Serious problems with my Tank

[Barday]

Hi All,

There is something seriously wrong with my betta, I only noticed it this morning, and it does not look too nice

Basicaly it looks like one side of his face has been badly burnt. It is a round patch going from the top of his head to the bottom. The skin has been discouloured, and looks like it has flaked away, and his eye has gone white. It looks pretty painfull and sore, and he's not moving too much.

I did a water change yesterday and started a Melafix treatment to cure some finrot on my guppy, could this be the problem?

Any help or advice will be appreciated

Thanks

 

[lizard]

I seem to recall reading something about not using Melafix with Bettas (use Betta-fix, or something like that, instead), but I don't know for certain. I'm no expert in Bettas. Perhaps Wuv, Sorrell, Julie, or another individual more knowledgable about Bettas can help you out. Good luck

Pamela
aka Married Lizard

 

[kaley822]

i'm almost certain its ok to use melafix with bettas, i've done it before, never heard anything otherwise In fact, i would think the melafix would help it if anything, because if the discolored patch is some kind of infected wound or something, wouldnt melafix help that clear up.

you said it was white, maybe its some kind of fungus. You could try looking for fungus meds, but i'd put him in hospital tank asap if u have one. sorry i cant be of more help

 

[Barday]

Thanks for the reply's, but unfortunatelly my betta has died . I had to kill him lastnight because he just didn't have any strength to swim . This has been my fourth death this week, I think something fishy is going on!!

Anyway thanks again
Barday

 

[The-Wolf]

First of all, according to many betta experts here,(i'm not an expert) melafix is very bad for bettas; hence the product by the same company Bettafix.

Secondly I am sorry to hear of the death of your betta, but i do hope that you used a humane way to euthinise him.

 

[Barday]

Thanks for the reply Danio..............I did euthanise him humanely (I hope), I used Ice cubes. But right now that is the least of my problems, I came home today and found 5 more fish dead - 4 Tetras and a guppy


I thought I'd better do a water test just in case something is seriously wrong. All was fine except for presence of Amonia I put that down to the decomposition of all the fish that have died recently. I did a 40% water change straight away and I will probably do the same for the next few days. Is this the right way to treat amonia in the tank without using chemicals like ammo lock?

Also should I stop the melafix or carry it on..............someone please help

Thanks
Barday

 

[Boggle]

Hi,

Sorry about your betta

Re: finrot on your guppy, I don't think Melafix will do anything, you need specific meds that treat tail & finrot.

I noticed on your sig you have neon tetras in the tank. Tetras are very sensitive to any meds, can you maybe put them in a seperate tank while you are medicating the tank? This would be my guess as to why you've lost 4, using full dose of anything is actually overdosing as far as tetras & baby fish go.

Also, not sure if you are using activated carbon, if you are, you need to take it out as it will remove meds out of the water.

I've never used ammo lock so I can't say yay or nay, but I don't think putting meds on top of chemicals on top of meds etc would help. Daily water changes would be my choice.

 

[Barday]

Hi Boggle, Thanks for the reply..........

Another tetra died today after I stoped the meds and did a 40% water change yesterday

As for the melafix, I thought it was used to repair damaged fins?

Anyway, I don't have the option of using another tank because I dont have one! and I'm not using an active carbon filter.

Basically what I want to know is, how to treat a presence of amonia in my tank.....

As I understand, amonia is produced from dead fish decomposing and the breakdown of fish waste and food. So I assume that the best way to treat it would be to stop feeding for a couple of days and to do 20% - 30% water changes daily until the amonia reaches 0...................am I right?

 

[swozzie]

Depends on how severe your Ammonia problem is. If it really high then I would do 50% water changes every other day, maybe even every day in sever cases! Make sure you clean the tank real well, removing all debris and cleaning the gravel. This will slow down more Ammonia entering the water. Also reduce feeding to a minimum. You could stop feeding completely for a few days but it's probably not neccessary.

Ammo lock claims to not harm you bio filter but I would prefer the water change option unless your fish look like they are on their last fins and you can't wait the few days it takes to clear up the problem with water changes.

Do you have an Ammonia test kit? What is the reading?

 

[outofmybin21]

40 and 50% water changes so often are bad for the fishes stress level very bad which causes ammonia and it takes out too much good bacteria also bad for ammonia.

I believe ure tank is suffering from a low ph being too acidic so i would add a spoonful of bicarbonate of soda to the tank and if they start swimming more and being more active thats ure problem.

 

[outofmybin21]

Even 30% daily is ridiculous

I do a 30% water change every 3-4 weeks and ure doing it every day its just too much buddy

I`m almost positive its a problem with ure ph level being too high (alkaline) or too low (acidic) as this causes fins to burn and to look rotted as well as burns on the fishes skin.

Anyways good luck with the tank

 

[swozzie]

Massive regulare water changes aren't generally a good thing but they are much better than swimming around in your own mess. High ammonia should be reduced immediatley. Removing water also has virtually no effect on reducing bacteria since pretty much all of the bacteria live in the filter sponge which has a very high surface area for lots of them to cling onto.