Betta Bacterial Infection?

[Zeealex]

hi, i was wondering if you could enlighten me on a situation.
recently i had to stay overnight in hospital after an operation and i have really only just managed to get to a working computer. anyway that aside while i was in hospital one of my favorite fish, sama: fin laden, a 6 month old male Betta splenden, came down with something strange.
when my sister told me about it, she described it as him going all white and his fins had rotted back, he is blue on a normal day, anyway about 2 hours after me telling her to put melafix in the tank, he died, the infection must have been quick as i left him looking healthy and happy.
she left him in a cup for me so i could take a look and i was baffled, i didn't know what had caused it or why it wasn't affecting any of my neon tetras or my golden dojo loaches.

this afternoon i went to get the cup and flush my poor friend down the loo having forgotten about him the day before, and i saw the water had turned orange, the white was back on his body, and there was a horrible stench.

after learning a few things in biology, the only thing that can cause such effects after death is bacteria.

so does that mean it was a bacterial infection that killed him?

I'm getting the water tested sometime tomorrow hopefully so I'll be able to give parameters but no fish are showing symptoms of said disease or ammonia, nitrate, nitrite or PH poisoning
what i can tell you is it is a 15 gallon tank with 6 neon tetras, an unknown type of small fish (I'll be asking about it later) and 2 golden dojo loaches, i know i have only just found out the loaches will grow too big, i will upgrade soon

 

[Athena]

When you say the fish turned white, do you mean it literally lost all body colour, or was it covered in a whitish film? If it was a whitish film, it does sound like a bacterial disease.

How often do you do tank maintenance (e.g. gravel vacs, water changes etc). Bacterial disease is a sign of something not quite right in the tank environment, whether that be poor water quality, overfeeding, sudden ammonia/nitrite spikes, stress from bullying/fin nipping/incompatible tankmates...the list goes on lol

Any dead fish that is left in a cup will smell the next day, so that's nothing surprising really.

It's a good idea to have your own water test kit, if you can get one. The liquid kits are the best. This will give a more accurate reading than the test strips (and a lot of LFS use the strips, for quickness, so I wouldn't always trust what they say).

Regards,

Athena

 

[millym]

Hi
also bettas do not tolerate Melafix, you can buy a similar product called bettafix, which is basically the same thing but in a lot lower concentration than Melafix. When a betta gets finrot which it sounds like the little fella had, it can progress very very quickly - over hours until all the fins have gone, an antibiotic treatment is the best thing, plus very clean healthy water.

 

[Zeealex]

thank you for the replies, Athena, it was both really lost the fin colour to white, and a white film around his body. tank maintenance is a 25% water change every 3 or 4 weeks (with chloramine remover going in. ammonia remover every week.

millym, i have treated fish in the same tank as him with melafix for fin rot a while ago (again, i wasn't there to keep an eye on the tank), he didnt seem to mind it much, but i'll remember that for when the next betta goes in.

the loaches went in the tank 3 days before he died.but no other fish came down with the infection mind you, i did a 50% change as soon as i got back.

 

[Athena]

Hello again - I would recommend doing a water change a bit more often than once every 3 or 4 weeks. Even if it's fortnightly that would be better. I think also if you have only been doing changes every 3-4 weeks at only 25%, that really isn't enough of a water change for that time period.

A 25% change every week would be fine, or a bit more every fortnight (say, 30-50%). It's much better to do a water change than add those ammonia remover chemicals every week. Don't forget that the longer you leave your water changes, the higher the nitrate levels will be.

Getting into a good routine with your tank maintenance will help avoid further stress and illness for your fish. Some fish (like bettas) are more sensitive than others and so will get sick quicker. Other fish will tolerate those conditions for longer periods before finally they show signs of illness or an early death.

As some of your other fish already had fin rot previously to this, I think that is a good indication that your water conditions have not been quite right for some time now.

Another thing that can stress a betta is being with incompatible tankmates - I note you have neons, which are fast moving fish and have been known to fin-nip bettas, which can lead to fin rot.

IMO I wouldn't put a betta in that tank. I would wait until your water conditions are at a happy medium, with a regular tank maintenance regime in place, and then maybe you could add another group of schooling fish, perhaps, and increase your neons stock slightly. Just a thought.

Regards, Athena