Problem Already

[Chris5787]

I bought my betta on thursday and when i got him he was active, alert and had really nice colours and fins, but he seems to have deteriorated since then. Hes now lethargic, hes turning grey, is breathing heavily and hasnt eaten since i brought him home.

This is a picture of him taken on thursday

He now looks like this, i think the white spots on him are sand from when i did the water change, because they werent on him before i did the water change.

Ive tested the water:
KH-6
PH-7.6
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-10
Temp-26C

Ive also done a 50% water change to see if that helps. Anyone have any idea what might be wrong with him?

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Def not a happy fella.... Looks very much like saddleback often found in Neon tetras..... A fibrosis of cells around the back area, and I dunno how to treat..... The white spots may well be ich??

 

[SharonCC]

Oh dear!!! He doesn't look good. I'm going to ask a dumb question...you didn't forget to dechlorinate the water, did you? The readings look perfect! What size tank and what tankmates?

 

[liz2]

OK If he was mine, I would put him in a bare tank with water (conditioned and the same temp. as he is in now) put a heater in with him, and treat with aqua salt. Try feeding him with defrosted bloodworms if you have any. Wiggle one in front of his nose on a cocktail stick. To be honest I have bought bettas that have looked good in the shops but have gone down hill really fast. If he is truggling to swim lower the water level and put a piece of silk plant near the top so he can rest. Does look a bit like velvet or ich. Oh just realised he is a crown tail they like soft water, which is why I cant keep any. I had one once and had to use filtered water for him. Keep us posted Good luck

 

[Chris5787]

Def not a happy fella.... Looks very much like saddleback often found in Neon tetras..... A fibrosis of cells around the back area, and I dunno how to treat..... The white spots may well be ich??

I believe the white spots are sand kicked up by the water change because he was lying on the sand at the time, and didnt have them before the water change.

Oh dear!!! He doesn't look good. I'm going to ask a dumb question...you didn't forget to dechlorinate the water, did you? The readings look perfect! What size tank and what tankmates?

Yes, the water was dechlorinated, not a dumb question. 60 litre tank, hes in with pygmy cories.

OK If he was mine, I would put him in a bare tank with water (conditioned and the same temp. as he is in now) put a heater in with him, and treat with aqua salt. Try feeding him with defrosted bloodworms if you have any. Wiggle one in front of his nose on a cocktail stick. To be honest I have bought bettas that have looked good in the shops but have gone down hill really fast. If he is truggling to swim lower the water level and put a piece of silk plant near the top so he can rest. Does look a bit like velvet or ich. Oh just realised he is a crown tail they like soft water, which is why I cant keep any. I had one once and had to use filtered water for him. Keep us posted Good luck

Unfortunately i cant set up another tank. I tried him with blodworm earlier, but no interest. I also used a cocktail stick, but still no interest. I think im going to lose him before the end of the night to be honest, he looks awfull. Are crowntails harder to care for than standard bettas?

 

[FishAddict99]

Unfortunately i cant set up another tank. I tried him with blodworm earlier, but no interest. I also used a cocktail stick, but still no interest. I think im going to lose him before the end of the night to be honest, he looks awfull. Are crowntails harder to care for than standard bettas?
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That's really strange. Hopefully he'll pull through but I do believe that crowntails are harder to care for. I've had at least two on separate occasions and both of them eventually started losing their color, turning almost drab. I think it may be the water quality of my tap. I use tap water with a dechlorinator and while it seems fine with my veiltails, it seems like a bad choice for my crowntails. Unfortunately, I lost my second crowntail but my first is still barely alive. I just recieved Atison's Betta Spa today in the mail. I'm really hoping that it does it's job and that maybe, my crowntail will perk up. Only time will tell.

When I bought Courage. He was very beautiful, had a great purplish-sheen to his finnage. The crappy picture I took did not do any justice showing his real color:

How he looks today. Notice, his colors are totally different and you would never guess he is a crowntail:

When I bought Elvis:

How he looked before he died (he became really transparent):

 

[Chris5787]

Thanks for that FishAddict99, helped me a lot. Looks like whats happened to my fish exactly. Unfortunately hes deteriorated further still, he now seems to have had a stroke of some sort, his fin on his one side has stopped working completely. Im just going to let nature take its course, i will have to see how he is in the morning.

 

[modaz]

place him in a small bowl and float this in his tank, change the water at 100% daily, also treat with antibacterial meds over the treatments stated dosage dates, make sure you treat him after you've done the water changes, keep him off live bloodworm, daphnia is better for him at the moment. feed him twice a day. this is how i treat for saddleback if needed and it clears it up, its defo saddleback by the look of it. I find this way very affective.

 

[Chris5787]

place him in a small bowl and float this in his tank, change the water at 100% daily, also treat with antibacterial meds over the treatments stated dosage dates, make sure you treat him after you've done the water changes, keep him off live bloodworm, daphnia is better for him at the moment. feed him twice a day. this is how i treat for saddleback if needed and it clears it up, its defo saddleback by the look of it. I find this way very affective.

Thanks modaz, will try and get this sorted now. Do i treat just the bowl he will be in? I havent managed to get him to eat anything so far, so dont know how i will get him to eat daphnia. Is frozen daphnia ok?

 

[Chris5787]

also, what antibacterial meds do you recommend, because im not sure if i have any or not.

 

[modaz]

yes treat the tank too, frozen will be fine, add it close to his mouth, hoping its not too late for the treament but its worth the shot

 

[Chris5787]

will waterlife myxazin be ok? or esha 2000? or king british bacteria control?

 

[the tigrex]

if its a med thats sold its been tested and all that so yes try that i hope he pulls through

 

[Chris5787]

Thanks, it all happened so suddenly though, so im not holding out much hope, the poor little guy has hardly any energy left. i think i jinxed myself by giving him a name.

 

[Chris5787]

Well he died during the night. Will this disease pass on to any other bettas i may get in the future?