Thank you so much for the tag and the vote of confidence! Sadly though, I'm far from a fish expert, let alone in diseases. I just often end up in the emergency threads because I can usually talk someone through an emergency first aid water change and my heart goes out to people having an emergency and I want to help where I can! Which usually just means urging a large water change and tagging
@Colin_T for all else, since he really is the disease expert!
Hi OP. I do have to agree though that he's in very rough shape. Can someone link me to whichever product Parguard is, please? When I search I'm only getting results for the birth control device, and lots of US products aren't available in the UK. I don't want to advise trying a med when I don't know what's in it.
@mll6966 I'm sorry that this is happening to your fish, and that the news isn't great.
@Colin_T might sound a little cold when he recommends euthanising him, because for you, he's your pet fish with a name and you can't imagine doing it while he's swimming around, but Colin is looking at the damage - look closely again at the progression in the photographs.. it isn't just that he's lost his tail. It has eaten into his body! No matter how active he is, that has to be causing a lot of pain, and the chances of successfully treating it at this late stage, without knowing the precise bacteria that's causing it, are incredibly low. But throwing random antibiotics at him in the hope it might work isn't a solution either, since it means extending his suffering while you try different antibiotic courses in a "hit 'em and hope" approach, and that kind of misuse of antibiotics is why we now have drug resistant bacteria at all, and drug resistant bacteria are killing humans as well as animals. Mis-using antibiotics without knowing what the actual bacteria involved is, in order to save a single pet fish that is unlikely to survive at this point - isn't something we can encourage in good faith for that reason.
So while Colin's bedside manner might be upsetting when you want to save your pet fish, he really is considering how painful that must be for the fish. I winced when I saw how much it had eaten into his body, that's a nasty infection. Had treatment begun back when the lump first appeared and grew in March, or when the tail first began to recede, we'd have a better chance of saving him. But now you can really only follow Colin's advice and try using the methylene blue (can still use it with a blue fish, but it will stain the silicone on your tank) or the broad spectrum non-antibiotic treatment until you can get him to a fish vet. But you need to start that urgently, because despite swimming around, and looking "happy" (we really cannot tell, as humans, if fish are happy" that poor betta is being eaten alive and is suffering.
The aquatic vet isn't likely to operate, more likely to take a scraping and identify which bacteria is involved, so an antibiotic can be chosen that targets the specific bacteria involved. But not many people will or can afford to take a £10 betta to an aquatic vet. So they end up trying random antibiotics hoping that they will work and causing more problems as I wrote above and extending the animal's suffering. If the vet says that he's too far gone and also recommends euthanising, then it would be best to listen to them, I'm sorry.
But this began back in March, he's only just had a second attempt at treatment, and you were reluctant to try a third, so the slowness in reacting/treating is a bit alarming to me... if you want to try to save him (and I completely understand that you can't face the idea of euthanising him yourself) and you truly are willing to take him to the aquatic vets as soon as possible - then you need to get hold of and start treating him with that broad spectrum non-antibiotic or methylene blue immmediately - go to a store to buy it I mean, rather than order it online and wait days for delivery, because the fish is being eaten alive and suffering.
I'm sorry I don't have more optimistic news for you.
bettasource.com
caesarstropicalfish.com
