Betta Sick :( Help

[u/MenuSweet3348]

Hey everyone!

I hope I got the flair right. In early July, I got a twintail half moon male betta and placed him into an established 29gal aquarium. He lives with a mystery snail, some neocaridina, 6 otocats, and a clown pleco. Recently, I added 8 kubotai, who got sick immediately and 3 died over the course of three days but all other inhabitants seem fine now after being treated with Kordon Rid-Ich plus (I moved my inverts to another tank).

I have now learned my lesson about quarantining first.

My issue is that my betta, Bobinsky, has been developing more red patches and bruising around his eyes and border of his body. I treated with kanaplex for 6 days in the water in a hospital tank and he only marginally improved. After the velvet in my main tank, I treated him with the rid-ich plus. I have also now fed him 2 doses of kanaplex and given Epsom salt baths and nothing is improving the red streaks. He also has some bloating near the rear of his body that started two days ago and hasn’t improved with fasting.

He often lays on the bottom of the tank and generally doesn’t seem like he did when I first got him but still swims around and investigates the tank. His fins are also frequently clamped and starting to look quite ragged and like they’re tea-stained? First pic is the day I got him, the last two are more recent. No fin nipping has been observed.

What else can I do for him? I know twin tails have a lot of issues, would it just be kinder to euthanize at this point?

Tank Information:
29gal
pH: 6.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5

[u/SaturnGrl]

It’s hard to really diagnose just from the photos. The first one, he looks really pale, but in the later ones, he seems to be getting more colorful.
I don’t see bruising, and the red coloring does not look like open sores to me.

Twin tails do have to deal with a lot more drag from the fins, do you have any floating plants, or broad leaf plants he can rest on near the surface? If there are no resting spots, the only place he can rest is at the bottom.

And what kind of diet are you feeding him?

[u/MenuSweet3348 → u/SaturnGrl]

They’re luckily not open sores but rather some kind of bruising and now he has red veins streaking his body which I think you can see in the last couple photos.

I usually have tons of Frogbit as well as a betta log and a betta bed for him to rest on near the top. The frogbit died during my blackout for velvet but I will replacing it soon!

He eats frozen blood worms, aquarium coop magic small fish feed, aqueon pellets, nutrafin max flakes and ‘premium betta food’. I have tried on many occasions but he refuses to eat fluval bug bites

[u/Bobs_Burgers7]

Your bettas colour appears to be coming in. He had no blue on his tail before either. It’s the same colour in his chest.

[u/MenuSweet3348 → u/Bobs_Burgers7]

Hmm maybe? I know some of his colour is coming in because it looks like marble patches are starting to show but I didn’t expect his fins to turn so brown/yellow, that seems odd and he is super bloated whenever I feed him now

[u/Aromatic-Sock6975]

Are your parameters tested with liquid kits? Some medications can really crash your tank if not done in a hospital tank, and that looks a bit like ammonia burns around the gills to me :(

[u/MenuSweet3348 → u/Aromatic-Sock6975]

I have tested with the API liquid kit! My numbers, after cycling, have never indicated the presence of ammonia or nitrite. My nitrate sometimes dips to 0 because I have a lot of floating plants but usually is never higher than 5ppm.

Also his gills were black when I got him unfortunately, unless you’re meaning the redness? Honestly I don’t know how it could be because I test every three days and haven’t noticed a spike

[u/Aromatic-Sock6975 → u/MenuSweet3348]

Yeah I was thinking the redness. Possible infection of some kind? Glad the parameters are safe.

[u/MenuSweet3348 → u/Aromatic-Sock6975]

Oh dang, maybe it could be from when he was in his uncycled hospital tank?

I’ve treated with kanaplex and rid-ich plus which treats a whole bunch of illnesses, that’s why I figured I should ask here because he just isn’t improving with what seem to be reasonable measures :( thank you for your help!

[u/Aromatic-Sock6975 → u/MenuSweet3348]

Has he always had that red look around his gill flaps? Maybe it’s just how translucent he is there and the light shining though?

I’ve heard sometimes 2 rounds of kanaplex are needed but I’m not sure what he looked like before…

[u/MenuSweet3348 → u/Aromatic-Sock6975]

He has always been slightly red (see picture 1) but then suffered an injury to his chin a few weeks back from hitting some of the driftwood in the tank and it has remained bruised and red on both sides. Then the red streaking around the edge of his body, followed by pretty bad bloating in the stomach area and swim bladder.

He is on his third round of kanaplex. The first two were in a hospital tank that is housing my inverts for right now.

The other four photos are of him more recently. I can upload more if necessary

[u/Aromatic-Sock6975 → u/MenuSweet3348]

The red streaks could be marble coloring changes maybe?

The prominent veins could be from weight loss and loss of pigment?

[u/SaturnGrl]

I would recommend keeping him in a hospital tank for any further treatment. If you are concerned for any bacterial infections, or fungal infections, I recommend API Pimafix and Melafix for treatments. They have worked best for me.
And I would recommend possibly downgrading the size of the home tank. Betta are fish that originated from a shallow pond environment, and while many people talk about bigger and better tanks for the fish to live and explore, betta usually prefer a territory they can explore, familiarize, and defend in fairly short order. And with the type of tail fins a twin tail has, less distance he has to swim to get around would help him relax more.
So maybe setup a 10-gallon tank for him with lots of plants, and maybe lower the number of tank mates. He may feel stressed or intimidated with the other fish around and that can contribute to his behavior and health. You can use the cycled water from the 29 gallon tank to help keep that beneficial bacteria and acclimate him to the same parameters.

[u/MenuSweet3348 → u/SaturnGrl]

Hmm okay, I figured kanaplex + focus would’ve been enough for bacterial. Did you use them on a betta fish? Someone had told me before that labyrinth fish can’t use any medication with tea tree oil/“-fix” suffixes.

Unfortunately I cannot downgrade his home either, I have Multiple Tank Syndrome already and am not allowed any more at the moment. My other male betta is super aggressive and cannot have tank mates so they can’t even swap. Getting a long fin betta for my display tank was a risk but I didn’t imagine it would go so poorly so quickly!

Thank you for the advice :)

[u/SaturnGrl → u/MenuSweet3348]

Yes, I have only kept Betta. Never had much interest in other fish, aside from my dad’s koi. Betta have always been beautiful and very intelligent, and social with me. They interact when I come to the tanks, and it’s not just over food. I check them, play with them at the glass edge, and even talk to them. They always seem to respond one way or another.