Female betta with mouth fungus - Help!

[Joby]

The female I got on Saturday I noticed had white fungus in her mouth yesterday evening. She's already on Interpet Fungus & fin rot medicine as she had ragged fins when I got her. She ate as normal last night. This morning her mouth is what seems almost gummed shut with the stuff and her gills aren't moving either. She's forcing herself out of the water and then a couple of bubbles come out of one gill. Is she going to suffocate?

water tests are ammonia 0 nitrite 0 and nitrates 20

Her tank mate she's divided in had a fungus spot on his fin too which is why they are in together being medicated. He's developed another one of those now. Is the medicine not strong enough?

Really worried about my girl at the moment. Will she overcome this or will she just die a horrible death. I really don't want her to be suffering.

Any help greatly appreciated

A copy of this is in Betta section also

 

[skye4jc]

it sounds pretty serious... im very sorry to hear.

however, you may or may not know (which if you dont, may be a bit of a relief) that bettas are labrynthine, which means they breathe at the surface of the water as well as in water, so i dont suspect she will suffocate. well, at least not as readily as, say, a cichlid or some other water-breathing-only fish.

as far as the fungus... 1)what are you feeding her, and 2)where do you live? the reason i ask question #2 is that i know of some miraculous betta medicine, but i live in Canada and im not sure if its availible elsewhere in the world. (its called Bettafix Remedy and its Manufactured by Aquarium Pharmaseuticals Inc.... web site: www.aquariumpharm.com . it runs about $4 CDN)

in regards to # 1, the only thing i can think of that would be making it worse is if you were overfeeding certain foods or have not changed the water. also, and correct me if im wrong, but cant certain medicines, if not devised directly for bettas, have little or no effect? (i may be way off on that, but its an honest question... because working in a LPS, i see obvios destinction between betta treatments and regular tropical treatments... anyone know the answer to this?)

anyhow, i dont know if any of this helps, but let me know. i'll try to find out waht i can... dont hesitate to ask.

Sincerely,

Skye

 

[Joby]

Thanks for replying so quickly Skye

I do know about the labyrinth and her being able to breath air, but her mouth doesn't seem to have any gaps in it so I wonder if she's getting any air in there at all. When she was forcing herself to the top I guess some was because a couple of bubbles would come out of one gill. But the gills are gummed shut and not moving at all as is her mouth. Have just got back from the school run and she's at the top not moving much now as probably exhausted from forcing herself out of the water

She is being fed on Interpet small pellets at the moment. couldn't get Hikari pellets as they were out of stock but tried the betta flakes by interpet and all my bettas refuse to eat those. She is in a filtered cycled tank with an extra air stone fitted as directed by the meds and I did a 50% water change before I added the interpet meds on Saturday.

I live in the UK and so far have not seen bettafix. I saw mellafix and pimafix (sp?) at the weekend but didn't get any as I was trying the interpet meds first. Would this stuff work fast?

Will ring around a couple of places today and see if anyone has it.

As I said I don't want her to suffer, but at which point do I know she won't recover and help her on her way?!

Very confused at what to do

 

[Joby]

Just took a closer look and she's passed away

what an awful way to go

Going to track down some of that bettafix ASAP as I don't want this to happen to any of my other bettas

Thanks for the help Skye

Kat

 

[skye4jc]

hey Kat,

just got the news. im so sorry!

however, i do think you did what you could. no worries. it does sound like her mouth fungus was actually body fungus and caught too late. ah well, no use dwelling on it now.

do you keep bettas often? how long have you been into it for? if you cant get ahold of bettafix remedy, i would be more than happy to mail you some. like i said, its only $4! (just to give all you readers out there an idea of how good it is, we get our shipments in every wednesday and a boxload of that stuff. usually by saturday we are totally sold out - every week! so, if you have any doubts, just ask all the other betta keepers around here. they'll tell you the same.)

oh, and another thing, but prolly not related to your girly's departing... bettas, as i have always found, and has been confirmed by many a betta lover friend of mine, rather detest flake betta food (not always, but 90% of the time). hilkari is amazing, but truthfully, ANY type of pellet food is usually a better option than flakes. fyi. ( now watch i get some betta guru who tells me im crazy and talking outta my a**. that kinda thing always happens...lol)

anyhow dear, heres my email if you need anything else...

afrocanadian4jesus@hotmail.com

if you wanna send me your mailing addy there, i'll mail ya the magic potion!

take care, and better luck next time!

as ever,

Skye

 

[glolite]

Sorry to here your sad news I lost my flying fox barb coz he jumped out of the tank 2 days after I got him. I'm a newbie to tropical fish so can you tell me what bettas are pleas. Are they related to gouramies? I've only got guppies and a few neons sofar.

 

[Joby]

Thanks Skye

The fungus was literally just inside her lips and mouth. Nothing showing on the outside of the body at all.

Have mailed you

glolite pop over to the Betta section, lots of people to help with betta questions over there