Sick betta...

[aaronburro]

Welp, dubyadubya has gotten his first illness under my stewardship. I dunno if it is from the anacharis I put in yesterday or what, but today when I looked in his tank his fins were all stuck in on themselves, like they were really sticky or something. He's not moving too much, but I suppose that is cause he is sick.

I also noticed some fungus on him, which I will promptly treat, but I was curious: is the fin anomaly caused by teh fungus, or is it something else?

 

[Iggy]

Clamped fins - what we all it. Its a sure bet sign of illness. Just means he is sick and hurts to move.

Body fungus, treat it quickly, it spreads fast and kills quickly. Jungle Brand Anti-Fungus works really well (yellow crystals). Follow instructions closely - remove any carbon filters.

If you can get your hands on a 5 gallon tank, it makes for a good all-around quaranteen/sick treatment tank with a little 50w heater.

 

[aaronburro]

oh yeah, as soon as I saw him this mornin I saw the fungus, so I got out my 1gal tank and filled it w/ tank water from his tank. I then gave him a good 5 minutes in a cup of tankwater w/ a 1/8th tsp of jungle fungus, and then I transferred him over to the 1 gal. I'll repeat the super dip each day until teh fungus is gone.

I ran out and got a heater too for the 1 gal, since I never needed one before w/ my one goldie in it(till I learned better about goldie needs).

Glad to know the clamped fans is what it is. I'm used to that w/ my goldies when they get sick. It just looks different when a fish REALLY has fins like the betta does

Should I watch the rest of the tank that the betta was in carefully for fungus, or will it prolly be OK?

 

[Iggy]

Usually, I leave the jungle fungus treatment in the tank, I don't typically use a dip. I am not sure if prolonged diluted treatments are better than short strong dips.... whatever works I guess. I treat every 4th day after a 50% water change.

Fungus is typically a follow-up illness to some sort of bacteria, so look for any cuts. Jungle fungus already includes anti-bacterial agents, so it should help.

Are you getting a lot of pH swing in your tank? Usually fast pH changes or temperature changes cause fungus on bettas.

 

[aaronburro]

pH should be stable. I use a pH buffer cause my water is prone to sudden crashes. Today was the first day I noticed anything different, and I usually spend a good five minutes each day observing my lil guys, and I noticed right away today something was different when I saw him...

the only real "new" thing to the tank was the anacharis I put in yesterday, though over the past few weeks the tank has seen 4 ottos come and go at their "leisure."

as a follow up, I checked the water params, and the nitrates were really high(>25)... musta been from the bits of anacharis that "died" in the bag during transport home, so I did a 50% water change on the one gal and i'll do a similar one tomorrow on the 10gal. The nitrates have been at zero even at the weekly water changes, so the drastic change must have been what got to W-2