Wednesday 4 February 2009

Sick Betta Fish


The major problem people face when they have a sick fish is that they are not ready. Many a times when a Betta fish gets ill, people waste lots of time. For the reason of:

• They don't catch it near the beginning,
• They don't know how to analysis the sick fish and finally,
• They don't have the appropriate medicines readily available.

Well, if you believe you can quickly run to your neighborhood pet store and acquire the medicine your Betta will require, just think twice! Most effective Betta medicines cannot be found at your neighborhood pet stores and number of people live in areas where even your fish store will not have them.

Following are a few medicines for your Betta fish:

BettaZing
This is an immense replacement to Bettamax - anti scrounging, anti protozoan & anti fungal. This is good for all around defensive. Very useful in cases like velvet & clamped fins. Use anytime you put in new fish or become accustomed.

Tetracycline
This is an antibiotic. It is excellent for bacterial infections.

Kanamycin
This is an antibiotic. It is very effective in case of serious bacterial infections.

Ampicillin
This is an antibiotic. It is very effective in case of pop-eye and gram positive serious infections.

Maracin 1 & Maracin 2
This is anti fungal and antibiotic. This is for easygoing infections like minor fin rots, although not very useful for severe stuff. These are solid tablets and can be harder to manage in bowl functions.

Jungle Fungus Eliminator
This is anti fungal. It is very effective in case of fungus infections.

Difference in appearance between a healthy and a sick Betta is :
Healthy Betta Fish
1/ Eating habits are similar to that of a little pig.

2/ Swims here and there. It is energetic.

3/ Acts usually

4/ Is bright and lively.

5/ Fins and tail are wide and appears like fans.

6/ Body appears glossy and spotless

Sick Betta Fish
1/ Does not eat in any way or eats unwillingly and may throw out his food.

2/ Is not energetic. May remain at the surface of water in a corner or lie down and come to the surface of water after sometime only for air.

3/ May flit and intentionally runs into everything he/she can (gravel, rocks, etc) in an attempt to scratch itself.

4/ Appears a little paler, color is unexciting, may become gray.

5/ Tail and at times fins are bunched, closed, rigid looking or falling separately.

6/ Body may have: raw sores, white cottony scraps, red spots, swellings or white spots.

Betta Fish recommended resource: here.

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