SOS Betta Popeye

S

sparklepuff

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Feb 6, 2021
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Hello...

I joined this forum because I purchased my first betta fish, Razzle, from Petco about 2 weeks ago. I'm in the process of ordering a 5 gallon tank for him (I currently only have one 2.5 gallon, which I did not realize was too small at the time I bought it).

Starting last week he has been lethargic, and spending a lot of time at the bottom/in his hideout almost on his side. He seemed too weak to stay on his leaf hammock very long. It had been a week since I got him when this started, so I followed the guidelines I was given by the pet store to do a partial water change using a siphon and preconditioned (fresh)water. I cleaned his filter cartridge and added some other conditioner just in case there was a nitrite/etc. issue.

Afterwards Razzle was still was not looking well, so I tried an anti bacterial and anti fungal solution (as instructed on the bottles, spaced out over a few days/not at once). However, he kept deteriorating. I tried another, smaller water change yesterday to perhaps remove some of the chemicals in case they were making it harder for him to breath, and fed him his favorite food sparingly. Last night, his eye began to swell. It looks like unilateral popeye, which I understand is sometimes caused by injury versus infection, but because of his other symptoms it seems like he could have something systemic. Just in case, I removed most of the plants from the tank (and plan on buying softer/real ones moving forward, as well as smoother rocks).

I went ahead and placed an order for some API Freshwater Aquarium Salt, which should arrive in a few days. But I worry he wont make it. He's moved off of the bottom and has been spending some time in his plant today, which is good, and I don't see his gills moving as fast as they were before...but wonder if this could be a bad sign. His eye also seems worse.

I am a beginner and don't want poor Razzle to suffer because of my poor care. Please let me know if you have any suggestions for how to help him heal/reduce stress. Attached to this post are photos of him and the products I currently have.

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Welcome and sorry about your issues.

It's difficult to say what the problem is and I'd really skip all the meds and ads aside from a quality dechlorinator that will temporarily detoxify ammonia or nitrite until you get a better handle on what is happening. A water parameter test kit that measures in PPM for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate is a must if you're keeping fish. These poor guys can be very ill by the time you buy them given they live in cups w/ no nitrogen cycle. The partial water changes you are doing are important and I wouldn't do anything to the filter you have running on this tank aside from rinse/squeeze out the sponge in dechlorinated water.
 
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FreshyFresh said:
These poor guys can be very ill by the time you buy them
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Especially given the fact that bettas or (any) farmed fish are so overbred they either have their own health issues (for example the neon tetra disease) or are prone to different diseases and the grim conditions they happen to live before bought.
 
Sprinkle said:
Never use bettafix or pimafix, these are well known oils that will harm bettas labirynth organ.

OK. I immediately can see the ‚tank’ is not cycled. Do you even have a filter in there? What about heater? How long was the ‚tank’ running?
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Thank you for the information. I threw out the Betta Fix/Pima Fix and am waiting on the ParaGuard I order a few days ago. He is hanging in there, thankfully. Was also considering picking up some erithromycin from PetSmart since they apparently sell it/there are no local pet stores near me? But I don't know if the cause of his condition is bacterial or not/don't want to give him anything else he does not actually need.

I use a a heater and filter but the ones that came with the tank are pretty poor quality. With my new, larger tank I am replacing everything. I unplug everything temporarily during water/filter cartridge changes, but otherwise they run 24/7. I let the tank run for over 24 hours before putting my fish in the first time, but am worried about taking him out during future water changes/to haver better access to the gravel/etc. for cleaning?
 
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Sprinkle said:
Especially given the fact that bettas or (any) farmed fish are so overbred they either have their own health issues (for example the neon tetra disease) or are prone to different diseases and the grim conditions they happen to live before bought.
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I learned about overbreeding the hard way with budgies I previously owned from Petco as well. But I hope I might be able to help him, if not to make him more comfortable if it is something fatal. :( I will say that bettas do seem more resilient than goldfish/etc. species I had as a child.
 
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FreshyFresh said:
Welcome and sorry about your issues.

It's difficult to say what the problem is and I'd really skip all the meds and ads aside from a quality dechlorinator that will temporarily detoxify ammonia or nitrite until you get a better handle on what is happening. A water parameter test kit that measures in PPM for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate is a must if you're keeping fish. These poor guys can be very ill by the time you buy them given they live in cups w/ no nitrogen cycle. The partial water changes you are doing are important and I wouldn't do anything to the filter you have running on this tank aside from rinse/squeeze out the sponge in dechlorinated water.
Click to expand...

Thank you. It's so distressing to see him (or any animal) suffering like this.
I actually got a kit delivered yesterday and the only issue seems to be hardness of the water (not sure how to address this, unfortunately I think the water conditioner I've used has minerals in it...so maybe just use the purified water from the pet store/not additional conditioner). The test found no ammonia, and nitrite/nitrate are in the range they said is "ideal". Duly noted about the filter. He does seem to have some energy again so I think the water changes have been helping, but he isn't eating much and his eye is only getting worse. Not sure if trying an antibiotic (erithryomycin) would help while I wait for the ParaGuard?
 
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ParaGuard is for parasites, but i dont know the product itself..popeye is more of a bacterial issue from injury or water problems. Erithryomycin is found in API General Cure (i think) so it should do trick with bacterial issues. So before you get anything, do large water changes like 50+%. Get your own test kit (API Master Test or JBL one is good and is the one i use and is very good) rather then relying upon stores that have bad reputation.
Is there a filter, a heater in the tank?
 
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