Betta Illnesses

[loraxchick]

ive noticed an increase in the amount of bettas that are ill on the forum lately-from newcommers to veteren members alike. sure, bettas are always suffering from something, but there has been a spike in the illness area lately. ive done a lot of research into betta illnesses/cuases/treaments and am very curious if there is some sort of correlation somewhere (seasonal with the increase in temp/decrease in temp, etc).
so if all the betta lovers out there would take a few seconds and respond to the poll, giving a brief explaination of symptoms if the fish is sick and if you are unsure if they are sick, it would be appreciated.

the support and feedback we give our fellow betta folks when their slimy friends are under the weather is so great!! it really helps to have support. but sometimes i see some advice which is actually contradictory to how we should be diagnosing/treating these illnesses. input is great from everyone, whether it is advice, support of constructive criticism (no flaming/bashing), but lets make sure it is accurate. there is good advice too, dont get me wrong, but lets make sure to give accurate info. and that is absolutely a general statement, not to one or a few specific people or is it a widespread problem. so i hope nobody takes it the wrong way.

i will use some of this information (along with knowledge and research) to begin creating a betta emergency guide for those of us who find ourselves in this scary situation when our beloved bettas get sick. we all love these fish, and it is just too bad that they seem to always get sick from some sort of "mystery" illness. i hope to put a little something together in the near future with everyone's participation and input.

i look forward to hearing from everyone. hopefully i can generate something useful
cheers!

 

[fshinggrl]

Mine is a bit lethargic. I've had him just about a year. I've been doing weekly 50% water changes. He's in a 14 gallon filtered/heated tank.

 

[silverrabbit]

One of my VT males is unwell atm. Given to me by an LFS after being returned for being beaten up by barbs ( ) with no finnage left. Long road to recovery, initally doing very well in good, warm (28c) water (mature filter and tank running for 6 months) with 2x 50% water changes per week.

After a month, came down with "sticky fins". Treated with Myxazin and +++ water changes, got better slowly.

Now discovered to have a cloudy eye, listless and regurgitating food. Treating with Jungle Fungus/bacteria Clear - cured my fancy goldie's dropsy, figured i'd give it a shot with old bluey.

Over last 4 days no change, despite water changes and redosing with Jungle to add back correct amount

Will keep plodding along with treatment *fingers x'd*

 

[fry_forever!]

Well, out of the 5 adult bettas that I currently have, 2 are injured/sick.

Oliver, well, when I bought him, he had SEVERELY ripped fins. I mean, he is a delta tail, and his fins were as long as a plakats' when I got him. He is doing great now, and they are actually growing back so rapidly I can't keep up. I'm not doing any treatments. Just keeping his water in the 10 gallon clean as usual.

Here is Olly when I first got him:


And here he is now (About 2.5 weeks later):

A completely different betta.

My other boy, Scooter, got his fin ripped by a platy, and it is getting worse now. It looks like it may be rotting, as well as his mouth.
I was doing daily 25-50% water changes for a couple days, but now I am treating with Tetra brand anti-fungus med. So I put in a half treatment (so as to not stress him to much), and I'll do a 50% water change in 4 days and treat one more time, then do another 50% water change. Then after, continue with my daily water changes until he heals. (IF he heals). I also have some aquarium salt in there, about one teaspoon. (For a 4.5 gallon tank)

And here are my precious Scoots' injuries:

You can kind of see part of his mouth is gone (That appeared in one day):


And here is where it all started:


EDIT: Scooter died a couple days ago, after getting dropsy. He will be dearly missed.


I also had a female betta that got mouth rot from cutting her mouth on toothpick (while jumping for a pea) and I treated her with fungus clear and melafix (didn't know it was making it worse at the time), and she died after an extremely long, VERY gruesome battle. I had to euthanize her, because she wouldn't die. But she would have died of starvation or the disease otherwise.

 

[Kieren_1992]

Yes my bettas have been under the weather, but RIP Now... I was doing nothing for them as i didnt know the whole sitution of why they was becoming ill, got told it was bad water states when it was incase something completely different, and nothing to do with my states, but currently helping the 2 goldfish and 2 draft puffers that have the same illness with water changes raised temps blackout tanks and possibly meds if needed...

 

[loraxchick]

i forgot to add last night (was late-for me anyway after a looong friday at work).
please post pics if possible. may be useful later.

thanks guys for the feedback. and heres hoping for a speedy recovery for all your fishy friends.
cheers!

 

[Assaye]

My oldest female has bloat/dropsy/something else sinister. She's in an unfiltered isolation tank that is getting daily 95% water changes with mature water from her old tank. I'm treating with epsom salts and Furanol II.

Lost one of the other females from that tank about a week ago.

EDIT - just got four more females that are all in a state. Tiny, emaciated and generally nasty. They're eating well and very active so just giving them TLC and clean water.

 

[Lacuna]

My yellow VT isn't ill anymore, but he was ill the past few weeks. Meds for internal parasites did the trick, although I also treated him for white spot and external parasites because it was hard to tell what was wrong with him from the symptoms. My halfmoon betta got ill in March just after I bought him - he had white spot, which was easily treated and he's been fine since. He does have some tears in his fins though, and it looked like fin rot was starting so I just kept his water clean, and that seems to have helped. My yellow VT was also ill around January time, and I treated him for white spot and he got better. I do find that they're more prone to illnesses than my other fish.