Quarantine

The best way to insure the health of your fish is by the prevention of disease.  It is wise to quarantine your new bettas for four days using separate nets and bowls specifically set aside for hospitalization.  During this time you can observe the new bettas behavior and look for signs of disease.  Often times prophylactic treatments such as the use of "BETTAMAX" (specifically designed for bettas) during the quarantine period will help to ward-off potential infections.  Other fish, plants and snails introduced into your bettas environment can also be a source of infection so it is a good idea to quarantine these also.  "BETTAMAX" can be used with most fish and plants (with the possible exception to "cleaner fish"), but it should be avoided in the case of snails.  Prior to and after hospitalization or quarantine of your bettas the bowls and nets used with these fish should be disinfected with a 1:20 dilution of bleach and be allowed to air-dry completely before use.  Below are some common ailments that affect bettas.
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Common diseases of bettas

Bacteria

     Dropsy                     Ascites/swollen abdomen
     Mouth fungus         (cotton wool disease) Cytophaga sp.
                                                                            Flexibacter sp.
     Pop-eye                  Exophthalmos, often occurs with dropsy
     Slime disease          Excess skin mucus produced by irritation
                                     via irritant.

Fungi

    Tail & fin rot          Saprolegnia sp.

Parasites

    White spot               (Ich) caused by Ichthyophthirus multifiliis.

    Velvet disease          (rust, gold dust disease) cause by
                                        Oodinium sp.

Viral infections

     Swim bladder
     disease                    Fish show difficulty maintaining its
                                    position in the water often due to
                                    stress.  Also caused by a viral disease
                                    Swim bladder infection (S.B.I),

Nutritional problems

     Cataracts                  Amino acid, metal or vitamin deficiency
                                      Excessive dietary calcium, choline
                                      toxicity.

     Vertebral
     deformity                Phosphorous, amino acid, or vitamin
                                      deficiency.  Heavy metal toxicity.

     Fatty degeneration
     of the liver               Fatty acid or choline deficiency,
                                      excessive dietary fat or oxidized fat
                                      toxicity.

     Fin erosion
     and susceptibility to
     Myxobacterial
     disease                     Fatty acid, amino acid or vitamin
                                     deficiency.

    Skin/fin
    hemorrhages            Vitamin deficiency.

Water quality
problems