Oh, I'm sorry to hear that your betta is sick, wish I could give you some advice but I don't know much about bettas, only that they are beautiful fish. I'd love to get one for my 29 gallon but people are saying they don't do well in larger tanks. Anyway, I just wanted to give you some emotional support and send some strong healing vibes your fish's way.

Well it sounds like you may have got a sick betta to begin with. But I can't tell for sure. Did you cycle your water at all.....or just come home with the fish and dump him in tap water. Again I don't know.

The best way to keep a healthy betta is to set up a 5 or 10 gallon aquarium...with a filter set to the lowest setting...and a heater to maintain a constant temp....this aquarium should be cycled before you add your betta. Cycling the aquarium can tank a month or two.....before you add your fish.

Also bettas usually have long flowing fins so you have to be careful which plastic plants you use. Sharp plastic plants will tear betta fins.

If you do a search on this forum ....you will see many threads on bettas.....with differing opinions on how they should be kept.

Good luck to you and your betta!

LindaMA......as long as you don't have other aggressive fish in your 29 gallon tank......you should be able to house one male betta. You would need one quiet corner with perhaps some floating plants...where he could just hang around and be out of the flow of the filter. I have housed them in a 33 gallon community as well as a 66 gallon community. Its really important that they have that quiet area in the tank with no flow.

Ditto to what Sierra advised. Minimally - use a water conditioner that rids the water of Chlorine,Chloramine and Ammonia if you have municipal supplied water. Change the water frequently (If kept in a bowl) with water that has been left in a clean container (Brand new bucket never used for any thing is good) for 48 hours. This lets it aerate so any trapped CO2 escapes and will bring pH close to what the bowl has. Remove uneaten food and fish poop ASAP daily, better yet twice a day or more. Fish poop and left over food rot and turn to ammonia which is toxic to fish. Get an aquatic plant called "Java Moss" and float it in the bowl. This is a good plant because it requires minimum light. Live plants reduce alot if not all ammonia and nitrites in the water that is toxic. The reason a larger tank with filtration is superior to a bowl is it will naturally start bacteria colonies that turn ammonia and nitrites into harmless levels of nitrate that are not toxic to fish at controled levels.The nitrate level is reduced with weekly partial water changes(PWC's) Also a larger aquarium allows you to place a reliable heater in it. The small ones that are used for bowls are very unreliable(This is from posts I read not personal experience) Betta are tropical fish and should be kept at temps 74-82F. When the water is colder they become lethargic and wont eat much. Water quality is more often than not the main cause of fish illness or death.A 10 gallon is a good size in the way that it is easier to maintain (more room to clean), the supplies (filters,heaters,lighting etc.) are actually less expensive than smaller tanks, medication (if necessary) usually comes in doses per 10 gal, so it is a no brainer to measure.

I bought a bigger tank today (1.66gal). i live in a dorm room, so this is pretty much the largest tank i have room for. it has a built in filtration system. the manual said a "biological" filtration system, so there are no actual filters. i also bought a live plant, aquarium salt, and some gravel for the bottom.

i didn't know about the dangers of the plastic plant, but it makes perfect sense. i'm surprised the pet store guy didn't warn us :-/.

now that i have an aquarium w/ a pump and a "biological" filtration system, should i still perform PWC's?

Thanks for all the help and advice!

In that situation, I would use a medicine for fin rot. Just be sure to carefully measure it out as too much can kill the fish.

I use Mela fix which is antibacterial. Use 6 days and a partial water change the 6th day. I like that one b/c it helps to replace the slime coating. Whenever I medicate I use Stresscoat b/c it's supossed to increase the affectiveness of the meds and again, it helps to replace the slice coat. And it has aloe vera which is soothing.

Is the "filter" a clear tube conected to a louvered plate that has an airstone in it? If so they are not the best but are better than nothing. If it came with lighting be careful of overheating, just place an inexpensive aquarium thermometer in the tank. The live plant will help greatly for keeping the water quality somewhat less toxic. If the plant starts to look unhealthy remove it and remove any leaves that are spent. When plants rot they also emit ammonia. A low light hardy plant (Java Fern or java moss, some anubia's))is best suited for a small tank unless it is set up for plants(proper lighting and substrate). Remove about a 1/2 gallon of water once a week and replace it with water treated with a dechlorinator. You can use the aloe based stress coat and melafix/pimafix if you want. I have used them before but they didn't seem to help any more or less than just improving the water conditions and adding a little salt for healing. There is also no scientific evidence that aloe will help a fish preserve its slimecoat, but it will not hurt them.

Thanks for the tips, unfortunately my betta died, but I'm planning on getting a new one sometime and hopefully I will be able to keep it healthy now that I know more about what I'm doing.

ILuvGinger:

Melafix is not antibacterial. It is simply a tincture of tea tree oil, and only encourages fin growth at an accelerated rate.

To cure fin rot generally a full-spectrum antibiotic is recommended, starting at Jungle Fungus Clear/Eliminator on the low end to Tetracycline on the higher end. Between those two we have Triple Sulfa and a MaracynI/II combo.

I don't know where people keep getting this horrible information about Melafix/Bettafix being this great cure-all. It seriously makes me ill to hear it being touted as such. I've heard stories of people being told that Melafix will cure that fish's swim bladder disorder, fin rot, columnaris, fungus, everything. I hope those pet store employees realize that all they are contributing to is a swifter death for the sick fish.

Well, I've bred bettas on and off for twenty years, and Melafix has worked far better for me than anything else I ever used, AS LONG AS:
-the fin rot is noticed quickly and treated straight away
-the fin rot isn't due to filthy water conditions
-fin rot isn't a secondary opportunistic infection due to some underlying undiagnosed disease

That's a lot of ifs, especially for a beginner, I'll admit. I'd recommend letting the tank run empty for a couple of weeks before adding a betta. If your betta had parasites, two weeks in a tank with no host organism ought to kill off any remaining parasites, while keeping any nitrifying bacteria alive so they can mu7ltiply when you add the next betta. Just be aware that bettas are generally raised outdoors in southeast Asia, and are larva-eating carnivores, which puts them in the likelihood of harboring intestinal parasites, which the betta can usually keep under control unless conditions are very stressful.

Not saying it is a great "cure all" but I had a goldfish with a fungus infection and used Pimafix, which I understand is a newer product made from pimenta racemosa oil. Isn't Melafix more for parasites, Pimafix for fungus and bacterial infections?

Anyways, I quarantined the fish, added salt to the water, pimafix as per directions, and fed him antibiotic fish food (made by Jungle).

Anyways, he had fungus all over his fins and body, was lying on the pond bottom, so I was doubtful he'd make it, but thankfully he did.

I got my beautiful red beta a year and a half ago. I went on vacation for three weeks and left him with family. A few weeks after I came back his fins were all shredded up with holes in them. I assume because the water was not changed frequently. I am assuming he has fish rot. I am now startin gto change his water frequently, but do not really monitor the temp. Is that a cause? I have been using Aquasafe which makes tap water safefor fish its made by tetra Aqua..is that good? If fin rot is due to filthy water should I still get medicine or not? The holes have been there badly for about a week now. Is it too late?