Ill siamese fighting fish

[phil]

Hi All

My siamese is looking extremely ill, he has gone a dull reddish purple (from being brilliant reddish purple), very lethargic, and stays by the filter hidden away, swollen abdomen and a small transparent lump by one of his pectoral fins - anyone got any ideas as to what this might be?

I am moving him to my isolation tank and treating with Melafix.

I`ve not introduced any other fish or plants for over 1 month.

my water parameters are Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10 - other fish in the tank seem okay.

Phil

 

[BettaMomma]

This could be one of several things going on here - probably a combination of a few things.

First, how much do you feed him?
I ask this because I suspect it might be constipation caused by simple overfeeding.
(a betta's belly is the size of his eyeball!) He might just be lethargic because he doesn't feel right cuz he's bloated from the constipation.

Is he swimming normally, or is he bobbing around not completely upright? I thought possibly swim bladder problem, but if he's staying upright okay, that's probably not it.

How often do you do water changes, or how do you handle the water changings??
What's his temperature, and what kind of tank is he in?

What other fish do you have in there with him?

It's very possible that it's a bacterial infection also.
I'll wait til I hear your responses to post more

 

[BettaMomma]

Oh, wait - I just saw what you have in there with your little guy.

How long has he been with all the fish in that tank with him?
It seems like a lot going on for him in there.

I'd personally separate him to get him back to normal, then I'd leave him in his own tank - but that's just my opinion.

 

[phil]

Hi BettaMomma

he`s fed with the others on dried flake 5 days a week, live bloodworm 1 day a week and nothing on the 7th.

He`s swimming normally - I thought about swimbladder as I lost one of my zebra danios to ? swimbladder but that was 2 months ago - just very lethargic.

Water changes I do weekly usually 5 - 10 gallons (after checking water parameters) and treating new water.

He is the first fish I bought 4 months ago so has been tank mates with the others for some time - the last fish I added was nearly 2 months ago.

I`ve moved him to my isolation tank and put some melafix in and will be putting a shelled pea in to see if that helps.

Phil

 

[WILDER]

Going pale is due to stress and illness, you will need an internal bacteria med for the lump,swollen tummy if he is still eating try a shelled pea and daphnia, can he maintain his balance in the water, are his scales prutruding outwards.

 

[phil]

Hi All

Thanks for the replies (bettamomma and wilder) unfortunately after typing my last post I went to check on him and he`d died.

I checked him over under a hand held magnifier could find nothing apart from what I had stated before + under his chin the gillslits seemed to be engorged and very red.

I checked his abdomen and it was soft albeit swollen.



Phil

 

[WILDER]

Check water quality red gills can be a few thing, rule water quality out first.

 

[BettaMomma]

I'm sorry for your loss.
I would keep an eye on the rest of your fishes - it sounds like he might have had some sort of gill infection - and those can be contagios.

Again, so sorry for your loss.
If you're at all like me, you were attached to the little guy