AllExperts > Experts 
Search      

Fish

Volunteer
Answers to thousands of questions
 Home · More Questions · Answer Library  · Encyclopedia ·
More Fish Answers
Question Library

Ask a question about Fish
Volunteer
Experts of the Month
Expert Login

Awards

About Us
Tell friends
Link to Us
Disclaimer

 
 
 
 
About Chris Robbins
Expertise
I have 25+ years of personal experience as a pet store employee and manager in the family pet store business. The main part of our business was Freshwater Fish. I can answer questions on; Fish care, diseases, parasites and fish identification, feeding your fish, breeding and sexing your fish, setting up your aquarium, cleaning your aquarium, and "what`s this weird stuff in my tank/on my fish" questions. I am not an African Cichlid expert, Plant expert or Brackish Expert. No Pond or Saltwater Questions Please.

Experience
I worked in and managed my family's fish and pet and fish store for 26 years and maintained the 35 aquariums. My experience also has included occasional in-home consultation and aquarium maintenance for my clients.
 
   

You are here:  Experts > Animals/Pets > Pet Fish > Fish > My betta's sickness

Topic: Fish



Expert: Chris Robbins
Date: 2/27/2008
Subject: My betta's sickness

Question
We've had Fishy for about 3 months. The tank is no bigger than the size of a miniature dictionary. He is a betta. We made a mistake of not changing the water very much when we got him, so now he is very ill. We have started changing the water everyday and treating him with Maracyn. He has popeye, and his color is fading. It seemed that he was getting better, and now he is worse than ever. He stays at the bottom of his tank and can barely make it up to the top. He now seems to have what appears to be something white hanging from his eye (the one with popeye). He is very sick and has not eaten within the past day. Please help, he is young and we are willing to do anything we can to help him get better!

Answer
Hi Hossy;

Poor guy. Just keep up with the daily water changes and use "Maracyn Two". If what you have now is plain Maracyn it may not work as well. Maracyn Two gets inside the fish and the other treats only the outside of the fish. You can also use aquarium salt. It helps the fish with stress and helps inhibit infection.

The affected eye may have ruptured and that's what the white thing is. He will probably be permanently blind in that eye but fish can do very well with loss of part or even all of their vision. They can 'smell' their food to find it and detect where things are in the tank and since he is alone he won't have to compete for food with other fish.

It's okay that he isn't eating right now. Fish can go for two weeks or more without any food at all. His body needs to concentrate on healing instead of digesting right now. Keep him in as warm a place as possible to help his immunity and metabolism.

If he is having trouble swimming up he may have a swim bladder problem too. Here is a link to an article about it;

http://www.petfish.net/kb/entry/31/338/

I hope he feels better soon...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

Add to this Answer    Ask a Question



  Rate this Answer
   Was this answer helpful?
Not at allDefinitely              
   12345  

     
About Us | Advertise on This Site | User Agreement | Privacy Policy | Help
Copyright  © 2008 About, Inc. About and About.com are registered trademarks of About, Inc. The About logo is a trademark of About, Inc. All rights reserved.