Can anyone help me? My fish has been sick so I’ve been doing water changes to get the ammonia and nitrites to 0. I went out of town and my fil did the water changes for me on my bettas tank. I came home and he was stuck in one of the plant things I have in the tank. I have no idea how he got stuck or how long he was there. But he now looks like this…. I think he got hurt. Do I give him medicine? I’m still working on getting the tank water levels right too. Ugh!! He used to be such a dark pretty blue, last photo is what he looked like before he started getting sick.
Betta was stuck
- Thread starter Swusch
- Start date
NoodleOfDanger0
New Member
I've seen the pattern/color change in a past betta. Yours looks like he has white patches coming in but it's not fuzz, it's just his scales changing color. Would you say that is an accurate description of what's happening to your guy?
With my betta, he had started out the same color as yours but he was a Crowntail. He started to get patches of scales turning white/losing their color and I couldn't find anything that would cause whitening scales but when I asked around at various pet stores and forums, the consensus was that it was probably a bacterial problem. So, I treated him with API's E.M. Erythromycin. After 48 hours of treatment and 16-year-old me praying constantly that he'd get better, his color came back and he looked great! He was eating great and being normal again. That lasted about 2 weeks. One morning I woke up and he had gone from looking like the perfect boy he was to almost completely white overnight. He was panting on the bottom of the tank, his fins looked like garbage, and he looked like he was miserable. I desperately tried to help him by treating him with Erythromycin again but it didn't help him at all the second time. I could not find any disease online that could do this to a fish and to this day I can only guess that it was a bacteria that went dormant after the first treatment until it was strong enough to kill him. He died less than 24 hours after I tried to treat him again.
With my betta, he had started out the same color as yours but he was a Crowntail. He started to get patches of scales turning white/losing their color and I couldn't find anything that would cause whitening scales but when I asked around at various pet stores and forums, the consensus was that it was probably a bacterial problem. So, I treated him with API's E.M. Erythromycin. After 48 hours of treatment and 16-year-old me praying constantly that he'd get better, his color came back and he looked great! He was eating great and being normal again. That lasted about 2 weeks. One morning I woke up and he had gone from looking like the perfect boy he was to almost completely white overnight. He was panting on the bottom of the tank, his fins looked like garbage, and he looked like he was miserable. I desperately tried to help him by treating him with Erythromycin again but it didn't help him at all the second time. I could not find any disease online that could do this to a fish and to this day I can only guess that it was a bacteria that went dormant after the first treatment until it was strong enough to kill him. He died less than 24 hours after I tried to treat him again.
It is the scale color changing. I’ll look up that medicine. I have aquarium salt I was thinking of trying. I feel so awful for him!
NoodleOfDanger0
New Member
I hope yours makes it! I'm trying to find anything else that might help!
NoodleOfDanger0
New Member
You said he was stuck right?
https://www.hometanks.com/why-is-betta-fish-scales-turning-white/
This mentions injury causing the skin to turn white which in turn makes the scales look white but time will heal this.
It also talks about their food and diet causing this.
Other Options:
Fungal infection
Parasite
Ammonia Burns
Toxin Poisoning
Best advice I've seen; take pictures to an exotic animal vet and see if they know what it is and what you should do for him.
I do advise against treating the tank unless you know what they actually have as some medications can do more harm than good. Try doing a 75% water change daily to reduce any potential chemical issues like ammonia burns and other toxin poisonings. Make sure your water parameters are correct every time you do a water change. I was 16 at the time that my fish got sick and I don't know if the initial treatment actually did anything for him or if he got better on his own or what happened. As I said, I still don't know what mine had or if the erythromycin will actually help.
https://www.hometanks.com/why-is-betta-fish-scales-turning-white/
This mentions injury causing the skin to turn white which in turn makes the scales look white but time will heal this.
It also talks about their food and diet causing this.
Other Options:
Fungal infection
Parasite
Ammonia Burns
Toxin Poisoning
Best advice I've seen; take pictures to an exotic animal vet and see if they know what it is and what you should do for him.
I do advise against treating the tank unless you know what they actually have as some medications can do more harm than good. Try doing a 75% water change daily to reduce any potential chemical issues like ammonia burns and other toxin poisonings. Make sure your water parameters are correct every time you do a water change. I was 16 at the time that my fish got sick and I don't know if the initial treatment actually did anything for him or if he got better on his own or what happened. As I said, I still don't know what mine had or if the erythromycin will actually help.
Yes. I was testing the water today and couldn’t find him. I got out my fish net to run over the grass thing he likes to hide in and I saw his fins moving but he wasn’t coming out. I pulled the grass up out of the tank and his head was caught. I had to pull the grass apart and then be swam out and away.
I’ll look for exotic vets in my area. I’m not sure I have seen one that takes fish. I have been doing water changes daily since my ammonia and nitrites are not at 0. They are lower but not yet 0. So I wonder if it’s it that plus stress from being caught maybe. I just feel so bad for him. I appreciate your help! I’ll let you know if I find a vet!
I’ll look for exotic vets in my area. I’m not sure I have seen one that takes fish. I have been doing water changes daily since my ammonia and nitrites are not at 0. They are lower but not yet 0. So I wonder if it’s it that plus stress from being caught maybe. I just feel so bad for him. I appreciate your help! I’ll let you know if I find a vet!
NoodleOfDanger0
New Member
Stress was another common option. I really hope it's nothing serious and that he get better soon!
Is the plant real or plastic?
The fish is stressed either from the incident or possibly poor water quality.
You need ammonia and nitrite levels on 0ppm at all times, and nitrate levels as close to 0ppm but below 20ppm at all times.
Do not use Erythromycin. It is an antibiotic and should only be used on known bacterial infections that haven't responded to normal treatments.
--------------------
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week, and add some salt. Keep salt in tank for 2 weeks and see how he goes. If there's no improvement after a week of clean water and salt, post more pics and video of him.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.
--------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.
The fish is stressed either from the incident or possibly poor water quality.
You need ammonia and nitrite levels on 0ppm at all times, and nitrate levels as close to 0ppm but below 20ppm at all times.
Do not use Erythromycin. It is an antibiotic and should only be used on known bacterial infections that haven't responded to normal treatments.
--------------------
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week, and add some salt. Keep salt in tank for 2 weeks and see how he goes. If there's no improvement after a week of clean water and salt, post more pics and video of him.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.
--------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.
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