White Gills On Betta

[attachment=41719:Loenardo_Da_Fishy.jpg.

Whaat is the white part by my Betta's gills. (there should be a picture attached) It appears to be shiny. It was there 6 months ago when I got him from Walmart. He seemed fine - eatting, swimming. Now there's another patch further down and its on both sides of him. I did get a small cory recently(and a platy fry who was caught as well) and since then he hasn't really been eatting as well and has been flaring more than usual. Someone sudgested Ich, but he's not trying to rub on anything. Will this affect the others...they seem fine as of now. I'm new at this so any help would be great! Thanks.

Here's another picture of him....
Thanks!!!

Any signs of the betta flicking and rubbing against objects.
Need to look at your water stats.

Wilder said:

Any signs of the betta flicking and rubbing against objects.
Need to look at your water stats.

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No he's not rubbing on things, but he also been sitting at the bottom more these last couple of days...... the cory now looks he has some stuff by his gills too- but he's eatting and swimming fine.

I don't really have anything to get stats on. The water temp. has flutuated because our heat went out so I had put a light on them which keeps it above 68-75. I'm kinda new at this and these are my dorm pets.

If the temp been up and down sounds like you could be dealing with columnaris which can effects the gills.

Okay, I finally was able to go shopping....

The tank is 2.5 Gallons with a small filter....
It's about 6 months old....
there's 1 male Betta (the sick one, who I had for 6 months) 1 spotted coy and a little tag along platy fry (both added 1 week ago)

General Hardness - 180
KH - 240
pH - 7.0
NO2 - .5
No3- - 20
I also add Chloro Out to our filtered water....Ilive in Savannah, GA USA and the tap water here is horrible.

The Betta is in a tupperware container right now (this is his travel container) and I started him on Maracyn today. Do I also add Maracyn 2 as well? I saw a post about adding both. He now looks horrible - mostly sitting around and his face and upper body is covered in white stuff. Also I put some Aquarium Salt in the main tank...do I treat the main tank as well? I don't see any white stuff on the cory, but he is a bit silver now, which he wasn't before.

Thanks everyone, hopefully Leonardo will get better soon....

Need to get that nitrite reading down.
Does the white look fluffy.

Wilder said:

Need to get that nitrite reading down.
Does the white look fluffy.

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Yes, it now does. What do I use to lower the nitrite, any sudgestions?...but after the first treatment Leonardo (the Betta) now seems to be feeling a tad better....he's swimming!!!

A water change to lower the nitrites.
The fish has columnaris.
http/article.discusnews.com/cat-02/columnaries.shtml

Thanks Wilder,

Things seem to be looking up for them! One last thing, besides the water changes everyday should I treat the tank as well?

Leonardo and I thank-you!!!

as well as his new tank mates.

If thats the only fish suffering from columnaris I would just treat that fish for now.
Just do some daily water changes on the tank.
Good luck.

2.5 usg is ok for the Betta, but it is too small for 2 more of any other fish. Get a f5 or 10 usg or something for the platy and the Cory. You will continue to have water problems with that stocking.

jollysue said:

2.5 usg is ok for the Betta, but it is too small for 2 more of any other fish. Get a f5 or 10 usg or something for the platy and the Cory. You will continue to have water problems with that stocking.

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Well, it was only suppose to be the Betta and Cory, the Platy fry came along for the ride I guess....Besides I didn't have the heart to kill the baby and I figured he survived in a petstore tank and then from my Betta, he deserves to live. Anyways the coy (as big as your figernail) and platy are babies, so I am keeping an eye on the Nitrate and Nitrite as well. I plan on getting bigger tank in a few months or getting the Betta another small tank.

That is way to much of a bioload on that size of a tank and i dont suggest keeping it that way. I would suggest daily PWC or else you continue your water problems and the excess ammonia will burn the fish and nitrIte poison them.