Help! Betta is lethargic and is breathing heavy

[Colin_T]

Ich X and General Cure are completely different products and treat different things.

Ich X is for treating external protozoan parasites and contains Malachite Green, which is a carcinogen (causes cancer) so handle with care, and avoid getting it on your skin. Wash hands with soapy water after using it or working in the tank.

General cure contains Praziquantel and Metronidazole.
Praziquantel treats tapeworm and gill flukes.
Metronidazole is an antibiotic and can be used to treat internal protozoan infections in fish.

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You can try Ich X but don't use medication and heat at the same time. Just use heat or medication but not both together.

Before you add any chemical medications, do the following.
Work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these before measuring the height of the water level so you get a more accurate water volume.

You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating with chemicals or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working. You do not need to remove the carbon if you use salt.

 

[youbettadont]

You can try Ich X but don't use medication and heat at the same time. Just use heat or medication but not both together.

Ok. Thank you so much! I should be getting the ich x this weekend so I'll leave my tank alone for now other than water changes. I'll definitely check out the tank volume calculator.

 

[youbettadont]

He's been on ich x for about 2 weeks, but I'm not sure if there is any improvement.

 

[Colin_T]

He doesn't look too bad. He is alert and aware of what is happening around him. His fins appear better, although the dorsal fin probably won't grow back. And he is breathing normally.

The only thing that concerns me is the pink patch on his back below where his dorsal fin used to be. In some of the footage it looks a bit red but when he swims down to the bottom it looks pink. The pink looks like colouration but the red could be an infection.

However, considering he has been treated for a lot, I would not add any more medications. Stop using any medications and just see how he does over the next few weeks. But right now he looks pretty good.

 

[youbettadont]

Thanks for your response. I have stopped all medication but I've still been doing daily water changes. Should I continue doing daily water changes? Sometimes he starts bleeding randomly from swimming or bumping into things, which may be the red that you are seeing. I have uploaded two videos from today.

 

[Colin_T]

He looks good in the video but I am concerned that you say he sometimes bleeds when he bumps into things. That shouldn't happen. If you can try to get a video of it, that might provide more information.

I would keep doing big daily water changes for another couple of weeks, then reduce it to every second day for a couple of weeks, then twice weekly for a few weeks, then once a week after that.

 

[youbettadont]

Here's a video from April 26 when he started bleeding. He bleeds occasionally and it's always around this same spot.

I'll continue doing the daily water changes though.

 

[Colin_T]

He has an underlying infection in the muscle tissue.
I'm not sure what else you can treat him with.

Has he bled since that video was taken?
How often does it bleed?
Is it becoming more frequent or less frequent?

Less frequent could be he is healing, more frequent is bad.

 

[youbettadont]

He actually hasn't bled since I took the video.
I feel like he bleeds once every two weeks or so.
I'm not sure if it is becoming more or less frequent, but I will start tracking it when it happens.
I'm still continuing to do daily water changes for the time being.

 

[youbettadont]

My betta is once again sick. He was doing very well in June and early July. His scales healed up and there was no more bleeding. He even built some bubble nests. The past two weeks, he has been sitting in the same corner breathing heavy(with clamped fins) and at times just lays on his side. He looks fairly bloated, so I fasted him, but it didn't help. I'm assuming he either has dropsy(there is no pineconing) or some sort of swim bladder problem. He pooped yesterday, so I'm not sure if he's constipated. I have been feeding him fluval bug bites with vitachem once a day. He barely swims or goes up for air so I've been sinking the pellets down and he eats them off the floor. I've been doing daily 25% water changes, but there have been no improvements. I just added nitrofurazone for his top fin (looks like fin melt) but I'm not sure if that will harm his health even more. Since he's been through so much, I'm wondering if it's better to euthanize him instead of trying all these medications again.

 

[Colin_T]

considering it's back and he is deteriorating, it might be time to euthanise him.

 

[youbettadont]

considering it's back and he is deteriorating, it might be time to euthanise him.

Thanks for all your help throughout this journey. I'm really surprised that he pulled through the first time but I don't think he'll be able to do it again. Would clove oil be the best method for euthanasia?

 

[Colin_T]

if you have clove oil then it's probably the nicest way

 

[youbettadont]

He's gone but I wasn't sure where to put this.... When I'm ready for a new fish, what decor can I reuse and what should I sanitize/throw away? He had a wooden betta log, a plastic betta hammock, some plastic caves, silk plants, sand, heater, filter and two live plants.