help, sick beta

[Lorazoo]

I have a crowntail beta which i have had for about 3 months. I did a water change Sunday and then Monday morning he had a couple spots of fungus on him. There was a dot on his mouth and some on his tail fins. I started him on melafix and pemafix, but today he has more on his body. He shares a planted tank with a panda cory and cherry shrimp.

Anyone have any meds that they know works and will not hurt the other inhabitants? Of course, I just put some new fish in my QT tank saturday so I have no where to move him.

I have seen some threads suggest Jungle Fungus eliminator. However, I do not have a Walmart near me-- I do have a Pet Supermarket.

Thanks.

Lora

 

[Lorazoo]

Is there no one who can help?

 

[jen0910]

I have used the Jungle stuff.
it seems like it takes a while for the fungus to go away.

 

[Lorazoo]

Well, I got Fungus Clear by Jungle. I figure its worth a shot. Its large tablet which dissolves in the water and says to dose once every 4 days. I figure Ill keep them on the melafix and pimafix too.

The cherry shrimp dont seem to like it so much, but it says its safe for all freshwater plants and animals. So, I guess I'll let you know what happens.

Hes got even more fungal growth today, so I hope this works.

 

[jen0910]

it should work, but i would keep the betta alone for medicating if that is possible, maybe you could move the shrimp into the QT with the other fish?

 

[Lorazoo]

No chance in moving the shrimp and cory cat. I think it was the fizzing of the tablet that freaked the shrimp out. They seem to be doing fine today. I even see my pregnant one is still okay and has her eggs.

It says you are supposed to just dose once every 4 days, so its a waiting game now.

 

[Lorazoo]

Well, I have given the beta 2 treatments of this Jungle stuff. It doesnt seem to be working. Tonight I am going to switch him to Furan-2 which is similar meds, but I am hoping a stronger dosae.

Poor Beta has bacterial/fungal growth (the white cottony stuff) all over his tail fins. It seems every night I do a water change, he looks worse the next day. He also has a swollen belly. He started getting it a week or so before i noticed the fungal growth. I thought he was just eating too much b/c he has started eating the bottom feeder food in the tank, but it has never gone away. I only have been feeding him once a week and he gets really bloated right after he eats. I have tried feeding him peas but he wont eat them.

Anyone have any thoughts/suggestions?

 

[MissFishy]

A picture would probably really help diagnose this problem, can you post a picture?

 

[Lorazoo]

I tried taking a pic, but the fishtank.net service says its too large to upload. I really dont know any other way of doing it, so if anyone has any suggestions....

 

[Lorazoo]

I have to vent my frustration. I came on this site hoping all of these Beta "experts" could help me. However, no one ever does. So, thats that. The fish is dying and no one has given one piece of advice as to how to help-

Thanks for nothing.

 

[Big Vine]

It's too bad you feel that way.
Two people have chimed in and offered help and suggestions, but in order to really help you, you need to help us.

Listing tank size and water parameters (ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte, temp., pH) for your tank and tapwater would be a good start. Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket offers free image-hosting, so why not set up an account and then paste the url/img link to the pic(s) here for us to see?

I think that the Pimafix would have been my first course of action, so I think you made the right move with the Melafix/Pimafix combo. Since it has not helped, I would suspect Columnaris, so the furan treatment was also probably a step in the right direction.

What I can say with 100% confidence is that nothing will improve unless water quality is kept in tip-top shape. That is why it is so important to monitor water parameters (and know what's in your tapwater) and list them here.

BV

 

[Lorazoo]

Water Paramaeters are not the problem. The tank is kept clean with regular water changes every couple of weeks. Also, right now he is getting water changes every few days along with the antibiotics. To clarify, no one else has offered any suggestions. The first person said she used a product I had already said I couldnt get ahold of. The 2nd person asked for a pic, which I was puzzled by b/z I gave a pretty detailed description of the looks. And if you see, it has been 10 days since my first post and this is the first "real" reply to it.

 

[Big Vine]

Let me state things as clearly as I can:
Unless you provide the required information (refer to my previous post), there isn't a whole lot I can do in terms of helping your fish.

BV

 

[MissFishy]

Even if you are doing regular water changes, that does not mean the tank parameters aren't out of wack. If you don't own a test kit, you can simply take a sample of your betta's water and your tap water into a local fish store and ask them to test it for you. Write down every number they give you for both samples, and post them back up here.

If you post a picture, someone will likely be able to spot what it is exactly. We also need the tank temperature (should be around 78-80 for a betta).

