# Photo of Fin Rot



## LaniBaby (Apr 14, 2009)

I found this old photo of Tuttle, my little red friend. He had fin rot from a few days after he came home until he died, pretty much. We kept it controlled with clean water and occasional meds, but you can see what it was doing to his lovely tail fin. Eventually it spread, sadly. Just thought I'd post in case anyone needed a reference photo.


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## LaniBaby (Apr 14, 2009)

in case anyone was wondering, he lived another 11.5 months after this photo was taken. I managed to have him for about 14 months total.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

He was very pretty.


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## LaniBaby (Apr 14, 2009)

thank you.  he was a good, good fish.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I had one that was special like that. It was all his fault that I got addicted to bettas. lol


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## whitedevil (Apr 24, 2009)

Thanks for the pic, mine has fin rot for sure now, started the heat and salt today going to medicate if it doesnt get better.I am treating the whole tank since there are other fish in there and exposure. 

What is a good med if I have to go that route? 
LFS said bettafix or metafix for a natural one since Id rather cure without meds when ever possible.


Why only 14 months, my last betta lives a little over 4 years and my new betta is new but he is doing great minus the fin rot which he might have brought with him from the cup, not sure but I know my tank is clean and water is stable and safe( been up for 5 months now).

I noticed his dorsal fin is nearly gone when it was alot bigger but misshaped when I got him.

Again, thanks for the pic, Im going to save it for future reference.


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## LaniBaby (Apr 14, 2009)

yeah, you're welcome. I was hoping it might help someone out. I had some luck with Jungle fungus eliminator. I had zero luck with melafix and i've heard that from a lot of people. same with bettafix. they're just too mild and fin rot moves really quickly. the jungle stuff will turn everything green, though, so you may want to remove decorations. 

i only had him 14 months because of the fin rot. that pic was taken 3 months after i got him and it was already his 4th or 5th bout with the disease. he looked ok when i got him home and a few days later, no tail. he was in a 10 gallon tank and i kept noticing all this white fungus everywhere, too. in strings on the rocks. So i put him in a 1 gal quaratine tank. i treated him, his tail grew back, i put him in the 10 gallon.. and voila. 2 days later, fin rot. back in the 1 gal, treated complete course, tail grew back, back in the 10 gal, 2 days later, tail gone. i got rid of the 10 gal cuz it was hell trying to clean constantly and got the 3 gal with filter. finally, after treating it repeatedly, i just put him in the 3gal, kept the water clean, and watched the fin rot come and go and come and go. he would always fight it off. but after 14 months, the rot got his dorsal fins and it was hard for him to swim. he started losing color, i started treating with meds again and the last time he just couldn't find it off. he turned gray, and just slowly went down. I just couldn't save him.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Sometimes its very hard to get rid of. One of mine has it on his tail and dorsal fin. I've tried several different meds and they make him almost like he's going to die. He sinks to the bottom and stays there until I stop treatment. I'm just going with clean water and salt for now.


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## Campbell (Apr 12, 2009)

My walmart just got in some new bettas and most of them have bad fin rot. I tried to find an employee to tell, but I couldn't even find one.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Yeah, you can't ever find someone when you need them. The fish department at my Petsmart was short on help for awhile. They had to cut hours due to the economy.


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## LaniBaby (Apr 14, 2009)

sigh. that's why i decided to go with a breeder instead of the pet store. It's hard not to want to rescue them, but everytime we do, they just bring in more stock because they think people are buying them. Add it's just a sad cycle. 

DQ, i think the salt and the clean water is the way to go. It worked for me for almost a year until tuttle just went down...


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

That's what I'm going to try. I know there are people who purposely buy the sickest, saddest looking bettas at the lfs but I always try to buy healthy ones. I think it would be too heart breaking to take a sick one home and then, no matter what I do, it still dies. I admire those who do, if they can get them healthy and happy again. Sometimes you see a betta that looks sick, get it home in a nice tank and clean water and it turns out they weren't sick at all. They just needed some tlc.


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## LaniBaby (Apr 14, 2009)

that's true. most of them need a little love. i've heard they come to the stores in tiny little triangle bags with just enough water to keep them moist. it's heartbreaking. the other argument i've heard against pet store bettas is that if the public keeps buying the really sick ones, the pet stores take that as a sign that it's ok to keep them in unhealthy conditions because we'll accept it and they'll make money anyway. so why bother treating them well? 

i know it's hard for most betta lovers to find a breeder so i certainly don't fault anyone for buying the little guys. but i do encourage people to try and look up someone reputable in their area who treats their little guys with respect. bear in mind i have heard about some really terrible breeders who treat their guys even worse than the stores. it's just unfortunate all around for the little fish. there are so many of them per every spawn and so some people see them as expendable when others, like many of us, see them all as precious little lives worth saving.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

What gets me is people who allow their bettas to spawn and then dump out the resulting eggs without any regard to the lives they created.I get most of my bettas at Petsmart. Its within walking distance of my house so I can go over there anytime I want. I hardly ever see dead fish there. I saw a betta one time that had sbd. I told one of the people in the fish department and she was very concerned about the fish. I was going to go back a few days later to check up on him but never did. I wonder if they would have thought I was crazy for checking on a sick fish. lol


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## LaniBaby (Apr 14, 2009)

i don't know. one time i saw a sick mouse at a petshop and i told someone and made him promise he wasn't going to just euthanize him. Then i insisted on a personal tour of the sick room facility with the cage that the mouse was going to go in. Then i left him my phone number in case they were going to euthanize the mouse and said I'd pick him up and resume care for him instead. 

