2 days ago my male betta Studly started breathing hard and yesterday his fins began falling out ....for no reason....I dont know whats going on ....and he is not as active as he used to be .....about the same time I started him on bloodworms is when I noticed his changes...(could the bloodworms be the cause?).....I am posting the before and after pictures!!! and also he has a small whiteish spot on one of his sides...and it is neither getting bigger or smaller????

BEFORE


AFTER

OMG! Thats really bad. My male looked like that after a female went homicidal on him. It sounds like a water problem. He must be really stressed and munching on his tail cause it doesn't look like fin rot. You still might want to get some anti-fungus meds for him. The bottle I have says it also relieves stress and helps cure fin rot and body rot.

I would place him in a warm tank about 80 degrees fahrenheit with cleaned aged water or water that has had chlorine removed and turn the lights down low or off.Add any betta safe type of stress relieving meds and anti-fugus meds. Keep him away from things like other fish, tv, or busy room.

I don't see how bloodworms could cause this unless they were live bloodworms that were carrying an illness. The white spot could be ick or some other type of fungus. Adding a safe dose of anti-fingus can't hurt so I would try it.

Good luck and do keep us updated on his condition.

he hasn't been touching his tail it has just been falling apart....I have him in a 1 gallon or less hospital tank...with warm water and he is in a dark place.....I hope he gets better..!!! .....I'll try to get to petsmart to get some med.s for him if I has some time before I get ready for the rodeo tomorrow night.

Aimless, what kind of bloodworms were they? Frozen?

I fed bloodworms to my 4 of my fish and all 4 came down with a bacterial infection. I managed to save 2 Maybe you got a bad batch...?

Have you checked your water quality?

He definitely appears to have bacterial fin rot so you would get treatment for bacterial infection - the poor little thing does look sickly

I have been changing a percentage of his water daily....and I got my grandma (whoi breeds molly's) to check the water with her test kit and she said all the results were fine.....(but she couldn't tell me about his finnage she said bettas weren't in her zone) ...............but anyway today studly's tail doesn't seem to be falling apart as bad as it was yesterday....so maybe he is feeling better......I am really going to try to get to petmart today before the rodeo but I live about 35 min. from petsmart or nooppee....or any kind of sivilisation ......and I have a rodeo that I have to be at by 4:30......and it's already 12:34......so I don't know if I will have time

Frozen bloodworm if allowed to defrost and is then refrozen, usually in transit to the store or by the store themselves, will go off as with all meat products will go bad.

The bloodworm Tetra Brand and on the front it says Bloodworms freeze dried food (for energy and conditioning).......I also fed it to my goldfish and 3 other bettas and it had no effect on them??

Oh man, poor little beauty! Are those shreds of tail in the water with him?

Ask your grandma if there was any ammonia or nitrites in the test AT ALL. Sometimes people go by the "safe" "unsafe" "warning" and "danger" levels, and there can be poor water even in safe or unsafe.

I would definately go with an anti-bacerial medication, like one of the maracyns. It would look a little different if it were a fungal infection. Use one medication at a time and don't add anything else except possibly a bit of aquarium salt. Freeze dried bloodworms rarely carry diseases, but sometimes live or frozen can.

Poor guy..he's one of my favorites on the forum. I hope he gets better soon

Heres a link on a way to treat fin rot in bettas.

http://groups.msn.com/TheBettaObsession/be...dtreatment.msnw

i came home from my rodeo tonight but I don't think I will have time to make it to the petsmart tomorrw...b/c he seems like he's on his last limb......he is swimming upside down and can barley make it to the top so I took some water out so he is in about 3 1/2 to 4 inches of water now....but as soon as the store is open tommorow I am headed up there to get the med.s if Im not to late...."its so horrible watching him have ot swim like that....it makes me really sad!!!""

Well this mornig I woke up at 8:00 to get to petsmart at 9 when it opened and before I left "Studly" was alive and looking a little better...but after I returned home with the med.s I discovered him dead...Im really sad ...he was such a hansome boy!!!

That is sad news, I'm sorry you lost Studly You tried your best to help him

He was a really beautiful betta

We've lost a few Bettas on the forum recently, it is so sad to read about it as we all know how special they are to someone else

Not an other one . I've also lost a boy recently. If he died that fast then meds might not have worked even if you had gotten them to him.

Sorry you lost him.

Aww no, I am so sorry he was so pretty, his coloring was lovely. I think bettas just go down so much quicker than other fish once they get sick. Sorry, you lost the little guy.

sorry you are having trouble with your fish. thanks everyone on the heads up about defrosted frozen blood worms. I was gonna try those but they seem to always defrost before I get home.

Sorry about Studly,Aimless.He was a pretty little boy.