metropolis93fan
Fish Crazy
When I BOUGHT my betta it was mid-January. I have him in a 5 gallon Marineland tank combo (with filter). Heat is 79 degrees. (heater with thermostat) But I soon realized that he wasn't healthy. I couldn't see it in the store. His RIGHT eye was scaled over and he was completely blind in it. I thought his left eye looked a little funny, but I was more concerned about the right eye and the fact that he was so weak that he couldn't crunch the tiniest food I could find that had good nutrition. I wound up having to grind it up into almost a powder to get him to eat it. Slowly I could make the pieces bigger, and then he was eating whole pieces! He was DEFINITELY blind on the right, but we learned together how to work the feeding so I had the food on his other side and he could see it just fine. It wasn't until much later that I realized there was even a name for his other eye: Popeye. I ignored it for months... literally... but very slowly I noticed he was having a bit more difficulty finding food.
So I started researching and discovered Popeye. I did a major water change and got things cleaned up. Unfortunately, my health is poor and I'm on disability. I make frequent trips to my parents' 30 miles away for doctors' appointments, staying overnight several nights at a time, sometimes. I was bringing him there with me when it was more than 2 days away from home, keeping him in a 1 Star hotel... a 1 gallon. It had a Penn-Plax filter and the heater from home. But not the best situation. I was finally advised that he would do better going without food for a while and not going through a 30 minute car ride and poor water conditions in his "hotel." ((My last testing on the main tank at home was perfect except for nitrates. I have purchased Fritzyme turbo start 700 from a company that included cold packs. I'm not confident two were enough but I'm hoping by adding that to his tank on Tuesday when I go home again for a week will help. When I was home on Thursday I noticed his eyesight had SIGNIFICANTLY worsened in his remaining (pop) eye. Getting him to find his food was WAY more difficult than even a week before. Was I wrong to leave him there as advised by someone on a Discord betta group? I don't know.
Another piece of needed information is that my mom finally decided trying to keep her betta going in it's 1.5 gallon isn't worth it and he's not acting healthy. So I was bequeathed the fish. I used primarily Amazon and used my store card because on disability, this was over $100 to get a tank together properly. I had a 5 gallon from my college days. I cleaned it up really well, got a good HOB filter with strength control, new gravel, lightings, a hideaway, and got all silk plants (I didn't know until after I purchased the decor for the current tank that he needed silk. I'll eventually replace two of the three plants (the third IS silk). I'm going to put MY fish in this new aquarium set-up and put my mom's in the current Marineland set-up.
Yet another? I am having abdominal surgery on July7. Doing major water changes, even with my mom there lifting the buckets of water the first week before I'm on my own, isn't going to be possible for a little while. So whatever I choose to do with both of these fish, this difficult time is going to matter in the decision-making. Mom's is eating far less, and not as active as when she got it same time as I got mine. He used to have a hearty appetite, now will only eat 2-3 pieces at a time. I want him out of that tank, but need the Marineland available to him and need it for my treating MY fish before moving him to the new tank.
I have heard two suggestions for the same set of parameters.
1. Adding kanaplex https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CJ0VY8G/?tag=ff0d01-20 to the current tank first. The fact that Noah (my fish) was in a very dirty container of water from the pet store makes this person pretty sure it's bacterial, not injury.
2. Adding aquairum salt for 2 weeks (or longer if I can't perform the water change right away) first to test and see if it is injury.
I worry about #2. If it doesn't, I still have to spend 6 days with the kanaplex before I can stock it with concentrated bacteria and then introduce Mom's fish to it. I know the medicine MIGHT kill off all the good bacteria. Thus having the turbo start on hand and doing in-fish cycling because I want him out of that 1.5 gallon so badly. This was also suggested by the person who suggested kanaplex first... in-tank cycling.
None of this is ideal. I'm concerned if Noah goes blind he won't even be able to find his food. It was very difficult when I was there yesterday. I'd hoped to really feed him a lot to get him by until I get back Tuesday morning, but I couldn't. He was missing more than he was finding.
I'm even contemplating euthanasia if his sight gets any worse. I DID try an epsom salt bath once. It didn't seem to help. But I couldn't do it every day for a while, unfortuantely. It would help if I could drive but currently don't have a valid license (variety of reasons) and rely on my 72 yo mother with beginning dementia for rides, and she doesn't do well with frequent trips. Insurance would provide rides but my dog has separation anxiety. I'm working with her on it, but it's a slow crawl.
Okay. That's about everything. Basically, kanaplex, aquarium salt, or euthanasia. I have both the medicine and the aquarium salt is being delivered on Sunday. So I can do either when I get back.
