Help -- I Think My Betta Is Sick

[smg0918]

I have had Sushi for about two months and until this week he was doing well. He lives in a 2 gallon tank in my office -- no filter or heater but it does have a light and aerator. When I bought him I was told I didn't really need to change his water -- just suction out the yucky stuff from the bottom and add dechlorinated water when the tank got low. I have since learned that was a HUGE mistake and I promise I will change my ways.

Anyway, last Wednesday I added some water to his tank (that had been treated with Stress Coat) and he seemed to do just fine with it. On Monday when I got into the office I noticed some algae on a decorative tunnel in his tank that had not been there previously. And when I tried to feed Sushi he refused to eat. I had been feeding him pellets (three or four twice a day) and he always ate everything I gave him. On Monday he just spit it out. Not like him at all! On Tuesday he did eat a few pellets, but still not his normal appetite. Yesterday he tried to eat in the morning but ended up spitting the pellet out as soon as it was in his mouth. By yesterday evening I noticed some discoloration on his head. He is a very vibrant cobalt blue color with some tinges of red, but last night he seemed to have a greenish/grayish spot near one of his eyes. He also has a few very tiny white spots right on his back before the fin starts. He refused to eat at all last night.

I went to the pet store today and the owner told me it sounded like he had fungus and also possibly ich. I bought a new 2 gallon bowl and the owner told me to treat the water with Stress Coat, and add aquarium salt and Rid Ich, which I did. I made sure the water temperature felt the same as his old tank and moved him to the new bowl around 12:30 this afternoon. He seems to be a bit more chipper to me this afternoon, but perhaps that's just wishful thinking??? I also bought freeze dried bloodworms for him -- I broke up two of the worms into small pieces and he ate them (slowly, but he did eat them). I was told to change 25% of the water (and re-treat with the Rid Ich) every day until he is better.

Does it sound like he has a fungus and/or ich? Everything I'm reading about fungus describes it as white patches, and the discoloration on his head is definitely not white. Am I doing the right things for his bowl? Is the Rid Ich enough or should I be giving him an antibiotic like Maracyn and/or Maracyn Two (and are those safe to use with the Rid Ich)? Also, can he eat just the bloodworms, or should I try to go back to the pellets at some point? How many bloodworms should he be eating each day? He is a rather large betta -- his body is about 2 inches in length. And finally, how long should I be treating the water with Rid Ich or other meds?

I am rather attached to this little guy and really want him to get well. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Susan

 

[LauraFrog]

Your betta is sick because not changing enough of the water (on bad advice I take it) has caused a build up of ammonia in the bowl because he has no filter. The ammonia has weakened his immune system a bit so that he can't resist the fish diseases as well as he normally can. If you treat the diseases and keep his water cleaner he should recover. I'm a bit of a forum joke because I'm a nutcase who's always rescuing bettas that have been abused by bad pet stores. I see some in terrible condition, but they are really tough and that fighting spirit will keep them alive until you can kill off what's hurting them. It's incredible what clean water and good food will do for a fish that looks like it's dying.

Change ALL the water in his usual home, take the gravel out of it and rinse it. Usually we advice against really radical cleanings like that, but when the tank isn't cycled (no filter so does not contain the bacteria that remove ammonia) it doesn't really matter because the only thing there to be got rid of is the gunk that causes ammonia buildup by rotting.
Then fill the tank back up, treat the water and leave it for him to go back into when he's better.

If the patch is on his head I would be very worried about columnaris. Columnaris is bacterial, but it is sometimes known as 'mouth fungus'. It's not a fungus at all but is commonly mistaken for one because it can look similar. Fungus grows on dead tissue, such as open wounds or rotting fins, and if it gets too voracious may start damaging living flesh. Columnaris always lives on live fish. It may appear as a white, greyish or orangey fuzz, or might be see through with tints of the colour of the fish. It starts as a patch which then becomes fuzzy.

When you say on his back before the fin starts, do you mean the dorsal fin (fin on his back) or the tail fin? If it's the dorsal fin I would be even more worried about columnaris, because one of the classic forms of columnaris is the 'saddleback' lesion.

A clear photo would be the most help to us in working out if it's columnaris or something else. If it's columnaris maracyn 1 and 2 will cure it, but I wouldn't use them yet in case it's not.

