# Petco Rescue: Help! Fin Rot! Parasites?!



## LADY (May 27, 2011)

Hello! 
I have been looking for an unfortunate Betta to rescue from a store. I was waiting out for Walmart, but when I saw this little guy my heart melted and got him instantly last monday.

His name is Astro and he is very active and curious (I had to buy another non shiny thermometer because he almost got his head stuck in this one) and swims plenty. He is very responsive when I walk into the room, and will eat when I feed him.

However, I know that he has pretty bad fin rot and I am suspecting some parasites. He seems to have a dark bulging mass near his anal fin... 

His poo is white and stringy and he appears to be bloated. This may be my fault because the pellets I gave him were possibly too large for him. I dropped two in and by the time I saw how he ate one, he grabbed the other and swam round with it before I could pluck it out (theres a pic of him with it in his mouth which is actually pretty cute if it didnt hurt him).

I am curently treating him in a half gallon fish keeper with daily 100% water changes. I am medicating with aquarium salt and Melafix.

What is going on? Is there anything else I can do? Are his guts going to explode? HELP ME!!

Housing 
What size is your tank? 5 gallon/ .5 gallon hospital tank
What temperature is your tank? 78 DegF
Does your tank have a filter? No, but I am doing daily 100% water changes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? No (it is so hot out it isnt necessary)
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? No one

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Wardley pellets, crushed
How often do you feed your betta fish? small meals, 2x daily

Maintenance 
How often do you perform a water change? daily
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 100%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Aqua Plus Tap water treatment, Microbe Lift Stress Coat, Melafix, Aquarium salt and the water comes from a 5 g tank that I have cycles. I do daily water changes and add small amounts of his medicine.

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Yes, he has developed a large bulbous mass near his anal fin
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? No
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Today
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? No, I donk know what to do
Does your fish have any history of being ill? Hes new, but yes he is sick
How old is your fish (approximately)? ???

Before he ate the big food:









The thermometer I had to replace:









Stealing the Pellet:









After he ate the food:


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## DarkMoon17 (Apr 16, 2011)

Astro is a very lucky boy!

He definitely has fin rot, that's for sure. If his poop is white then he most likely has internal parasites as well. I'm not sure I see the lump you are talking about though?
It is more important to treat the internal parasites so let's get on that. There are a number of meds available including Jungle's Anti-Parasite pellets, Jungle's Parasite Clear fizz tablets, and API General Cure. Any of these will do the job. If you can increase the temp to 82* that would help.

A good salt and clean water treatment should help fix the fin rot. Use 1tsp/gal Aquarium Salt for no more than 10 days. If there is no improvement after 5 days, you can up the dose to 2tsp/gal but don't continue any salt treatments for more than 10 days. Perform daily 100% water changes. Once you see regrowth (white/clear tips) you can stop the salt treatment but continue changing his water 100% per day. Salt is a much better treatment than Melafix. 

The only complication is that Aq.Salt is not all that great for fighting internal parasites. You can treat for the internal parasites and the fin rot at the same time, however, I'd give him a few days on the anti-parasite treatment before worrying about fin rot.


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## fightergirl2710 (Jun 9, 2011)

He's such a pretty boy, i love his curious eyes and the green in his fins! Good luck with his treatment! I'm sure his tail will grow out beautifully!


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## frogipoi (Jul 3, 2010)

It looks like Constipation, tuberculosis, or internal worms. I bet it is worms because of the poo. If he had tuberculosis then there is no cure , but I think it is worms.


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## DarkMoon17 (Apr 16, 2011)

How does it look like TB? TB usually has lesions, sores, bent spines... The fish would be in much more serious condition. This boy appears to just have fin rot and internal parasites... He needs a lot of TLC but I don't think we need to worry about TB.


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