bettas rescued plus problems.

[nanguz]

Ok. I had a betta that died recently of an undiagnosted problem. Then, in another tank, my Walmart rescue betta girl that I've had for a year was laying on the bottom of the tank. I decided that she wasn't feeling well as she wasn't eating. Normally she eats extremely well. I took her out to observe her closely. I noticed that she has fungus coming out of her anus! She's also very fat, not bloated but her whole body is big and fat. no scales sticking out at all.
I went to get a little heater that they only have at walmart for her. There I saw two bettas on the shelf, only two. The water in thier cups was so dirty. One, a tiny female was laying listlessly on the bottom. The other was a blue male who was in water that was black with filth. I bought them both. They wouldn't have lasted another day.
I went to Petco to buy more supplies for them. There I saw a beautiful turquois male with his whole bottom fin missing and half his tale gone. I bought him too. Hey, no one else would. I set up two 2 1/2 gallon tanks for them. The males are doing great but my old female woun't eat. The new female is still touch and go. She's so tiny and her fins are very ragged. Any ideas how I should treat my old female? I put melafix in the tank and made it real warm. I'm going to add salt when I go home from work today. I got a feeling she's real constipated. I think I did this rescue thing out of guilt because of my betta who died, I don't know. I don't want to lose my girl too.
Thanks. (I have 7 aquariums without counting the betta tanks)

 

[Idolz]

You may have mistaken the ovipositor as fungus. There should be a white dot on her belly. The ovipositor is where the eggs come out of, in case you didn't know

If you think she is constipated, feed her a pea. You don't want to feed her a caned pea because it has preservatives in it so you might want to heat up a frozen pea in the microwave.
Good luck w/ your new crew of bettas

 

[nanguz]

thanks for the reply. It's definatly fungus. There is fuzz coming out. It's really gross! I love this fish though. She was living in a community tank until yesterday.

 

[rdd1952]

If you think she is constipated, feed her a pea. You don't want to feed her a caned pea because it has preservatives in it so you might want to heat up a frozen pea in the microwave.

As a generally rule, you definitely should not feed canned peas as they usually have sugar or salt added but in an emergency, it can be done. I did it twice bevore I knew any better and the fish turned out fine. It did what is was supposed to do and cured the constipation. If you aren't going to be able to get to the store for a day or two then I'd give the canned a try. After all, we're only talking about a portion of a pea unless you feed the entire tank and even then, 3 or 4 will probably do the trick.

 

[Idolz]

You don't want to feed her a caned pea because it has preservatives

Yeah I think thats what i said

 

[nanguz]

Actually I happen to have some frozen peas on hand. I am going to put her in her own hospital tank when I go home. Now she's sharing with the new tiny betta. From now on i'm not keeping any bettas, male or female in community tanks. They end up eating way too much!!

 

[nanguz]

Unfortunatly the female that was real fat has turned out to have dropsy. Her scales started sticking out yesterday. I there any hope of recovery or should I euthanize her before she really begins to suffer?

 

[eudielynn]

The only thing I've ever heard of that can help dropsy is collodial silver, but I've never used it myself. Hopefully the one that successfully used it will see your post and be able to help you more. Good luck.

 

[Kiarra]

Some people have had luck with Tetracycline or Maracyn 2. If you can get either of those, it's worth a try. People have also had luck with colloidal silver...you should be able to get that from a store like GNC, though it's usually in very low concentration at GNC.

 

[nanguz]

thanks. Unfortunatly I don't think anything will help her. She looks terrible. I have maracyn 2 but I don't think it will help. Poor girl. I rescued her from walmart over a year ago. She was very sick but recovered. I found that when bettas are in bad condition when you get them they usually don't live real long.

 

[eudielynn]

I'm so sorry she's not doing well. Sometimes I think when they are kept in such poor conditions, i.e. Walmart, that it does permanent damage. We may be able to make things better and more comfortable for them, but they don't ever fully recover. Just do what you can to make her comfortable. I'm sure she has had a much better life with you than she could have had.

 

[nanguz]

yeah, poor walmart fish. When I got her they were going to dump her down the drain, while she was still alive!!!! I saved another at the same time but he was covered totally in fungus and didn't even make it one day. It's totally disqusting. On a more possitive note the three I saved last week are doing great.

 

[eudielynn]

Great! So glad to hear it. Sometimes we loose one and it's heartbreaking, but we just have to keep going for the others. There's so many needy little souls out there.