Some people are passionate about cars. I couldn't care less about cars but I'd certainly go a long way for an animal so who cares if people think we're crazy? It's just what we do and, in the long run, effects at the very least the animal we're doing it for.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I was at Petsmart one time and they told me someone had abandoned a rat, just left him in a little cage in a cart. I would have taken him if it weren't for the fact that my mother would have thrown a huge fit and thrown me and the rat out of the house. lol. One of their employees ended up taking him, thank goodness.


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## alexx (May 3, 2009)

OH MY GOD. i got my recent betta at walmart,he doesn't seeem to have any rotting fins but i'll make sure.


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## LaniBaby (Apr 14, 2009)

calm down, alexx.  it doesn't happen to all of them. But I think a lot of us on this board have had at least 1 little buddy come home ill from the pet store. Always check them out when you bring them home, using a flashlight helps, and keep up on clean water. Observe for a few days and hopefully he'll be fine.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Petsmart doesn't exactly have the best reputation in the world either, but all mine that came from there were fine. I had a neighbor that got one from there a few years ago for her granddaughter and it died a day before the 2 week period was up. They gave her a new one and it was fine.


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## alexx (May 3, 2009)

ok nevermind my fish doesn't have fin rot.


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## ox dynamics xo (Jun 2, 2009)

i had neon tetras which got fin rot but this white fungus type thing coated them aswell and the couldnt move. they died 2 days after getting the white stuff on them. my water is perfectly fine and i have a small catfish with the same thing. it isnt really moving at all, i mean it can move its mouth but it wont swimm and it stays near the top of the bowl. i have tried stress zyme and i think it caught it in my brothers tank(long story). i really have no idea what to do or what it is as i have only been keeping fish for 2-3 weeks. pleas Help!!!!!!!!!!
(even a diagnosis would be extremely helpful)


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## LaniBaby (Apr 14, 2009)

hm.. do you have a picture you can put up here for us to see? i had a betta that got a white stringy fungus once right from the petstore after 2 days, but i was unable to cure it and lost him, so i'm afraid i'm not much help in this area. Anyone else? 

You can do some internet searches to see if you can find some photos that look similar (just to be sure) and then maybe try some jungle fungus clear. That's had good results for a lot of people on here, from what i hear. it'll stain everything in your tank that you don't remove, but it may save your poor little guy.


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## LilMermaidGirl (Jun 4, 2009)

Campbell said:


> My walmart just got in some new bettas and most of them have bad fin rot. I tried to find an employee to tell, but I couldn't even find one.


I don't think they'd do anything about it anyway, not at wal-mart. Someone I know used to work at one and said the other tanks (that have other non-betta fish) had all the filters broken and it took them months just to fix that. He said if someone complains most likely they'll act they're going to fix it but won't. He worked at wal-mart for 5 years (though not in the fish/animal section).

And then I was in wal-mart a few days ago and looking at the fish area, and they had all the bettas in their small cups, well some looked sooooo bad. There was one that must of been there for awhile, because he had about an inch, maybe inch and half of water left in the cup, and it was pure brown with lots and lots of poop floating all it. I really can't describe how bad it was. There should be guidlines all stores should have to go by, I guarentee this would not have passed. I have never seen such a disgusting area for fish. It's clear that his water hadn't been changed or any new water added for a rather long time. I don't know if the fish had fin rot, I could barely see him through the gross water (and he was bright red colored).


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## BettaSquirt (Jun 2, 2009)

When i went to petco today to get some replacement pads (and convinced my mom to get a new betta) and one of them was laying on its side on the bottom of the cup, gasping and it didnt move. I got so sad and i wanted to take it home, but i thought, right when i buy it, it will die, and my mom wont get me another, so i just left it, i got really sad though. Next time i see that im gonna complain to one of the fish guys.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

You could send them an e-mail. I did that with Meijers.


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## BettaSquirt (Jun 2, 2009)

Oooh good idea


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## LaniBaby (Apr 14, 2009)

make sure it goes to corporate with the store number on it, time, date, and location. and copy peta.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Good advice.


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## Vikki81207 (May 27, 2009)

Kay, so my boy Fishy seems to have fin rot. His fins are curling up and in a couple spots there are small bits missing. Should I just transfer him to his one gallon and give him salt?? Or give him meds too? I know I posted earlier, but this seems to be a good fin rot thread. I don't know how to treat it. Just been reading after other people. lol. I want to do whatever is possible. I set his 1 gallon back up. I figured it would be easier to clean, but I don't know if I'll be able to keep his tank warm with it being so small. Sorry, I'm just paranoid and I like knowing the EXACT way to do things. So should I use salt & meds? Just salt?? Should I still put in decorations?? & how often to change water. Thanks guys.


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## TitoBetta (Jun 2, 2009)

aw, thats sad. my fish has fin rot, and hes had it for a little while now and he is still very active and makes bubble nests, i give him "betta revive" and it works great! i think his fins are starting to grow back now!


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

Campbell said:


> My walmart just got in some new bettas and most of them have bad fin rot. I tried to find an employee to tell, but I couldn't even find one.


 
I went to walmart and saw a bunch of dead goldfish and the minnow tanks had *SEVERE* bacterial infections


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## BettaSquirt (Jun 2, 2009)

its so sad isnt it ?  i dont like the way they treat there fish. :l


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