Emergeny Betta Fish Help!?

Question

I just looked at my betta and something is very wrong! His eyes are completely bulging out and look a little cloudy...He is swimming around fine, but this can't be right! I have had him for about 6 months or so...Can anyone tell me what has happened?? He was fine last night...

I did a partial water change last night (dechlorinated, of course) and am doing a full water change right this minute...

A very big thank you to Liz for the great fish link, and to David C for the excellent explanation and suggestions...I really appreciate you both for helping out a (panicky!) new fish owner...

I'll be going to the pet store tomorrow for some medicine for poor Fishie...

Answer 1

No doubt your fish has pop eye. The thing is though pop eye is not an eye infection. It is the first symptom of an infection if the fishes liver. Left untreated the fish will first lose it's eyes (literally) and then die of the infection spreading to other organs.

Many people consider pop eye difficult to treat but it is not with the proper medication. You must treat with an antibiotic that can be absorbed by the fish through it's gills and there are actually very few that fall into that class. Furanace is one of those and probably the most readily available. I would strongly suggest you treat with that if at all possible. Medicated antibacterial food is also an excellent idea as those medications will be absorbed as well.

Without a well absorbed antibiotic the mortality rate for this disease is about 80% even when treated with other medications. With a well absorbed medication it drops to about 5% so you can see absorption is the key to the cure.

Best of luck with your fish

MM

Answer 2

Most likely your fish has a bacterial infection, which can be caused by stress and/or bad water quality.

You can treat it with an antibiotic in a form meant for fish ... such as tetracycline, penicillin or ampicillin drops, or food treated with an antibiotic. You should be able to get one of these at your local fish store.

Once you've treated your fish, be sure to regularly change his water (about 50% of his water every week), and make sure to dechlorinate the water before adding it to his bowl. Your local fish store can also sell you dechlorinator.

Ignore the person who told you to hold a mirror up to the fish. Besides the fact that this isn't a way to treat an illness, it also stresses the fish and makes him more prone to future infections. It's a popular thing to do with betta fish, but that doesn't make it right. Most betta fish live very short lives because they're not treated well. Besides not using mirrors, they really should be in a larger tank than the usual tiny fish bowl that stores sell them in. I would recommend a tank of at least three gallons for one betta fish.

Answer 3

Your fish has pop-eye.
This is usually the result of a bacterial infection. Try to give your fish the best water possible by performing frequent water changes. To treat this problem you can use a treatment such as Tetracycline from Mardel Labs. If possible, increase the quality of food given. Supplement with vitamin enriched foods. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

you dont ought to purchase yet another tank basically bypass to walmart or petsmart and purchase a gold fish bowl and she may experience free that way she will devour and don't be disturbed about gettin attacked! If a woman that wasn’t ripe, or waiting for spawning, may have entered a men tank, it’s plausible that she may’ve been attacked, as non-ripe women at the prompt are not tolerated in the position of the nest. by ability of no longer fleeing, a woman shows her readiness to spawn. sure, some circumstances in case you at the prompt are not careful at the same time as attempting too breed bettas, the male will attack the female and he can injure the female, the girls are a lot smaller than the lads. A Male and a woman: in the wild, women stay clean of guys, except in the course of mating. at the same time as cohabiting in tanks, men may kill women, and are oftentimes kept aside until eventually (a) they're juvenile siblings, (b) they're breeding, (c) there's a partition, or (d) the tank is sufficiently vast for the female to flee attack. oftentimes, earlier breeding, breeders use any such field to allow lady exhibit without risking damage by ability of the male. 2 or more beneficial women: Bettas at the prompt are not preparation fish, yet in a huge tank with many hiding areas, lady bettas can cohabit. at the same time as 2 women share a tank, one oftentimes bullies the different, in spite of the undeniable fact that, 4 or more beneficial women will set up a hierarchy allowing non violent co-existence, nonetheless, women living in community should be monitored for aggressive women.

Answer 5

Sounds like cloudy eye, or pop eye. Most likely a water quality issue. Here is a helpful website..

www.fishpalace.org/disease.html

Answer 6

its some kind of infection, you need antibiotics and fast, try to get metronidazole from the pet store they sell it in a blue tube, follow the directions and hope for the best

Answer 7

Fish are a dime a dozen. Buy a new one.

Answer 8

ITS POP EYE....MY BETTA EYE BULGED OUT TOO. AND ITS A DISEASE I THINK... MINES ENDING UP LOSING ITS EYE AND DIEING

Answer 9

do a partial water change with decholorinated water

Answer 10

hold mirror up to him, and see if he gets angry, if he does, then everything is A-okay, maybe change the water out, hope everything goes well