Please help Wilbur

[sunlove]

I rescued Wilbur from a lady who had never cleaned his bowl, was a heavy smoker, and rarely fed him. He came looking pretty much how he does now, only his tumors(2) were much smaller. Changing his water, diet, and im sure giving him attention all made him feel much better. He started eating ALL the TIME, whenever i came by. Its true that bettas have personalities =D

So now, Wilbur's tumors never went away, they only grew bigger. I have tried many many medications that all together cost a pretty penny , but none have helped. Although his tumors were getting bigger, they didnt seem to effect him until just recently. Now Wilbur cant eat, or eats very little. I have taken the water level way down so he doesnt have to swim far to eat. Seeing it seems to hurt him now to swim. He lays on the bottom of his 2 gallon tank all day.

my slide show shows most of the medicines i have tried, although i have bought more since then.
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

thank you for any help, but please only write me if you have had a similar situation, im in the progress of sending a mass thank you letter to the dozens of ppl thinking he has ick. thanks tho.

[S13DWS]

Ouch looks pretty nasty. It may turn out to be one of those situations where you cant be of any help other than giving Wilbur those last few moments in a much happier state. Although someone might have a better solution I dont know that it would really help.

[mitcore]

i am sorry i cant help
but i can care on how you feel
hopefully you will get the help from this site
there are good people here

as for those nasty people that is wrong
we love our fish
you should ignore those people

[Lady Hobbs]

Sorry you are losing your betta but sometimes putting them down is a better thing to do than keep them suffering. Their life span really isn't long at all compared to most fish so if he is ill, it is probably just his time to leave.

[Fishalicious]

So sorry for little Wilbur.... but as someone said at least his days have been happy with you...

If he has now stopped eating then I also reckon it is time to help Wilbur on his way to fishy heaven... I don't believe that any meds can help this anymore and to keep trying with different meds are also going to stress him.

Good luck xx

[nanaglen2001]

The way you discribed Wilburs situation, it really looks like its time for you, to say "Good bye". You gave him a good life in his I guess older age, and thats much more than lots of fish have to expect (sad but true)

Those tumors sound like cancer, and as already said bettas dont get very old. So give him a clean and quick end, and keep him in your memory. Thats the best you can do for him. Everything else wozuld be endless suffering fror that poor fellow.

[cocoa_pleco]

tumors are nearly possible to treat. good job on trying maracyn medicine though, its a great brand. i use it all of the time.

keep his water clean and thats all you can do. make sure that you know the line between him may making it and suffering

[MeganL3985]

I agree with the others.

[Rue]

I think small fish, for the most part, live short lives...esp. in the wild...and often as not in our tanks...

However, the betta has the potential to live to 9 years...and I believe 4 is average (with a healthy fish and good conditions to begin with).

I don't consider that a 'short' period of time...

Regardless...it looks like the best thing for Wilber is a humane euthanasia at this point.

[squirt_12]

sorry to hear about that.....but i agree with the others on this one.