Please Help Me!

I recently posted that my fish had stopped eating for about a week or so. I put him into a bigger 2.5 gallon tank, and put a heater in because he was getting way to cold in hopes that he would resume eating.


Today, I even got him frozen blood worms to eat instead of freeze-dried, but he didn't even notice. Then I noticed what I think might be fin-rot, on the darker part of his tail. It is clearly tattered and browning...



Could that be why he's not eating? If it is fin-rot, is my little buddy doomed? I am getting really really worried!

...I posted that last night, tonight however, I was looking at him and discovered now he has POPEYE! I put him in his smaller bowl and put in BettaFix for his Fin Rot. Can you please give me ANY other advise???

Treat him with an bacterial medication.

Does he seem bloated?

How old is he? If you don't know....How long have you had him??

How often do you perform water changes in his original tank?
Was his original tank filtered?
What size was it?
Was he the only fish in that tank?
How often do you feed?
How much do you feed?

Popeye Article

He doesn't seem bloated. I've had him for about 9 months now. In his normal tank I changed the water once a week, it was not filtered because it was small. There was no other fish in his tank. I feed him freeze dried blood wroms(which he loves) every other day. He normally eats about 8-9 worms.


The medicine I have him in says its an antibacterial only for Bettas

I would suggest trying to get your betta some other pelleted betta food of betta flake food. This will help vary his diet and keep him healthier. Also preventing him from becoming constipated when he gets older. Also bloodworms should really only be fed as a treat, possibly once a week at the least.

I would suggest trying to find another bacterial medication. As I too currently have a betta with fin rot and the bettafix is not curing it. I am using API's Tetracycline powder packets. Of course you have to cut the doseage down to whatever size tank you are using because the one whole packet is for a 10gallon tank.

Good Luck!

I just want him to eat something. Its been 10 days since he last ate.

What did he get pop eye from though??

And with the BettaFix, I put the correct dose in his tank last night, so does that mean tonight I need to put more in while he's sill in it?

Try feeding some de-shelled mushed peas, and see if you can entice him to that. If not consider a live food.

Popeye comes from poor water quality.

Try treating with Maracyn Two....it treats Fin and Tail Rot as well as popeye. Maracyn 2

He ate a piece of food! I'm so happy!!!!!! I just hope he keeps this up!

Good to hear! Hopefully he continues to improve! Keep us posted!

I had a betta with fin rot and popeye and what looked like dropsy -- I put him in a hospital tank with melafix and "hand fed" him all sorts of goodies. His eye went back in, his color came back and he LOVED being in a "still tank." (I had no filter, just did big water changes daily.)

Well, his eye actually went all the way back in in about 6 days! His fins are still a bit tattered, but I have every expectation that they will grow back. I treated the main tank one shot and put him back in there last week.

I think part of getting bettas to eat is really fussing over them. They seem to respond to the attention! And varying his food will do him nothing but good! Did you try the shelled pea?

[quote name='M'al-finny' post='1831323' date='Nov 26 2007, 02:11 PM']I had a betta with fin rot and popeye and what looked like dropsy -- I put him in a hospital tank with melafix and "hand fed" him all sorts of goodies. His eye went back in, his color came back and he LOVED being in a "still tank." (I had no filter, just did big water changes daily.)

Well, his eye actually went all the way back in in about 6 days! His fins are still a bit tattered, but I have every expectation that they will grow back. I treated the main tank one shot and put him back in there last week.

I think part of getting bettas to eat is really fussing over them. They seem to respond to the attention! And varying his food will do him nothing but good! Did you try the shelled pea?[/quote]
No I do not have peas But today he seems very intesersted in the food. He'll come check it out, nip at it, but then loose interest for a little bit. But at least he's doing that! He wouldn't even look at food earlier, not even live bloodworms.

I am currently treating him with BettaFix remedy for 2 days now. Should I go get Melafix instead, or even Maracyn 2 and stop putting the BettaFix in? Everyone has been telling me to do that.

Do you see him improving with using the bettafix? This is where your judgement comes into play.

Now of course you will not see drastic changes, but you should notice the deterioration of fins should stop.

I'm not sure. I just went and picked up some MelaFix because I don't think the BettaFix will help the pop eye. Everyone is strongly suggesting MelaFix too.

Should I take the Plants and gravel out of his tank and do a 100% water change? I don't want to mix the medicines.

Also, the directions for MelaFix are 1 tsp. for 10 Gallons. I only have a 2.5 gallon tank!

You should do 50% water change and add some carbon in a filter if you can. Let it run for a day to clean up then treat with melafix the next day. If not 100% water change would work, you don't need to remove gravel.

Also you half the recommended dosage, as bettas are more sensitive to melafix.



Note: Bettafix is supposedly a watered down version of melafix.

Here check the information for yourself....Bettafix vs. Melafix

Just kidding, I lied. My boyfriend got Maracyn Two. It looks scary to use to me! Two Packets for every 10 gallons.

How should I use this one? I am tempted just to keep treating him with BettaFix because I don't want to overdoes him and kill him!

1/2 pack for every 2.5 gallons. Because if you break it down....

2 packets = 10 gallons
1 packet = 5 gallons
1/2 packet = 2.5 gallons