Fungus Amungus

SRC

Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants won'
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My favorite VT boy Han is sick. Very sick.

About a month ago I noticed, for whatever reason, one of his ventrals was missing. I thought that was very odd..as I didn't see it lying on the floor of the tank, in a plant, or floating around anywhere. It was like it just dissapeared.

Another 2 21/2 weeks went by and he still had the one ventral..no sickness, no irritation or redness at the spot where the other should have been (I had been watching it). Then one day I went to feed them and :eek: the other one was gone..it was there the day before then over night just vanished without a trace.

So after this one dissapeared his belly looked a little swollen right where the ventrals should have been. So I treated him for a week with Tetracyelene and some IAL. Everything seemed to be fine after about a week so I discontinued the medications and just left the IAL in there.

Friday when I came in to work I found him all bloated up (if he turns or bends his body the scales appear to stick out..but only when viewed from above..from the side they look normal), the area where his ventrals should be attached was all swollen and irritated looking, and he has some stringy/poofy looking stuff (that I assume is/was fungus) hanging from one of his pectoral fins. There is none, however, at the sight where his ventrals should be.

I got some Maracyn2 and started treatment Friday. I also added in some Methylene Blue as well. I did the double dose the first day with the Maracyn2 then went to the single daily daily dose (tommorrow is the last day of Maracyn2).

Today when I came in his right Pectoral fin is almost completely gone (there's just a tiny remnent of it left), and the left one is nothing more then a mere stick...it's kinda raw looking (has a red appearance) with some fuzzy stuff clinging to it. He's even more swollen and his scale are slightly sticking out...again only when viewed from above though..can't tell from the side. He doesn't have the rest of his fins clamped up at all..except his dorsal..and that's mostly because he's hanging out at the water line.

He's just kinda chillaxin, and hanging out at the top most of the time..but he does act quite aggitated ever so often and swim thrashing about..although that could be just because it's hard to swim without the use of any pectoral fins.. he's still eating though, fed him some FD BM earlier.


Pictures are pretty crappy..as to get close enough to get a detail picture it makes him move away..so most of these are taken with him moving..which he's really still til I aim at him :sly: .
(can see no ventrals or pectorals)
sick001.jpg


(can see no pectorals and if you look close in the reflection up top..you can see the stump of one pectoral...and can clearly see the lump where the ventrals should be attached)
sick002.jpg


(Can see the lump again plus the raw edge of the pectoral)
sick003.jpg


(is blurry but you can see the red raw edge of the pectoral..plus the stringy/poofy stuff on the end hanging off)
sick004.jpg


(is blurry but you can see the red raw edge of the pectoral..plus the stringy/poofy stuff on the end hanging off)
sick005.jpg


(these are very blurry but you can see how swollen he is from a top view..and you can slightly make out his scales sticking out..but like I said..they aren't like OMG sticking out though :/ )
sick006.jpg

sick007.jpg



*sigh* I dunno what else to do for him at this point really. He's got Maracyn2, Methylene Blue, salt, and IAL in his tank right now...and some Naladine (it's for dropsy and bacterial infections).
 
I am not sure what this is but I would post your guys info on www.flippersandfins.net

Dr. Barb and Aquilla are the most knowledgeable Betta people I know and can surely help.

Sandi
 
Thanks, I'll try that. Anyone else around here have a suggestion, idea???
 
Honestly I can't afford to buy any right now..I barely was able to buy the Maracyn2 (unfortunately my paycheck got cut this time...I took out 401K and had to also start taking out health insurance (thanks to a certain someone's daddy dropping his without notice :grr: ..so a large chunk that usually doesn't come out came out this pay cycle (about $200) and my budget isn't quite used to that..so I'm going to have to re-adjust my budget during the next pay cycle to accomodate that).

Kinda sucks..but that's what being an adult and a parent means sometimes *sigh*. I have plenty of med's already on hand..just haven't ever bought any of the Collodial Silver yet...it's rather expensive for the dosage (ppm) that is reccomended to use. -_-
 
Well I am very amateur when it comes to dealing with fish illnesses so I really have no suggestions for you although I certainly wish I did. I feel badly for you and the little guy. Fingers crossed that he'll recover but the photos look ominous :(
 
It suddenly occurred to me that I read somewhere putting epsom salts in the water can help a bloated fish. I have no idea if it'd make any difference but I thought I'd throw the idea out there.
 
I honestly don't know if this will work, but malachite green is really good for treating true fungus. I got a CT that had some nasty fungus on his tail and bottom fin. It ate away about 1/2 of his tail before I got it under control. I used Nox-Ich to clear it, as it's main ingredient is malachite green.

What you are dealing with seems a little more aggressive than what I had though. The site sandig posted about does have some really good information. I have read some articles by Dr. Barb, and I was extremely impressed. They may be able to help more.
 
I'm feel so bad for your lfish and wish i could help but i can confirm that salt has helped with bloating- I've used it once again i feel terrible and hope you fish recovers :(
 
:sad: Sadly Han just was too sick to pull through. He tried though..eating right up until the end. This morning when I came in I found that he had passed.

R.I.P Han :wub:

This were taken Friday afternoon..so you can get an idea of just how fast this hit him. Moday he looked like the pictures above :(.

Han007.jpg



It was suggested that I get some Kanaplex and treat him. So I called every LPS and LPS around..within a 75 mile radius..and found 1 (just so happened it was the very one I bought Han from actually) that sold Kanaplex. When I got there the lady told me she couldn't sell it to me. That the company had gone out of business and since she couldn't guarentee it she couldn't sell it to me (the owner was behind the counter telling her this). They pushed some Pimmafix on me and I also got some Maracyn..treated him with that last night..but this morning he was gone.

*sigh*

Thanks to everyone for their advice and help.
 

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