Betta sick / dying?

I have had Kaiser for about 8 months now, and I'm concerned because:

1. He's incredibly lethargic all of a sudden, sitting on a leaf near the top of the tank and breathing out the top which make me fear his gills are infected. He's barely eating, but does manage to get 1-2 pellets down a day.

2. I recently noticed some holes in one of his fins, but they are near the base (with corresponding damage marks on the base) and not near the ends like typical fin rot. I also had another betta in another tank that died recently from fin rot that was unresponsive to Kanamycin and Erythromycin.

3. I *thought* I saw white spots and started to treat him for ick, but it's been 48 hours and I don't see the spots -- too fast for Ick to disappear, so I think he may have just had something else on him (see pics).


Tank is a 15 Gallon Fluval flex with only him and a fair bit of filter media, plants, some algae , and recently I noticed some detritus worms. Params checked today were Temp 79F, Nitrates <20, Nitrites 0, Free Ammonia < 0.20 (basically doesn't register), Ph looks like 6.7-6.8, Gh was mild. I've had some bad setups before, so I learned a lot and made sure this tank was properly cycled and that he never had to deal with super high nitrates or anything, with the exception of letting some algae grow and the detritus worms, he's had one of my better tanks.

What I've done to address this:
Last week, got him on Doxycycline for 4 days, then did a 50% water change to address the fin rot (he started to get lethargic after this)
2 days ago, added Mardel Parashield and Tetra Lifeguard (antiparasitic) when I thought I saw Ick (did a 50% water change today) (lethargy got worse, laid at top of tank)
2 days ago, against my better judgement, added a few ml of bettafix (I know this is not recommended for Bettas, so I put in like 1/3 of the dose and have since changed 50% of the water)

Attached are pictures along with captions of what I noticed. I'd appreciate any help I could get, especially understanding whether I should be treating for an internal infection, letting him recover with no meds (did I over medicate?), looking at viral or fungal infections, or anything else. I'm also puzzled about the holes in his fins. I had another betta with what appeared to be mild fin rot, and it ate away at all of his fins despite me putting him in a hospital tank early on and medicating with Erythromycin and Kanamycin as stated in point 2 above.

Start with daily 70% water changes. What are your ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, ph, and hardness? And what size tank?

JuiceBox52 said:

Start with daily 70% water changes. What are your ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, ph, and hardness?

Click to expand...

Ah nevermind i see you posed them

i see pineconning, but it could be because his body is turned. Can you get a to view if him from straight On?

Welcome to the forum Do daily 75% water change gravel and substrate clean, @Deanasue will help you if she’s online.

@Deanasue, the OP really needs your help, his betta looks bad.

Update: Kaiser died today. His left gill was not functional for the day, and he eventually sunk to the bottom of his tank and drowned. He was my first fish and the one I cared for the most, he was my pal, and I'm just completely broken now.

Oh no! I am so sorry!

I'm sorry, too.

Barry Tetra said:

Welcome to the forum Do daily 75% water change gravel and substrate clean, @Deanasue will help you if she’s online.

Click to expand...

Hi! I’m so sorry to hear you lost him but he may have been an old betta. 2 years is about average life span for a betta housed in an aquarium.

A few things that would help me recover here -- I've been a complete mess since he died, mostly because I feel like it's all my fault.

1. I thought bettas live for 3-5 years, and I'm not sure how old he was when I got him, but I assumed 5 months based on his size and what I've learned about pet stores selling bettas (how old does he look in the first pic?). Since I had him for only 8 months, I feel like I robbed him of at least 2 years of his life, and that's tearing me apart.

2. Why would his left gill swell up and be barely functional? Everything I read points to ammonia but I'm measuring near 0, and he has a fairly healthy (ammonia wise) established tank with lots of media and clean water. Also was the fin tear ever a real danger or did I medicate for nothing?

3. I could deal if he had some genetic issue or disease, but I feel like it's all my fault. His tank did have some rocks in it, and he may have just gotten a little fin tear, and I may have freaked out because I had another betta die of medicine resistant fin rot, so maybe the antibiotics were uncalled for and I killed him on accident. Could the antibiotics or antiparasitic have killed him?

Here's what I gave him... I dosed less than the required amount and dosed slowly to see how he reacted.

