Help Me With This Poor Sick Betta

Hi there,

Can somebody tell me from these pictures what has afflicted this poor fish?

Unfortunately, he spent several months in one of those little 'vases' before we got him into a proper 10-gallon tank with some aquarium salt and a heater this past weekend.

Now I need to know what other kind of treatment he needs.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.



Thanks
Robin

Robin66 said:

Hi there,

Can somebody tell me from these pictures what has afflicted this poor fish?

Unfortunately, he spent several months in one of those little 'vases' before we got him into a proper 10-gallon tank with some aquarium salt and a heater this past weekend.

Now I need to know what other kind of treatment he needs.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.



Thanks
Robin

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OMG sorry I don't know, poor thing...i've called on Modaz to see if he can help you

sorry mate but there is no hope for this guy, its to intense and prob wont heal, the damage is too deep and advanced, its Columnaris, here is a link to it.

[URL="http/freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/columnaris.htm"]http/freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/columnaris.htm[/URL]

Yes, this is very advanced columnaris. How long has he been like this (when did first symptoms appear).

Columnaris is caused by bacteria and sometimes responds to antibiotics. I don't think there's any hope for that particular fish, the disease looks very progressed - it looks absolutely awful. If you can get it, use any of these:

Combination of Maracyn 1 + 2
Tetracycline
Oxytetracycline
Chloramphenicol
Streptomycin
Erythromycin
Just about anything else that says it is an antibiotic

Failing that, use mixed sulfa. If you can't get any of those, I would euthanise. Columnaris is a very painful death if it's left to take its course.

You would very rarely see me say this as many members would vouch, but if i was in your position i would put him out of his misery as he is destined to pass away and suffer in the process, im so sorry to be the bearer of such bad news and its gutting for me to say this to you.

so sorry, this is one disease that is almost impossible to treat when acute.

this is too advanced to treat.

Yes i'd put him out of his misery too. Oil of cloves I believe people use. Normaly i'd do anything to save my fish, but if the inevitable is going to happen then the sooner the better for the poor thing. So sorry for you

Poor guy I hate to say it but I have to agree with modaz and dusky, theres almost no chance you can bring him back from this. Poor little guy do you have anymore bettas? Colmunaris is HIGHLY contagious! and cross contamination to other fish is very easy to do.

Oh my gosh, that is awful.
It might be the best thing to euthanize, but I dunno... I'd still be so tempted to try to help. Poor little betta.

Thanks everyone. We appreciate all the help.

Poor little guy had a 'blue' spot back when we got him in January. Turned white and spread slowly.

Not sure how ready to euthanize we are. Don't want him to suffer either.

Ugh.

Thanks again.

Wow hes had that since january? its a wonder it hasn't killed him already... hmmm maybe you could try treating, a combination of maracyn 1 & 2 seems to work quite well on colmunaris. How is he acting? swimming ok? eating ok? does he seem to be in pain?

You can try to treat him, how is he? His chances aren't very good, but I would try to help him anyway. That's very, very advanced, though, I gasped when I saw it, but try to treat it.

I gasped too Jourdy, but if he's in pain & probably going to pass away? I totaly understand how you feel about euthanzing him Robin,,,its a tough choice and we always want to do our best for them, but sometimes our best isn't good enough and we don't have any choices.

Columnaris in its most virulent forms kills in a few days or a few hours. When did the wound go white? If it's been white for a while, there is still hope, especially since the mouth and fins are not involved. If it's progressing that slowly it might be worthwhile trying to treat it. If it's just gone white, it was probably something else that has stressed the fish and caused infection with columnaris, in which case the columnaris will be rapidly fatal.
If you do attempt to treat but there's no marked improvement in a week, if you can't get the meds or you think the fish is really suffering then I would agree with what most people have said, it's best to put him down.

If you have to do it, take him out of the water and cut down directly behind the head with a sharp knife. This kills instantly. If you can't do that, the next best thing is clove oil. Get a cup of water, add about 15 drops of clove oil and shake it well. Drop the betta into it. It also kills virtually instantly. If you can't get clove oil, you can also use very cold water. Put a cup of water in the freezer until ice forms on the surface. Break the ice and drop the fish in. I personally hate this method and would not use it on a betta, if I had no clove oil I would decapitate. Ice is only humane where it kills within a few seconds in my opinion and I think a betta is probably too large for it to be a nice option.

None of these are perfect, veterinary anaesthetics are the only 100% humane way to euthanise a fish. But they are not available to many hobbyists and there's a lot of debate about how it should be done. Personally I would recommend clove oil as it is instantaneous if used correctly and I know a lot of people cannot bear the thought of cutting their fish's head off. I know I would really not like to do it.

That poor fish I don't know what to say. I have no idea what I would do in this situation, though I suspect I would give treatment a try first if I could get something strong enough, but would only give it a few days to start working before euthanizing. I hate to think of a fish in pain. Poor you, Robin - not a nice situation to be in I cannot decapitate a fish, it would never happen, so I use clove oil if I have to euthanize. You can get is cheaply and easily from a chemist, they all sell it as it helps with dental pain. If you are in the UK, Boots sell a little bottle for about £1.50. Good to have on hand anyway, whatever you decide to do.

LauraFrog said:

If you can't get clove oil, you can also use very cold water. Put a cup of water in the freezer until ice forms on the surface. Break the ice and drop the fish in. I personally hate this method and would not use it on a betta, if I had no clove oil I would decapitate. Ice is only humane where it kills within a few seconds in my opinion and I think a betta is probably too large for it to be a nice option.

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I use the cold water method.
The thing with it, you have to make sure it's VERY cold. I usually get a cup, put in some ice cubes and let the ice melt down some. Gets the water extremely cold, then I put in the betta. All bettas I've had to euthanize, doing this method have died within a few seconds.
If you can get clove oil though, then go that way.

Euthanizing stinks no matter what way you do it though.