Emergency!

[andy.windsor]

Help! I just found my female CT with clamped fins (thats the fins right up against the body, right?) resting on top of the water in the tank, not hardly moving. she's taking air when she needs it, not eating, and not being herself (i.e not coming swimming over like mad at feeding time). I noticed when I looked closely, the back of her looked like I was trying to see her without my glasses....I could see white fuzzy type stuff surrounding her lower body that looked like mold. What could it be? I do my regular water changes...could it be the peat moss? The indian almond leaf tea (very weakly mixed and dilluted into the chaging water..barely enough to effect the water color)? The male ct is in the same tank, same water, same plants and he's fine (or seems to be so far). She's on the verge of dying, I can see the signs. I'm determined to save her. So anyone who can help, PLEASE DO SO FAST!!!
I now have her isolated with some marine salt (instant ocean) epsom salt (really small amounts of both), melafix and a couple drops of stresscoat. I've done all I know to do for now, so I'm praying that someone will know whats wrong and what to do for her, and that she'll be ok in the ISO until then. Thanks so much!

 

[lisie]

I could be wrong but I don't think you're supposed to ever put marine salt in with freshwater fish.

 

[BettaBum873]

Sounds like colmunaris, not good. Try adding salt to her water, use maracyn and maracyn 2 or tetracycline. These work the best on colmunaris. Salt bathes are also recommended but can be very stressful to the fish. I hope she gets better, colmunaris is tricky to treat. I've lost 2 bettas to it, but I've succesfully treated a few. Good luck

Use non iodized salt

 

[andy.windsor]

Help! I just found my female CT with clamped fins (thats the fins right up against the body, right?) resting on top of the water in the tank, not hardly moving. she's taking air when she needs it, not eating, and not being herself (i.e not coming swimming over like mad at feeding time). I noticed when I looked closely, the back of her looked like I was trying to see her without my glasses....I could see white fuzzy type stuff surrounding her lower body that looked like mold. What could it be? I do my regular water changes...could it be the peat moss? The indian almond leaf tea (very weakly mixed and dilluted into the chaging water..barely enough to effect the water color)? The male ct is in the same tank, same water, same plants and he's fine (or seems to be so far). She's on the verge of dying, I can see the signs. I'm determined to save her. So anyone who can help, PLEASE DO SO FAST!!!
I now have her isolated with some marine salt (instant ocean) epsom salt (really small amounts of both), melafix and a couple drops of stresscoat. I've done all I know to do for now, so I'm praying that someone will know whats wrong and what to do for her, and that she'll be ok in the ISO until then. Thanks so much!

Correction, sorry..I mean java moss.

As far as marine salt, When bettas are sick as far as I am aware for my past experience, sometimes its beneficial to treat them with melafix and some epsom and aquarium salts. I don't have aquarium salts, but I do have IO for my hermit crabs. I figured that would make a good repalcement. If I'm wrong, please let me know...I really need to save her!!!

Sounds like colmunaris, not good. Try adding salt to her water, use maracyn and maracyn 2 or tetracycline. These work the best on colmunaris. Salt bathes are also recommended but can be very stressful to the fish. I hope she gets better, colmunaris is tricky to treat. I've lost 2 bettas to it, but I've succesfully treated a few. Good luck

Use non iodized salt

How much salt do I use for salt water baths? I've never done them for fish before. What do I keep in her regular ISO water? Are my epsom salts and IO good? I also have natural medicinal grade sea salt. What amounts should I use of the salts? I'll run out and buy that medicine right now. Anything else I need to know? what causes it? How to I prevent it from happening to another fish? Ack!

 

[lisie]

Marine salt and aquarium salt are two completely different things. Like BettaBum said, if you don' have actual aquarium salt, you can use non-iodized table salt instead.

If it is columnaris, which is what it sounds like, keep the temperature about 75 degrees and add some tetracycline.

I hope she pulls through.

 

[andy.windsor]

I don't have non iodized table salt. She's in an isolation container thats about a pint large because I was ust in a hurry to get her out of the tank and medicated. I ran to the pet store and thet didn't have the meds that were mentinoed here. They sold me "Simply Betta Fungus and Bacteria Cure" in liquid form, and "E.M. Tablets - Erthromycin 200 mg tablets".

So should I just use the epsom salt and these meds then? She's spending a lot of time on her side. It's not looking good. I've brought bettas back from the brink before, but not by this type of fungus or infection. Any more tips are appreciated!

 

[andy.windsor]

C'mon please, anyone before its to late!

I appreciate the advice I've been given thus far, but I NEED to know how much of what kinds of salt to use for a salt water bath, and if there's ANYTHING else at all that I can do other than the epsom salt, stresscoat, Simply Betta Fungus and Bacteria Cure and "E.M. Tablets Erthromycin 200 mg tablets.

Thank you again for the advice so far, but if there's anything else, I refuse to give up...I'll try anything! So I would like to try the bath, only I don't know how to do it and how much of what salts to use. Thanks!

 

[lisie]

You can give her an aquarium salt bath... 1 tablespoon per gallon for about 15-20 minutes. You can also put aquarium salt in her regular water... because she's sick, use 1 teaspoon/gallon.

There's not really anything else you can do besides adding salt and antibiotics.

 

[andy.windsor]

Thank-you. I don't have aquarium salt either. Because I have marine salt, epsom salt and Instant Ocean, I didn't think I needed it, so I sold it to a friend of mine who is planning on breeding bettas soon. This was just shortly before I got my bettas tho. Talking and hanging with her is what got me wanting bettas again, so go figure no sooner do I sell her my stuff, than I get more bettas.

But...I need to ask this.....I just started putting java moss in my betta tanks. Could this cause a problem? Will the java moss mold or anything, or get back and make the bettas sick? I have never used live plants with my fish before, so I'm worried that in using the java moss, I may've created some kind of extra risk for my bettas. Could this be a problem?

 

[lisie]

Nope, live plants are good for fishies. The only way that the java moss would do any harm is if it came from a diseased tank... but if none of your other fish got it, I doubt that's the problem.

 

[andy.windsor]

She's gone.

 

[jaclynhas7days]

Im sorry about your fishie.

 

[lisie]

Awww, so sorry. RIP little girl.

 

[liz2]

You tried really hard to save her...you should be proud of yourself for caring so much. Sorry about your fishy.

 

[andy.windsor]

Thanks so much to all of you. I don't feel like I did enough. I should've noticed something sooner. Surely this didn't just happen the day I found her...there must've been warning signs I took for granted or ignored. I feel like such a SHMUCK!
The breeder I got her from (bless her kind soul!) refuses to take no for an answer with regards to replacing her. She also wants to send along some of the destress stuff they use to help her adjust. If only there were more ppl and business owners out there like her! A little less concern about the bottom line and a little more concern about your customers goes a long way.