Definitely Sick!

I need help AGAIN! I bought my fish about a month ago and everything was fine until a couple days ago. I noticed my boy’s tail was rotted so I did 100% water changes every other day with aquarium salt added. The fin rot seemed to have stopped yesterday. However, I examined my boy today and saw white short hair growing sparsely all over his body. I had to look very closely to notice them, so they may have been there before today.

Here is the picture of the white hair thingy. Please help thanks!

New Betta Owner said:

I need help AGAIN! I bought my fish about a month ago and everything was fine until a couple days ago. I noticed my boy’s tail was rotted so I did 100% water changes every other day with aquarium salt added. The fin rot seemed to have stopped yesterday. However, I examined my boy today and saw white short hair growing sparsely all over his body. I had to look very closely to notice them, so they may have been there before today.

Here is the picture of the white hair thingy. Please help thanks!

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Hi it may be velvet, if you are in the uk a very good med to use against this is Esha 2000 it's a very safe med and very effective, regular water changes as you have been doing is also good but 100% every day may be stressing him which can actually make matters worse, how are you keeping him at the moment (tank size, filter, heater, temp) when doing the water changes is the water conditioned and the same temp? this will reduce any shock he may go through when doing such regular changes.

What are your water stats?

pH:
Ammonia:
Nitrate:
Nitrite:
Temp:

100% water changes that regular,is not recommended. With finrot,I would say 30/40% on a daily basis would be better.

If you can not get hold of the above mentioned medication, try intrepid anti fungal and finrot treatment.

He’s in a one gallon jar without a filter and a heater because the temperature in my apartment is very stable. When doing the water changes, I fill out another one gallon jar with tap water, add water conditioner and aquarium salt, and then wait overnight so the water temperature will be the same as the room temperature.

pH: 6.8
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrate: don’t know
Nitrite: don’t know
Temp: 78

I live in New York and my LFS doesn’t have Esha 2000 or intrepet. They have BettaFix, Melafix and PimaFix. Are they good enough?

New Betta Owner said:

pH: 6.8
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrate: don’t know
Nitrite: don’t know
Temp: 78

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Any ammonia reading is bad. Try changing his water daily to make sure you get a reading of 0 ppm. I know the others here said not to change 100% daily, but if you're getting an ammonia reading, it's probably a good idea. From a thread I put up recently, the consensus seemed to be that having detectable ammonia was worse than changing water. The other posters might have assumed you had him in a larger container too.

Also, how do you know the temp is 78? Is that the temp of your apartment? Do you have an actual thermometer in the water that says 78? If not, try getting a water thermometer to make sure the water itself is actually 78 deg.

I live in New York and my LFS doesn’t have Esha 2000 or intrepet. They have BettaFix, Melafix and PimaFix. Are they good enough?

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I doubt those are good enough for a serious infection like yours has. Hikari makes this thing called Betta Revive that is formulated in a size geared towards bettas kept in bowls. Betta Revive has both antibiotics and antifungal treatments in it. The manufacturer recommend dosing as per instructions and changing water daily. You want to keep your betta's water as clean as possible while you're treating him. There's always eBay, Big Al's online, petco.com, and amazon.com to buy stuff online from if your LFS doesn't have these things. And buy a few extra so you are prepared for the next couple of times.

Just beware, though--Betta Revive is a deep blue color from the antifungal methylene blue in it and it STAINS just about everything it touches. I was using it on my betta until I realized that the red spots on his head and eyes were pigment, not sores. I made the mistake of splashing water with the Betta Revive in it on my white wall and it left little blue spots that washing and scrubbing can't remove. The Betta Revive also permanently stained my sandstone rock that was in the 2.5 gallon container with my betta.

People here will be tsk tsking you for having your betta in too small of a container without a heater or filter, btw. A few rare bettas can live seemingly happily for years in bowls without heaters or filters. Given that yours is seriously ill, I'm guessing your betta isn't one of them. If you really want your guy to live a quality life and not get sick often, you should get him a larger home with a proper filter and heater. And a few plants.

New Betta Owner said:

I need help AGAIN! I bought my fish about a month ago and everything was fine until a couple days ago. I noticed my boy’s tail was rotted so I did 100% water changes every other day with aquarium salt added. The fin rot seemed to have stopped yesterday. However, I examined my boy today and saw white short hair growing sparsely all over his body. I had to look very closely to notice them, so they may have been there before today.

Here is the picture of the white hair thingy. Please help thanks!

Click to expand...

I think that's caused by a bacteria called "Columnaris" and it's a very common betta disease, along with fin rot and velvet. I'm a new betta owner too, and that's what I've gathered from reading online. My very very first betta died of it. I only had him two days, though, so I think he actually had it when I bought him from a local Petco.

Second one was and has been much healthier.

1gal jar could be a cause to his illness. I would strongly suggest putting in some bigger i.e. 4 - 5 gals, small jars are very hard to control the temp and water parameters.

could you post pictures from different angles? that photo was great btw.
i dont think it is columnaris. more likely slime coat shedding as there is a little ammonia (not too bad but any amount isnt very good for the fish) in adition to the salt (difficult to keep a reasonable amount in a small container. even a slight evaporation increases the concentration of salt in the water- might be irritating the fish casuing excess mucus).
the best treatment for now, for both the finrot AND the white stringy stuff, is to increase water changes to at least 50% at least once a day. feed him every other day and in small amounts. clean excess food/water from the tank with a turkey baster.
think about making a small sponge filter for the tank. i can give you instructions if you need.
all the best
cheers

Thanks everyone! I stick an actual thermometer in the water to measure the temperature and I have some Java Fern in the tank. I removed them so I can take pictures of my betta without leaves blocking my shots. Also, thanks for recommending Betta Revive, it sounds just like what my betta needs. I’ll drive to my nearest Petco to get it.

As suggested, I’ll do the 50% water change everyday starting today, and cut down his pellets and brine shrimp. A small sponge filter sounds great, but does it need a power supply?

Here are some pictures from different angles:

He looks like he may have finrot too