Ken Sauer
Fish Fanatic
My daughter, who is very sick, is extremely attached to her pets. A few weeks ago, I noticed that her previously beautiful 1 1/2-year-old betta had lost much of its flowing fins. I mentioned it to her and she said it is normal when Betta's age. Yesterday morning, the betta was lying on the bottom of the tank, and although it did swim to the top when it saw me, it immediately started floating back to the bottom. I took it for granted that the fish is dying. My daughter was devastated (which, of course, devastates her parents). I fully expected the fish to die that day, but it was in the same shape that night. The next morning the same, and now a day and a half later it has not gotten better but has not gotten worse. This prompted me to look up the lifespan of betta fish, which, it turns out is 2-3 years and in rare cases up to 6 years old. Then I googled, "Is it normal for betta fish to lose their fins as they age?" The answer was "No," and this was when I started researching fin rot. That is what I think it has. So, I checked the water parameters; they were good except the nitrate level was .5 rather than 0. Then I did a water change and added a capful of ParaGaurd. If the fish is still alive tomorrow I plan to purchase a couple of those leaves that are supposed to be healing for bettas. Do you have any other suggestions/input? Thank you
