Please Help Me!

[BettaBum873]

My new little guy Tic-Tac isn't doing to hott. He was a rescue, he was underfed in his last home and came to me extremely skinny with shredded tail and fins from fin rot. but he's been active, always looking for food and dancing for me whenever I pass his tank. I've been feeding him slowly, don't want him to gain too much weight to fast and get constipated or anything. Well this morning I noticed that he wasn't asking normal. Instead of looking for me he just kind of floated around, no dancing, no appetite, and he looks bloated. Well at first I thought he might just be consitpated but then I noticed what looks to be like some sort of sore growing on his forhead right between his eyes and his eyes appear just the slightest bit too big for his head. Anybody have any suggestions as to what this might be? I changed his water and added a bit of salt and some melafix. Any ideas would be great!!!

Here's Tic-Tac the day I got him

 

[Amerce]

Check out "Hole in the Head", I lost some Rams with this and it is usual for cichlids to get it I've never seen a Betta with one. Melafix and stuff won't heal this if it is HTH.

 

[WILDER]

Sounds bacterial to me, the sore does it have a white edging to it, or a red circling around it, plus a spot in the centre, try some peas with the fish being bloated, the eyes are they bulging out.

 

[BettaBum873]

The sore does have a spot in the middle. Eyes seem a bit big for his head. Bacterial you think? Meds?

 

[WILDER]

Yes bacterial i would go in with tetracycline, can you describe the sore as you can get colummaris spots and ulcers need to find out which one it is.

 

[RandomWiktor]

He was a recent rescue, shipped, right? I've found many fish with shipping stress who are then exposed to a higher temp than they are used to come down with columnaris. Since it typically starts on the face, and you wouldn't have seen "white fuzzyness" on a white fish, I would have suspicion of it. Esp. since his previous symptom was fin rot, which I've also seen on fish with columnaris. Still, a detailed descript. would be good.

The important thing to remember about columnaris is that it kills fast. The second thing is that it is contageous. So, you musn't mix any of your aquarium "tools" (ie. nets, cups, siphons) for other fish with his.

Columnaris can be deadly, but some fairly easy steps greatly increase the chance of survival. Decreased water temp (as low as a betta can handle, so 72-74), high water salinity, current, high aeration, medications (ie. tetracyclene), medicated fish food, and frequent cleanings are all beneficial to curing columnaris.

 

[BettaBum873]

Here are some pics of him taken today, they're not very good but u can get the idea of what I'm talking about

 

[WILDER]

Sorry can't tell on them pics at all, but it bacterial so the tetracycline should work, good luck.

 

[tttnjfttt]

I agree that it is probably bacterial, however, i would probably use kanamyacn, as many bacteria are becoming resistant to tetracycline. Kanamyacin is also broad spectrum, so it should work well against most bacteria. I have also found kanamyacin mixes very easily with water, making it easy to measure for smaller tanks. What i did was i disolved one capsule in 10 ml of water an then gave 1 ml per gallon, and stored the rest in the refrigerator.

Also, antibiotics work better at higher temperatures, even against columnaris. I know there is alot of conflicting info out there about it. In this discussion http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?s=&sho...dpost&p=1094004 Steelhealr went into the mechanism of antibiotics and how they work. The basics of it is that at a higher temperature the antibiotics are more able to kill the bacteria.

Good luck!

 

[RandomWiktor]

Unfortunately, columnaris works much better at high temperatures too; some cases of columnaris are caused by something as simple as a temperature spike since the bacteria loves warm water. By lowering the water temp, you can slow the progression of the illness - and considering that columnaris can kill in less than 24 hours depending on the severity of the case, slowing the speed of the illness is vitally important. I've treated columnaris several times, and in all cases, lowering the temp helped speed recovery time. On the other hand, before I knew what columnaris was, I kept the fish at my usual tank temp (80 degrees) and he was dead within a day. So, while there is certainly conflicting evidence, I do think that columnaris is probably one of the few exceptions in which lowering temp is more beneficial than raising it.
Bacteria growth is complicated stuff, but if I learned anything in microbiology, it is that all bacteria have ideal temperature ranges, just like antibiotics. While some prefer warmer temps, others are killed by cooler temps. Some can only grow at body temperature, for example. Others need dramatically higher or lower temps. While Steehealr makes some very good points, it sounds as though he is lumping all bacteria into the "warmth = good" category.

 

[tttnjfttt]

Actually, i've seen very mixed things online about how to treat columnaris. I completely agree that the baceria can grow faster at higher temperatures, however, i found very mixed results when i did a web serach. Of the sites that made temperature recomendations, it was about 50/50.

Since the antibiotics are able to better shut down the bacteria's duplicating mechanism, that is why I would recomend the higher temperature. Its one of those cases where the benefits out weigh the risks. Also, we aren't even sure it is columnaris. It sounds bacterial, and has the symptoms of a bacterial infection, but is not text book columnaris.

 

[BettaBum873]

I'm pretty sure its not colmunaris, I've dealt with colmunaris before and it was nothing like this. Anyway I started treating him with maracyn and maracyn 2 last night and this morning he already looks a bit better. His eyes seem to be more of a normal size, lol. Wish me luck with him!

 

[RandomWiktor]

::crosses fingers for the little dude::
Glad he's feeling a bit better allready!

 

[tttnjfttt]

good luck! glad he is doing better alredy!

 

[Bubblegrrl]

Good luck! Hope he makes a speedy recovery! He's a handsome little guy

Debs