks. When I got back, my fish still lacked fin regrowth, but the beginnings of a swollen mouth and nose (muzzle), concerned me more. He has since started to regrow his fins, but his mouth and nose area has become more deeply colored and misshapen. I have tried changing his water on a regular basis, I have tried treatment for bacteria (Melafix), treatment for fungus (Fungus Clear), have tried adding aquarium salt to speed up recovery (his fins are getting better). Water temp. has regularly been in the low 70's (because it is still cold here at times), and my other Bettas are having NO problems whatsoever. My infected Betta has always been behaving and eating normally, despite his problems, until now. It has become progressively harder for him to eat, his face and lips are swollen so much. I feed him Betta Bio Gold, and he ate regularly at first. As his face began to swell it became harder, but still manageable. No treatment seemed to work on his face, and recently I had to start crushing the pellets, so they would be small enough to eat. However, now he is having trouble catching the crushed pieces (keeps missing). He tries so hard.....he will starve if I can't find a solution. Please help?!?

[sawcat]

Is there anything on his face, like slime or cottony stuff, or anything else wrong other than being swollen. How's his behavior(non-eating related)? Does he have any trouble eating or breathing? Can you post some pictures?

[ronin71]

Hi! I will try to post some pictures asap(not exactly a computer wiz). No, he has no cottony looking stuff, just swollen grotesque crooked lips, and nostrils with thick grooves in his face(muzzle) that are now preventing him from eating even crushed pellets. The color in this area has grown considerably more purple than the rest of him, and the area has swollen slightly wider than his eyes. Fin regrowth seems to have halted, but at least he's not deteriorating again. His gills look slightly infected or abnormal, but considering the proximity to his face, I am not surprised. They don't look red, and he doesn't appear to be struggling to breathe. He usually takes big forceful gulps of air from the surface after struggling to grab pieces of floating pellets. Sometimes I see him trying to scavenge pieces of food pellets from the bottom, and he always tries to eat when it's feeding time. He just can't. I replaced his water in his sterilized 1 gallon tank, and added about 1/3 tsp. of aquarium salt, and 1/20 of a capful of Melafix. He is somewhat active, but sometimes hangs around the top corner of the tank, or rests between his fake plants, probably due to lack of proper nourishment, for he has lost some size. All in all, he doesn't "act" like sick bettas I have had in the past (have lost a few over the years). Just wish I knew what else to try. Any help would be appreciated by both of us. Will work on getting a pic posted.

[sawcat]

The only mentioning of swelling I see online, if its not constipation is bacterial infections of some kind. In that case, getting a real antibiotic would help (also help the fin rot too, if the JFC is no longer working). Maracyn and Maracyn 2 are the easiest to find. Tetracycline is heavier duty, but sounds like most places aren't carrying it anymore.

If you need a place to put the pictures, create a free photobucket account www.photobucket.com upload them there, then copy the code it gives you that is in brackets like this [ img] and put that in your post.

[ronin71]

I'll give the meds a look into. Can a betta be infected by bacterial and still act normal? He shows interest whenever I venture close, or attempt to feed him, as if to say, "do you have any food I CAN ACTUALLY GRAB?!?". =8<P Seriously though, despite some apparent weight loss, he acts fine. I've lost a few bettas over the years, and close to the end they ignore food, me, and everything else. Is there anything else(websites, medication, etc.) I can look into, if the Maracyn doesn't work?

[sawcat]

Tetracycline and Triple Sulfa are stronger antibiotics (these are ones I see most commonly recommended), but from discussions in other groups, the stores are not carrying them as much. You can order them online, This is one store that carries Tetracycline, and another type of antibiotic www.drsfostersmith.com/product/NavResults.cfm?N=2004+113021&va=1

If no one else here has any suggestions, you could always try the Champion Betta forum p105.ezboard.com/bchampionbettas30805 . There's a bunch of breeders there, so they might have encountered something similar

[amanichen]

Basically, I don't have any specific advice, but I can make a few comments about the situation:

1. Temperature is too low and possibly inconsistent. This is will interfere with a fish's recovery.

2. Treatment with medications that weren't appropriate: melafix and aquarium salt aren't treatments for aggressive fin rot. Aquarium salt doesn't help recovery of fin rot. Melafix will help heal fins, but you need a more powerful antibiotic to kill the bacteria. JFE may or may not have been an appropriate choice.

3. The fin rot and infections may not be the primary ailments. The fish could have had another problem which caused it to become more vulnerable to the microbes that caused the fin rot and the facial infection.

4. If the fish is to survive the infection in its face, it needs an internally administered medication -- just dumping meds into the water won't help at this point. This means the fish must be directly injected, or fed antibiotics.