# Fin Rot and Swim Bladder



## Tierra9109 (Jun 9, 2012)

Housing 
What size is your tank? 1gallon
What temperature is your tank? 75
Does your tank have a filter? No
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? Yes
Is your tank heated? Light bulb
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Freeze dried blood worms
How often do you feed your betta fish? A few worms twice a day

Maintenance 
How often do you perform a water change? 1/week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 75-100
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Originally used Nutrafin beta plus but recently switched to Top Fin Betta water conditioner

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?
No

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity: 

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? He has a white spot on one fin and his tail is a little more than half size. The following day, he was extremely bloated and having problems swimming. Whenever he tries to go to the bottom of the tank, he just floats back to the top
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He is more erratic and jumpy
When did you start noticing the symptoms? I noticed the white spot on Tuesday night, I noticed the fin loss on Thursday night and I noticed the bloating and problems swimming Friday during the day
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Yes, I bought bettafix and am in the process of fasting him. He is a little less bloated.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No
How old is your fish (approximately)? 3months


My fish's name is Rage, he's usually pretty active and happy but he has been swimming more erratic than normal, his right fin has a white spot on it black around the edges. His other fins are smaller than usual and he is bloated and stuck at the top of the tank. He's more comfortable towards the bottom so he has been nestling himself in a plant to stay grounded. 

I just switched to this new water conditioner about two weeks ago and now all of these problems are starting. Because the bettafix says to wait 7 days for a water change, I'm keeping him in that water but I have already went out and bought neutrafin again and plan on switching him back to it. 

I'm really worried about him and any help would be appreciated. 

I have added a before and after picture the after one isn't that great because he wouldn't stay still


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

The water conditioner shouldn't have caused anything....make sure you are buying a water conditionwr that neutralizes chlorine and chloramine, better if it locks down ammonia and heavy metals. Stress coat and prime are great choices. I would reccommend you to et stresscoat for your fish this time.

can you buy some unscented epsom salt? that will help with his SBD. You may want to stop using the bettafix, as some have claimed that it does more harm than good. And it certainly does not do anything towards helping bloat or SBD.

FreeE dried bloodworms are failr poor nutrition wise, and having only a diet of blood worms would have been THE one great contributor to his SBD. So fast him, and try to get him on regular pellets. 

You should not go an entire week without water changes for a 1 gallon. ignore the bettafix, but don't ignore the recommended water changes for 1 gallon. 50% half week, 100% full week.

edit : oh and a light bulb should not be substitute to a heater. The temperature fluctuation that occurs between when the light on and off is more dwtromental to thw fish as opposed to having him at a slightly cooler but steady temperature.

I wish your fish a speedy recovery


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## Tierra9109 (Jun 9, 2012)

Well he was on the bloodworms since I got him and this problem recently started so I'm not sure it's the food. And the water conditioner that I just bought has been making the water cloudy after a day or so.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

what kind of tank is it? does it have plants? gravel? or is it bare bottom? 
think of the fd blood worms as potato chips. You wont kill yourself eating just one packet. And you will probably be alright eating just potato chips everyday for a while, but eventually it will lead to health problems when your body gets tired from the junk and lack of nutrients. 
Pellets on the other hand ate formulated to be more nutritionally balanced. 
If you really want to feed him something right now, try some frozen daphnia.
If you do believe the water conditioner to be higly at fault, definitely switch, and I do recommend stress coat or prime.


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