Why is our Betta fish falling apart?

Question

He's in a 1.5 gallon bowl with a plastic plant that he has had for 3 years. In the past six months, he's developed big wounds on his back and sides. The wounds look grey/white and are raised and look almost shredded. I'm squeamish, so it's hard to look close.

Our fish store guy said to give him a pinch of aquarium salt to help his skin heal. We have done this have done this at every water change, but he's not healing.

He also has what look like seizures; he'll twitch like crazy then fall to the bottom of the bowl and lie still, gills not moving, fins limp. We almost poured him in the toilet the first time because we thought he had died. After a few minutes, he righted himself and began to swim again. His swimming is kind of weak, and he spends most of his time sitting on the rocks or kind of hanging at the surface. His fins and tail are ok.

He eats 6-8 pellets a day. We change his water weekly and have tried Stress Coat and Betta Remedy. He looks just awful, and we fear that he is suffering. Please help.

Answer 1

finrot or ick.id buy a an aquarium book.could be many causes but the book will tell you what medicine u need to buy.

Answer 2

It sounds like he has some kind of disease! You need to take him to the store where you got him and ask what they recommend. If you got him from wal-mart forget it and go to people that actually care like Petco! That's where our family has gotten all of our fish at Petco! There really helpful and caring! Petco is meant to buy pets at not wal-mart or farm and home! Petco rocks go there and ask them!  

Answer 3

Looks like your betta may have several things wrong with it. I've had betta's. They're one of my favorite fish to keep and betta's are more difficult to take care of then you think. Your betta has lived for for three years of which is a long time. Their life spand is 3 to 5 years. And you don't know how old he was when you purchased him. Usually betta's pass on at around three years old. I believe though that your betta can be healed. May take a bit but a think it can be done. Aquarium salt is a wonderful thing to have. It enhances the medication that is put in the tank for faster healing time. I would feed your betta every other day in the future. He could be overfed. I would for right now not feed him at all for a few days. Fish can live without food for up to 10 day's. You have to see if maybe he'll do better without food. He could have swim bladder disease because he's floating at the top and then going down to the bottom. He has no bouncy. No control with his movements. He could also have depression. Sounds weird but yes a betta fish can suffer from depression. He will lay at the of the tank, not eat or very little, etc. OR it could be a Nasty Fungal infection. Either way there's a medication that can help the diseases or disease that you betta my have all at once. It's called All-In-One Medication and it works beautifully on all illnesses at the same time. I have four fish tanks of varies sizes and it has worked great when I needed it along with aquarium salt. You can also add Betta Brackish Water. This is the closets you'll get to his real environment from the Amazon his natural home out of captivity. This may also help. Good luck with your betta and I hope that he gets better soon and back to his old self. I hope I've been of some help to you.        

Answer 4

It's probably slowly dying.  A betta in a small container that has lasted 3 yrs is a miracle to start with.  Their lifespan is about 7 years but having kept it in less than ideal conditions for this long has shortened it's lifespan.  

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Answer 5

It sounds like he has Ick. Go to the pet store and get some Ick treatment.

Answer 6

I think he is just getting old they only only live 3-5 years and are usually a year old when you first buy them so my guess is he is just dieing of old age

Answer 7

he could have swimbladder problem hanging near the surface or unable to swim off the bottom swimbladder treatment made by inter-pet