Please help! Sick betta!

Hi, I just joined this forum for help with my betta fish. She’s been sick for maybe a week and a half. I noticed some white spots on her that at first kinda looked like ick to me so i treated once for that in her five gallon tank. She has had ick before, maybe six months ago from some tetras that were brought into the tank. She recovered from that fairly quickly once i medicated the tank. After a few days the mystery illness she has now began to get worse and it didn’t look like ick. I moved her to a small quarantine tank so i could dose her with betta fix, because i believed it was some sort of fungal infection and watch her closely. I’ve been doing this for about a week and a half, following the instructions on the bottle and she hasn’t gotten any better but also not any worse. I’ve done some research but it doesn’t look like any of the common fish illnesses ive seen. I’m pretty new to fishkeeping though, so i may just not be educated. I would post water parameters but it is a quarantine tank so it’s just tap water with water conditioner in it. I’m just trying to figure out what this could be and how i should treat her.

What is your tank size and water parameters? (Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates, PH, etc.)
@Colin_T you might be able to help.

Make sure the water parameters in your quarantine tank are as pristine as possible. Sometimes tap water is not great depending on where you are. Also, drastic changes in parameters for a weakened betta are dangerous. You'll need to do more water changes because the quaratine tank is not cycled. I try to keep fish in their original tank and keep water parameters pristine to avoid destabilizing transitions. If a fish has an obvious disease that needs medication, then maybe I quarantine it.

You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

If there's no improvement after a week with salt, add a broad spectrum fish medication that treats fungus, bacteria and protozoan infections. You can use salt with the medication if needed.

hansgruber7 said:

Make sure the water parameters in your quarantine tank are as pristine as possible. Sometimes tap water is not great depending on where you are. Also, drastic changes in parameters for a weakened betta are dangerous. You'll need to do more water changes because the quaratine tank is not cycled. I try to keep fish in their original tank and keep water parameters pristine to avoid destabilizing transitions. If a fish has an obvious disease that needs medication, then maybe I quarantine it.

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I agree, many tap waters are known to have lead, chlorine, etc