API Fin and Body (Doxycycline) - per directions dosed for 10 gallons in a 15 gallon tank for 2 days, water changed 50%, dosed for 2 more days
Waited a day or two
Water changed 25% about 3 times spaced out during the day -- fin holes seemed like they might be getting bigger and he still seemed off, then I thought I saw ich, so....
Tetra Lifeguard ( 1-Chloro-2,2,5,5- tetramethyl-4 - imidazolidinone) dosed for 10 gallons in a 15 gallon tank for 2 days
...thought maybe it wasn't ich (the dots were really tiny) and maybe it was gill flukes since one gill wasn't working, so....
Added API General Cure (Metronidazole and Praziquantel ) 1 dose for 10 gallons in a 15 gallon tank
...his gill continued to not work, and eventually I gather he fell to the bottom and was too weak to swim up, and he drowned.

Okay, first of all take a deep breath. It was not directly your fault. He may have been genetically weak and the smallest thing could have made him worse. It is really sad to lose a pet. We all know you gave it your best and cared for him to the best of your ability and knowledge. @Deanasue @Colin_T

You took the words right out of my mouth. It very well could have just been poor genetics. If his gill wasn’t working then he was probably not going to make it anyway. Average life for a betta in captivity is 2 years but some last longer with good care and proper tank maintenance. In the future, try to get a proper diagnosis by posting pics before treating. You will learn from experience and each new lesson makes you that much more experienced. I did a similar thing recently although my common sense knew better. I treated a rescue betta for ich with temp and salt but after 3 days I saw no improvement so I lowered the temp and treated with medication. I finished treatment but then immediately after, I treated for parasites. The fish died 2 days later. Did I move too fast on different meds and treatment? Probably. Could he have already been too far gone when I rescued him? Possibly. We should choose our treatment wisely and stick to it. Wait a few days in between meds if you have to try another. Remember, first line of defense is always just large water changes. Most of the time, doing a 50-70% water change daily for 2 weeks will clear up your problem. Don’t give up. I’ve owned probably close to 20 bettas. Some lived long lives and some didn’t. With each one, I learned something new though.

Thank you all. I don’t think I’ll ever be ok with this, but I’m better. I’ve lost fish (even bettas) before, but Kaiser was different. He was my first fish, and I had dozens in my larger tanks (mostly tetra and tiger barns and guppies) but Kaiser was in my bedroom, his tank was one of the last things I saw before I went to bed and one of the first things I woke up to. I regularly thought that I could lose any and even all the others but not him. Anyway, I said some prayers, my friend and I had a service, and i got some flowers that sort of match his colors.

Rest In Peace, my boy. Raising you was my pleasure, and I hope you’ll be my fish again on the other side.

My 2 concerns here are the amount of chemicals/ anti-biotics you used, and the tail turning pink.

You should never add chemicals or anti-biotics unless you know what the problem is. Throwing around anti-biotics like Doxycycline, Erythromycin and Kanamycin is simply going to encourage drug resistant bacteria that can infect you and the other fish in your house, or any new fish you put in that particular tank.

Anti-biotics should only be used on known bacterial infections that have not responded to normal fish medications. Improper use and mis-use of anti-biotics has lead to drug resistant bacteria that kill people, animals, birds, fish and reptiles.

All the other chemicals you added won't have helped the fish either. It's like you going to the doctor complaining of not feeling well. The doctor puts you on one medication, then another, then another, but they don't do any tests to try and find out why you are unwell. You are chucking chemicals at something that might be nothing.

------------------
The pink tail is definitely different and could be blood pooling in the tail. This would probably be caused by an infection.

The left gill not working is not going to be a problem for most fish because the other gill could work. And Bettas are Labyrinth fishes that can breath air from the atmosphere or take in oxygen from their gills. They aren't active fish either so don't need huge amounts of oxygen.

It's possible the fish had liver or heart failure due to the chemicals, or there was another underlying cause.

As a general rule, if a fish gets sick or looks unwell, do big daily water changes and gravel cleans every day for a week or until the problem is identified. Quite often most fish health issues can be fixed with big daily water changes.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

------------------
I would give that tank a good clean out before setting it up and adding any new fish. Wash everything under tap water and clean it really thoroughly. Then let everything dry for a week before setting it back up.