Betta Meltdown overnight. Advice please.

[Redpixy]

I've had my sorority up and running since March...very successful from all the stories I've heard about beginners and their sororities, but...

Last night I noticed one of my females missing. I found her behind the filter-not stuck just lying vertically against it. When I nudged her away from it she freaked! She started dashing around the side of the tank and propelling herself out of the water-back and forth. Then when she settled down she kind of sank, tilted to the side then shot back up to the surface and just stayed there. Breathing slowly.

She had filmy/cloudy eyes, a blue tint to the front of her body. Her overall appearance just seemed washed out. So very different from the colors I'm used to. So I put her in a cup and floated her inside the tank and changed about 1/3 of the water (including new water for her).

This morning she died along with 2 others that had the same 'wash out' look. I took the remaining 2 out of the tank and in a cup and they probably won't make it. Same symptoms (I noticed white-ish poo also. Not really stringy-just normal poo that's white).

I don't have a master kit (sorry, I know I should and I probably could've saved them if I had), the ph was a little high (7.4) but the other fish aren't showing signs like the bettas did. I have 2 otos in the tank also and they're still vibrant and active. I have a tetra in there (long story) and he's fine also.

-20 g tank
-Artificial plants
-1 real plant (Some kind of Echinodorus?)
-Whisper filter (changed the biobag a couple of weeks ago)
-20% WC about every week in a half to 2 weeks
-AquaSafe conditioner
-Occasionally aquarium salt
-The top of the tank is open...it's possible something got in it, but it was just so sudden.

I have one female left, Dora. I planned on breeding her and took her out and put her in another tank and that was when I noticed I was missing one betta. I looked at Dora this morning and she's fine. Swimming activly, bright colors, attentive. Ugg. It's really depressing. I loved my bettas with all their bright colors dashing around and playing. Now what am I going to watch? The otos? Uh...

 

[homebunnyj]

Well, without knowing your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate readings it's kind of impossible to tell what happened. Otherwise I really don't know.

 

[ValRasbora]

That doesn't sound good! I know one thing: YOU SHOULD GO TO A FISH-DEALER AND ASK FOR HH
HHEEELLLLPPPP!

 

[RexyTexel]

Hmm..at first it sounded like Velvet but that's not usually blue. Here's a link to the disease since you said you wanted to breed your female.

It's possible the stress of being in a tank with so many females may have gotten to them. Are ther plenty of places for them to hide? Females can get aggressive with eachother too. Especially when establishing their pecking order.

 

[homebunnyj]

That doesn't sound good! I know one thing: YOU SHOULD GO TO A FISH-DEALER AND ASK FOR HH
HHEEELLLLPPPP!

Would you please quit yelling. And while you're at it, why not take a break from posting unhelpful comments all over that add nothing to the thread. We don't think it's cute here.

If you want to participate and don't have anything helpful to say, at least be polite in how you say it... you know, like your parent(s) taught you. Thank you very much.

 

[homebunnyj]

First of all, don't bother asking the 'fish dealer', they're often no help at all except for emptying your pockets.

Are you using something to monkey around with your pH? because there's nothing wrong with 7.4, it couldn't harm a fish unless you have the pH swinging around all over the place with pHup and pHdown. That can make fish sick.

The white poo sounds kinda like an internal bacterial infection.

If you ever suspect velvet, shine a flashlight on your fish, and it will look like gold dust or bronze powder on your fish. It's an external parasite.

Fish often look washed out when they're stressed. Illness would be a cause of stress.

 

[EvilPunkLlama]

The only 3 things I know of that can kill a betta that fast are advanced internal bacterial infections, Colmunaris and TB. Since they weren't covered in patches of white fuzz and open sores, it definatly wasn't colmunaris. Internal bacterial infections and TB can both be tricky. They both can cause a whole bunch or symptoms or none at all. And the fish can die suddently without warning, and thats painful because we dont know exactly what happened to them! I think based on your description, the paleness, the white poo and the erratic behavior, that they suffered from sort of internal bacterial infection. That being said I would immediatly treat your remaining female with tetracycline or a mix of maracyn 1&2. I would also treat the tank the females were in and do a BIG water change before you even think of adding females to it again!