Ich or whitespot is caused by a parasite. It looks as though the fish has been sprinkled with grains of salt. With severe infestations you might also see the fish flicking or rubbing on objects - this is how itchy fish scratch. If the white dots are any larger than big grains of salt, it's not ich but something else.
At one point in the lifecycle of the ich parasite it falls off the fish and into the gravel. It's not gone, it will continue a cycle of reinfestation unless you get rid of it, and when it's fallen off the fish is the only time you can actually kill it with medication. I've never had ich, so wait for somebody else's help with that one.

Good luck, and a photo would REALLY help us.

 

[smg0918]

Sorry, but I don't have my camera here at the office so I can't take a photo of him. The discoloration -- which is VERY hard to see unless you're looking for it -- is primarily one spot above his eye, but really his entire face around his eyes and mouth seems to be a greenish color. It is not fuzzy at all. He just looks as though his face is kind of changing color. There is no discoloration on his back -- just two little white specks (sort of like the grains of salt you mentioned) on his back before his dorsal fin starts.

Since moving him into the clean bowl, he is acting much more like his usual self -- he is swimming around, spreading out his fins and he seems happy. And he's loving the bloodworms -- I just gave him 1.5 and he ate them right up.

Does this help?

 

[Netty]

What temp is the water that he's in. Bettas should be kept at around 26c and if it is Ich then raising the temp slightly will help the cycle of Ich speed up whilst treating and eventually kill it off.

I'd also recommend feeding frozen bloodworm instead of freeze dried.....it's much better for them as freeze dried can swell up inside their bodies unless you soak it before feeding.

 

[LauraFrog]

Freeze dried stuff has its uses though, if you soak it in garlic which is a really strong appetite stimulant it's great to get sick fishies eating. As long as you don't feed too much at once it should be ok, but like Netty said if you stuff him full of it and then it swells up in his belly you've got problems. The best food for bettas is called hikari betta bio gold but it costs an absolute fortune. The odd frozen (or dried) bloodworm or even some live food is great as well.

How big is your betta? Sometimes they can undergo pretty radical colour changes as they get older (so if he's young you might be seeing that), but since he's sick it does seem more likely that it's related to that. What colour is he normally?

If there are only two white specks and it is ich, you've caught it very early. Try rinsing the gravel from his usual tank in hot water - this will kill any parasites that are in the gravel and then if you can kill the ich on the fish with the medication, you should have no more problems with ich if you keep his water clean.

 

[smg0918]

Freeze dried stuff has its uses though, if you soak it in garlic which is a really strong appetite stimulant it's great to get sick fishies eating. As long as you don't feed too much at once it should be ok, but like Netty said if you stuff him full of it and then it swells up in his belly you've got problems. The best food for bettas is called hikari betta bio gold but it costs an absolute fortune. The odd frozen (or dried) bloodworm or even some live food is great as well.

How big is your betta? Sometimes they can undergo pretty radical colour changes as they get older (so if he's young you might be seeing that), but since he's sick it does seem more likely that it's related to that. What colour is he normally?

If there are only two white specks and it is ich, you've caught it very early. Try rinsing the gravel from his usual tank in hot water - this will kill any parasites that are in the gravel and then if you can kill the ich on the fish with the medication, you should have no more problems with ich if you keep his water clean.

Ugh! Seems I'm getting wrong information from every pet store person I speak with! First the one who told me I didn't need to change the water in the tank, and now today the one who told me freeze dried blood worms were the best thing for him!

Until today I have been feeding him the Hikari Betta Bio Gold but he is refusing to eat it now. He loved the bloodworms though. I fed him a total of three freeze dried worms today. Is that OK or was it too much? And what do you recommend I feed him at this point if he continues to refuse the Hikari pellets?

In terms of size, Sushi is fairly large -- his body is about two inches long. I'm not sure how old he is as I bought him two months ago, but who knows how long he was sitting on the shelf at PetSmart? As for coloring, he is a rich cobalt blue color with some tinges of red in his fins. The blue beta in this picture is similar in color, although Sushi's head is normally completely blue -- the red is limited to his fins.

So is it possible then that the discoloration is not illness? Why then was he refusing to eat Hikari pellets? Is he just turning into a culinary snob?

Many thanks for your input. I really appreciate it!

 

[Honeythorn]

Also, don't treat his water with stress coat. It does bugger all and does not remove eiother chlorine or chloramines. You need to treat any water you pour into the tank with Dechlorinator ( I use Nutrafin aquaplus ) plus as it's only 2 gallons, you should be changing half to 3/4 of the water every couple of days. If you can get a bigger tank, a 5 gal say, you could add a gentle sponge filter to provide a biological cycle for the fish, and he'll have more space. You also need a heater. The temp in any rokm can fluctuate, and a heater will keep the temp stable and constant.