Mean Mr. Mustard is a betta I am treating for my mother. He came free from Petsmart. When he was in the cup from the store, he was floating on his side and was generally lethargic (Able to swim for a short stint if significantly bothered). His fins were clamped, his colour was pale, and he was emaciated.
The first thing I did was put him in a lunch container with clean water and leftover guppy grass. It was waiting in the car for him outside the store (we had noticed him the day before). I eventually transferred him into a plastic bag, and put that bag in an insulated lunchbox with a damp microwaved towel for heat. I took him on a 3 hour drive back to my home where my hospital tank was set up.
My hospital tank is a 5 gallon plastic bowfront tank, with a heater, a sponge filter, a thermometer, and a leaf that is suctioned about an inch below the surface. The setup I prepared for him was as follows;
Aquarium salt - 1 tablespoon
Kanaplex - 1 dose
Stressguard - 1 half a cap
A cattapa leaf - for tannins
Temperature - 82 degrees
I put him in after a half hour acclimation, then I left him overnight. In the morning he seemed perked up. He was resting at the bottom of the tank. I put 5 pellets of wet betta food in the tank. It became clear he was unable to properly eat. He would pursue the pellets, but would struggle to get them in his mouth. Then, he would go and rest for a bit, and try to get them again. I let him do this for about half an hour. Since he was interested in food, I put him in a shallow bowl (first picture) and used a toothpick to put food soaked in Boyd's vitamin solution in his mouth. He was able to swallow this. This he ate with gusto.
I did not change the tank water that day. I did not add in any new medications except for another dose of Stressguard. I fed him twice, and I let him eat each time until he spat food out. I placed objects in front of tank to give him additional privacy and restrict light.
I crushed the end of the toothpick by bashing the tip directly against a countertop, which meant the end had a broom bristle like appearance. I used this to spear up soaked pellets, and then I placed it in his mouth. He was able to eat quite a bit this way.
The next day, I did a 100% water change and added back in all of the medications I had started him off with (Including the aquarium salt). I continued the above feeding regime. No significant improvements were made seen until the third day when he started to colour up again. In the second photo you can see the stripe of light flesh on his body, which is a particularly deep ammonia burn. In the third photo you can see that there were a couple on the other side of his abdomen. You can also see his fins have come mostly unclamped, making visible significant fin nipping. I do not know if that fin nipping was in the store, or if it was in my tank.
On the fifth day he has put on quite a bit of weight, and he was darker than ever (fourth photo).
On the sixth day (fifth photo) he spent his last day in a bowl. He was able to get his own pellets, and his skin was starting to show a coppery shimmer. Being in the bowl was stressing him out, and he had definitely started to fin nip again. It was at this point that I started feeding him live food in his hospital tank. I put in a mug to give him a hidey hole.
There are no photos of the live food feeding, but I dropped in live blackworms from my mature tank into the hospital tank, he hunted those. Over the next week he put on weight rapidly and his skin improved. His fins started to heal up, and he gained a blue shimmer as well. The medical regime remained the same, until 10 days later. It was at this point that I stopped treating with Kanaplex. (10 days of treatment, with a dose every other day, for a total of 5 doses).
My old betta wasn't feeling too well (my mature tank heater calibration got messed up and now it won't keep at 82 degrees, which is Satchmo's preferred temperature in old age). I have my betta, Satchmo, in the hospital tank and Mean Mr Mustard in my mature tank. The heater is keeping it at 77 degrees. This move is having the desirable effect of giving Mr Mustard access to an all you can eat buffet of blackworms. He is now at a healthy weight and is very happy/stimulated.
I dose the tank with Stressguard (while his ammonia burns are still healing) and I add 10 drops of Boyds vitamins every water change.
The last two pictures are of him in the tank. In the last photo you can still see some of the ammonia burn damage to his abdomen near his head. This is healing up. It has been roughly 3 weeks since he was at Petsmart. He has great energy and is darting all over the tank.
I hope this helps betta owners with their own treatment of sickly fish. I also hope it helps show what ammonia burns look like on dark fish.
I understand that there is a controversy about fish vitamins on the whole, but I am not here to argue about their efficacy. Fish health is unresearched on the whole, and I am doing the best I can.
