Antibiotics

[Divinityinlove]

I've seen multiple videos of beta fish being rescued and restored from extremely bad health.

They always give them antibiotics in the first stage of restoring their health. Bring them home, do twice daily water changes and provide antibiotics is what I've seen and they seem to fully recover and regain health eventually.

Here is a popular one which I've seen on my news feed multiple times. I saw an English girl yesterday also.

Question here is, what would be a good brand/type of antibiotics for this situation?

 

[Essjay]

As you are in London, you'll have to go to a vet to get a prescription for antibiotics and go with what they suggest - if you can find a vet which treats fish.
Antibiotics are prescription only in the UK.

 

[DoubleDutch]

Throwing in antibiotics without a clue is the worst one can do. We are heading for all kind of restistant bacteria cause of this behaviour.

 

[DoubleDutch]

The sollution is strict regulations or not let LFS's sell bettas that should be "rescued".
We cause our own problems this way and antibiotics aren't the sollution to those.

 

[GaryE]

I'm with @DoubleDutch . If you pay the pet store price for a sick betta, you are not rescuing it. You are just buying it, and in so doing encouraging an ugly side of the trade. It's a bit like buying a dog produced in an inhumane puppy mill.
In a puppy mill, there are groups that will go and rescue all the animals, shutting the mill down. In a bad store, sales go on and on, with constant replacement.
If sellers wish to make money on animals, they need to make things so that those animals are valued and treated well. I have often seen ragged or dying fish in stores, where the cause was clearly neglect or lack of interest in their welfare, and my response is to never buy from those stores. The one fish I could bring home would be replaced by ten the next order in, and their fate would be deadly.

I am also glad to be in a zone where antibiotic sales are under veterinary control, and I'm glad that's so.

So what's the alternative? Why not set yourself up after a little research, and take on care for an endangered or extinct in nature species? There are groups like C.A.R.E.S. that coordinate the captive breeding of at risk fishes, as non profits. It's clear you are kind and want to help, and that may be an avenue you can explore.