I'm sorry you feel that no one is helping you, but I can't help unless you give me the information I request. Try the image hosting site big vine suggested, if you can't figure it out from there, there is a sticky in one of the forums about how to post pictures so that they show up. Also, in the future, if you need an immediate response, I would try posting in one of the more visited forums i.e. Freshwater section. Lots more people will see your posting there.

 

[cchase85]

Water changes every couple of weeks aren't going to result in clean water...

 

[Lorazoo]

I test the water regualarily and the parameters are fine as well as the temperature. I have 4 fish tanks ranging from 10 gallons to 120 gallons. All of them are planted and well maintained.

What I need help with is treatment ideas for this Beta. I thought maybe someone out there has seen these symptoms or at least treated their beta with successful results.

 

[Big Vine]

I would have thought that one of the treatments you have already tried would have resulted in the betta showing at least some signs of improvement. The fact that your betta has not been getting better indicates to me an underlying issue that needs some investigation in order to be addressed. It could be related to water quality issues (including differences between your tank and tapwater), or perhaps it is something else.

I'm no newbie when it comes to keeping fish, and no one is suggesting that you are either. But even 'veterans' in the fish hobby who think they've got well-maintained tanks can sometimes miss problems...big problems.

For instance, I only recently discovered that my tapwater pH is 8.6, whereas my tankwater pH is 7.2---making it necessary to age new water prior to adding it to my tanks for water-changing purposes. This much of a disparity in pH is bound to stress the fish when it comes to any significant sort of water change...and that's putting it mildly.

Also, my tapwater is treated with chloramine, which causes a presence of ammonia (0.5 PPM). Up until this discovery, I had been using a tapwater conditioner which did not detoxify ammonia. Again, big stressor for the fish during water changes.

I believe that it is all of these combined issues that are responsible for putting my oscar in a world of hurt right now---which is why I'm having to give him antibiotic injections via syringe every other day.


In sum, the most "well-maintained" tanks don't mean squat if these sort of underlying issues are not pin-pointed and addressed appropriately. IF yours happen to also be suffering as a result of similar underlying issues, then identifying the specific ailment afflicting your betta...and I mean the whole works...

-having a tissue culture sent in to a lab to be identified accurately
-subjecting the culture to susceptibility tests to find out exactly which treatment will most-effectively eradicate said ailment

...even if you do all of that, it won't mean squat IF there is an underlying issue that has not been pin-pointed and addressed.

Unless you do your part and do your best to do everything in your power to 'fix' your betta---including providing us with all the information that has been requested of you by members on this forum who are trying to help---then nothing much can be accomplished. I've said all I can, and quite frankly I'm starting to think that my advice is falling on deaf ears, in which case I'm done wasting my time. Hopefully that is not the case.

BV

 

[Lorazoo]

Maybe if someone had responded 10 days ago.....At this point he has lost all of his fins that had the fungal growth on them and the swelling of his belly looks pretty bad. He is dying and there really isnt much time left to do anything.

I am well aware of how important it is to keep you water quality up, but thanks for repeatedly driving that point home.

I wrote in looking for a treatment option, which I never got, and now its too late. I was going to switch him to another anitibiotic, but I dont think its even worth it at this point.

 

[Brinny-chan]

If you're going to be so negative about it, just euthanize your fish now and put it out of it's suffering if you're sure it's too late.

For future reference, as Big Vine said, post everything you possibly can about your tank. Just saying your water is "fine" doesn't help us one bit. BV even gave two of his own examples after thinking his water was "fine". So when someone asks for something specific, try to give as specific an answer as you can.

Also, (hate to post to other forums) check Ultimatebettas.com. There is a great wealth of information for nearly anything you can think of for bettas. Including more than one disease information section.

Sorry about your fish. I don't want to sound cold, but posting negative responses to people who are trying to help you is not going to go over too well.

 

[Lorazoo]

Well, the fish died last night. And just so you know. I did not post anything negative until after 8 or 9 days when no one basically responded. It wasnt until I did that, that anyone even responded.

And furthermorte, if anyone had asked me about my water paramenters before 10 days after the posting, after the fish was dying, I would have gladly posted them. I was saying my water was fine b/c I know about all of those things even BV discussed and my water is fine. To me its the same thing as saying pH 6.8, Ammonia zero, Nitrate less than 10, Nitrite zero, hardness 2-3. blah blah. At that point I didnt feel it was relevant since the fish was too far gone.

And as a side not I opened up his belly and found a small round, dark mass, tumor looking. So, maybe he was just a sick fish....

So, good luck to all of you.