My betta (a different betta than I had asked about on here previously) has recently been less active than normal. However, lately, he has been really sickly...he just lays on the bottom of the tank on his side. He looks like he wants to move around and swim and stuff, but he just struggles to move even the slightest bit. He tries to get food, sometimes he gets the energy to come to the surface for a second or two, but then he just like sinks to the bottom almost like a rock. I feel so bad for him

The water params are all very good, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, nitrates are 5 or less, ph is about 7 or 7.2. He is in a 5 gallon filtered tank. I've had him for about 4 years (i really can't remember if it's been 3 or 4 years).
He doesn't have anything physically that i can see except for a split in his tail, and on his dorsal fin (the top fin), there are 2 holes in the middle of that fin...i have no idea what caused the holes

Today is his 3rd dose of maracyn two, but it doesn't seem to be helping.

Have you maybe tried to increase the heat on the tank and add some salt. Could this possibly help cure the sickness? Please keep us updated!

Yes I would do what Dean said. Stop with the maracyns and remove all races of meds through a full water change or using activated carbon. Dissolve 1/2 teaspoon for every gallon of tank, then add slowly add the salty water. Keep a container of his old water ready and watch him for 15 minutes to make sure he's okay with the salt. If he's doing alright the next day, add another 1/2 teaspoon of dissolved salt. This will bring you up to .1% salinity. Bring the temperature up to a stable 82*F.

It might just be his time...3-4 years is a good life for a petstore betta.

thank you both for the advice! I will try the heater and the salt and pray for the best!

I really hope this isn't his time he has always been so fully of life, and even still is now, it's just hard to see him wanting to move and swim as he alway has done and him just not being able to do it...it's so sad

I had a beta who made it from Long Island, Ny, to upstate NY, to Kentucky, back to NY, then to FL. He lived a very eventful 5 years, even with all the stress of being in a car with the vibration, heat, and strangeness.

that's encouraging! Thanks!!

-i just added the heater, but i noticed that his top fin does indeed have a really large hole in it, and i somehow don't think that is a normal sign of aging....could it be finrot? the hole is bigger than it was a few days ago!! his other finage looks kinda ragged too, but not as bad as his dorsal fin with the holes (one large hole, the other hole is smaller)

Poor guy Hopefully the heat and salt will fix up his fin rot along with whatever else is bothering him.

What about some bettafix? You can use it in conbination with the salt. I've found that it is a good all purpose tonic. What do you think Kissy?

Sure, bettafix or a 1/2 dosage of melafix might help too. I'd start with salt first and give him a couple days at .1% salinity first to make sure he's okay with that. We don't want to overwhelm him.

just a quick update for everyone...i got all of the meds out of the water with a 90% water change and fresh carbon in the filter, and i have half of the salt added. I will add the other half tomorrow as advised, and the temp is 80 right now, i'm slowly bringing it up to 82. he is still laying on the bottom and the holes are still there...not that i expected them not to be...but he doesn't seem to be doing any worse, so that's good. I don't have any melafix on hand (i do, but it's for ponds, so it's very high dosage) so I am going to look for some betta fix tomorrow after work if i can find it, i'll buy it and start with that in a few days.


I have it figured out that I have had him for 3 years now, and from what I read before, the bettas in stores are usually 1 year old when you buy them, so he must be at least 4 years old. But I also heard that they can live up to 8 years old, is that true?
Thanks again to everyone for their advice and help, I appreciate it very much!

8 years is rare for a betta. With good genes and excellent care, bettas will usually live up to 4-6 years, but most petstore bettas don't live as long because of poor conditions prior to owning and indiscriminate breeding. Anyways....keep us posted on how he does.

well, he's still hanging in there....he is a little more lively than before, but still not how he used to be.
as for the holes in his fin, they aren't really holes anymore, it kinda looks like they spread to the outside...but it's not getting deeper into his fin (hard to explain) but i think it may be healing due to the melafix, so I'm going to keep that up for a tad bid longer and see how it goes.

Thanks again for everyone's help!

ok, so it looks like he has fin rot pretty badly....i have tried everything, nothing seems to be working. I don't know what else to do. Here's some pics I took, you can kinda see how his top fin is now see thru, and it never used to be before...and you can't really tell from the pics that the front of that fin looks like it already has about a quarter inch missing...i'm so stressed

(in this pic, there is some reflections, etc...that kinda resemble ich...he doesn't have ich, that just appears in the pic)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v150/grain190/DSC03428.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v150/gra.../untitled-5.jpg

2 more photo's, you can see the "rot" better

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v150/grain190/A.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v150/grain190/b.jpg

Are you sure that's not ich? A lot of times you can't see it without a bright light. Are his fins always clamped like that, or was it just because the flash stressed him? When you added meds, you made sure to take out any carbon if you had it, right?

yes, i am 100% sure it's not ich

he has been clamped like that since he's been sick


yup, no carbon in the filter

i would keep up with the salt , heater and bettafix. My elderly betta Zeke was very much the same. He was 3 plus years old. He did a color change and almost died on me and was sitting on the bottom all the time and not eating. I added salt, a heater, and bettafix and he got back to normal. However . It takes quite a while for the the fin rot to resolve itself. Once I took Zeke off the Bettafix his fin rot would return so I resolved myself the fact he had to be on Bettafix all the time. I did that and his tail started growing back in. could yours also have velvet? take a flashlight and shine it near him. If the stuff on him appears to be like a gold dusting then he could have velvet. Zeke had it before I put him on Bettafix.

i never thought of velvet, thanks, i'll try that!

is it OK to use melafix if i do not have betta fix? I can't seem to find it anywhere

yup it is o.k. Melafix is the same stuff as Bettafix. Melafix is just in a more concentrated form. Bettafix is a more diluted version of melafix in the correct dosage for bettas. I used it and an eyedropper when I ran out of bettafix.Just got to do a little math to figure out the dosage.

well, I completely suck there was an ammonia spike in his tank and I was unaware of it till today when I noticed that he seems to have developed dropsy....it wasn't super high, just a little over .25...but apparently high enough...he is losing his color as well, and has stopped eating and swimming
I take blame for this, as I have not tested the water since I last changed it a week ago. I just assumed that since I have had betta tanks, they have never developed ammonia....but for some reason, this one did. Anyways, I am so ticked off and disappointed in myself......but with that being said, I am sure he is going to pass soon. I have gotten the ammonia down to 0 now, I am putting cycle in to help with that. I have started the maracyn II just to see if it helps the poor little guy.
Is there anything that I can do to make him more comfortable?

oh god, i think i have to euthanize him this is horrid

Ok, well, I didn't have to euthanize him, he passed on his own. I am so sad that he had to go this way I truly did not want him to suffer. I actually did notice the dropsy starting to develop about 2 weeks ago though, so I don't think it came on suddenly. I noticed a very tiny bulge in his belly, but I thought maybe it was just from being sick, or something. So, I was keeping up with the melafix, and he had been eating and acting well, sluggish, but not like he was dying. But I still feel as if maybe this is my fault......anyways, if he had to go, I do hope he didn't suffer too much. I plan on burrying him tomorrow. I want to remember him as he was when he was younger, constantly blowing bubble nests so large that they would cover the entire surface of his tank! He was always happy, and very beautiful! I have some pictures...the pictures don't do him justice though, as they are blurry.....he was so pretty in person!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v150/grain190/red2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v150/grain190/red3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v150/grain190/red.jpg