I appreciate ALL suggestions. I'm confused as to what to do. I was set on doing the Kanaplex until someone suggested that jumping to antibiotics first wasn't good. I DO understand that first relying on antibiotics can cause you to not react to them when you need them. My pediatrician way-back-when would prescribe them for each head cold. The basic ones don't do anything at all for me anymore. But the situation isn't a simple one. And sadly, time is of the essence.
So I started researching and discovered Popeye. I did a major water change and got things cleaned up. Unfortunately, my health is poor and I'm on disability. I make frequent trips to my parents' 30 miles away for doctors' appointments, staying overnight several nights at a time, sometimes. I was bringing him there with me when it was more than 2 days away from home, keeping him in a 1 Star hotel... a 1 gallon. It had a Penn-Plax filter and the heater from home. But not the best situation. I was finally advised that he would do better going without food for a while and not going through a 30 minute car ride and poor water conditions in his "hotel." ((My last testing on the main tank at home was perfect except for nitrates. I have purchased Fritzyme turbo start 700 from a company that included cold packs. I'm not confident two were enough but I'm hoping by adding that to his tank on Tuesday when I go home again for a week will help. When I was home on Thursday I noticed his eyesight had SIGNIFICANTLY worsened in his remaining (pop) eye. Getting him to find his food was WAY more difficult than even a week before. Was I wrong to leave him there as advised by someone on a Discord betta group? I don't know.
Another piece of needed information is that my mom finally decided trying to keep her betta going in it's 1.5 gallon isn't worth it and he's not acting healthy. So I was bequeathed the fish. I used primarily Amazon and used my store card because on disability, this was over $100 to get a tank together properly. I had a 5 gallon from my college days. I cleaned it up really well, got a good HOB filter with strength control, new gravel, lightings, a hideaway, and got all silk plants (I didn't know until after I purchased the decor for the current tank that he needed silk. I'll eventually replace two of the three plants (the third IS silk). I'm going to put MY fish in this new aquarium set-up and put my mom's in the current Marineland set-up.
Yet another? I am having abdominal surgery on July7. Doing major water changes, even with my mom there lifting the buckets of water the first week before I'm on my own, isn't going to be possible for a little while. So whatever I choose to do with both of these fish, this difficult time is going to matter in the decision-making. Mom's is eating far less, and not as active as when she got it same time as I got mine. He used to have a hearty appetite, now will only eat 2-3 pieces at a time. I want him out of that tank, but need the Marineland available to him and need it for my treating MY fish before moving him to the new tank.
I have heard two suggestions for the same set of parameters.
1. Adding kanaplex https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CJ0VY8G/?tag=ff0d01-20 to the current tank first. The fact that Noah (my fish) was in a very dirty container of water from the pet store makes this person pretty sure it's bacterial, not injury.
2. Adding aquairum salt for 2 weeks (or longer if I can't perform the water change right away) first to test and see if it is injury.
I worry about #2. If it doesn't, I still have to spend 6 days with the kanaplex before I can stock it with concentrated bacteria and then introduce Mom's fish to it. I know the medicine MIGHT kill off all the good bacteria. Thus having the turbo start on hand and doing in-fish cycling because I want him out of that 1.5 gallon so badly. This was also suggested by the person who suggested kanaplex first... in-tank cycling.
None of this is ideal. I'm concerned if Noah goes blind he won't even be able to find his food. It was very difficult when I was there yesterday. I'd hoped to really feed him a lot to get him by until I get back Tuesday morning, but I couldn't. He was missing more than he was finding.
I'm even contemplating euthanasia if his sight gets any worse. I DID try an epsom salt bath once. It didn't seem to help. But I couldn't do it every day for a while, unfortuantely. It would help if I could drive but currently don't have a valid license (variety of reasons) and rely on my 72 yo mother with beginning dementia for rides, and she doesn't do well with frequent trips. Insurance would provide rides but my dog has separation anxiety. I'm working with her on it, but it's a slow crawl.
Okay. That's about everything. Basically, kanaplex, aquarium salt, or euthanasia. I have both the medicine and the aquarium salt is being delivered on Sunday. So I can do either when I get back.
I appreciate ALL suggestions. I'm confused as to what to do. I was set on doing the Kanaplex until someone suggested that jumping to antibiotics first wasn't good. I DO understand that first relying on antibiotics can cause you to not react to them when you need them. My pediatrician way-back-when would prescribe them for each head cold. The basic ones don't do anything at all for me anymore. But the situation isn't a simple one. And sadly, time is of the essence.
