I need urgent help

[SemiCharmedQuark]

I took in a betta that was living in absolutely horrendous conditions. The water was almost black. One of those betta vases--no filtration. Anyway, the fish itself was gray and extremely thin. It just lays in its hospital tank at the bottom on the gravel. I've tried treating it for parasites, fungus and bacterial infection, but his condition has not improved.

He is still just lying on the gravel, struggling to breathe. It is clear he is suffering, but I have no where to take him. The vets in the area are domestic animals only, or occasionally farm. What should I do?

[smbolisnch]

1. From a betta webpage

http://www.ask-the-vet.com/betta-fish-care.htm

Question : My beta fish has been hanging out at the bottom of its home for about 3 weeks. It comes up for food once a day and is eating less and it has been spending much of it time resting on the marbles on the bottom. It is becoming grey around its face and upper portion of its body. It often looks dead because it does not move. I feed it TetraMin Tropical Granules The Rich Mix and I change its water once a week with tap water and Tetra Aqua Aqua Safe. He looks like he is dying and I hope I can do something to help him. (I do not know if it is a male or female).
Answer : For a start if your beta has any color at all and is bought from a pet-store, 99% of the time, it's a male - the males are the ones with pretty colors, the females are pretty drab by comparison and the females tend to have shorter tails whilst the males have long feathery ones.
How big is the tank you've got him in? If he's in those little beta tanks that are sold at the shops then the likelihood is that he needs more 'room'. Betas actually cope and survive better in filtered fish tank set ups or at least a largish gold fish bowl. Whilst most people (and I thought so too initially until most owners seem to tell me that their betas died from living in those small containers) believe that because they originated in those mud pools in Thailand/Malaysia that they should be really hardy fish - and yes that's true of the original ones but with breeding (and we know for a fact that they aren't bred for 'hardiness' they are bred for their pretty colors) I believe that we've bred a lot of the 'hardiness' out of them so they do seem to cope better with a bigger tank that is filtered (more oxygen in the tank and they aren't literally living in their 'toilet' all the time. Betas are tropical fish so if you find that your tank temperature drops below 27 degrees Celcius or 80 degrees Fahrenheit they don't cope well so if there's some way of heating the room where he lives in or keeping the tank warm then he will fare better.
With fish things, it's usually a husbandry issue that started it off in the first place. If you stress a fish enough, it will succumb to fungal, bacterial diseases.
What you can do :
1. Get him a bigger tank - put a live plant in it (if you don't want to go the full hilt of getting a filter etc). Fill it with tap water and then with the water conditioner (the Aqua safe).
2. Take him out of his old tank, put him in a salt bath (this is a container with water and cooking salt (not the iodized table salt) added at 20grams per litre or you can buy the Aquarium salt stuff from your petstore and add it to his tank) for 10-20minutes. Take him out and put him in the bigger tank after the water conditioner has been added.
I can't guarantee that this will fix his problem. Salt is a good mild antibacterial, antifungal agent. There are other more elaborate ones in the market but frankly I haven't had much success with them.



Here is another website all about betta health care:
http://www.bettatalk.com/betta_health.htm

Good Luck SCQ, let us know what happens.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

4. Thanks

His symptoms sound most like a swim bladder problem. Here's hoping.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

5. Update: Vet says he has dropsy

I called an exotic animal vet in Chicago and he said it sounds like dropsy. A very fatal betta disease. It's odd though, he's not bloated. So hopefully it has been caught early.

I have bought all the medication for it...only thing I can do now is wait.

[smbolisnch]

6. Oh my....

I hope he pulls through :(
Please keep us updated SCQ!
Good luck.... :hug:

[Catchawave]

2. Cross post to the Pets Forum!

I've found them very helpful in immediate welfare assistance! Good luck to your little fin baby :hug:

Dang, thought we got rid of those BETTA's IN VASES ! Argggghhhhh.

But if they still $ell them:

http://www.aquariumfish.net/information/betta_fish_vase.htm

[SemiCharmedQuark]

3. They have kept them, just change the name and removed the plant

You still have the problem of a tiny cramped space with no filtration. This bowl for instance has .9 Gallons for 2 bettas.

http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441809698&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302030097&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023693&bmUID=1121395503163

Thanks for the tip!