Very Fast Spreading Problem

[lovesikc]

Fish is a Betta, I was trying to decide whether to post here or the Betta section and decided after reading other topics this might be a more suitable section. Sorry if it's in the wrong place!

Tank size: 25 L
pH: 7
ammonia: I don't have a testing kit, but was told at the LFS after taking some water all was normal
nitrite: As above
nitrate: As above
kH:
gH:
tank temp: 26 C

Fish Symptoms: Acting normal but losing colour, transparent/bloody fins, scales missing on body
Volume and Frequency of water changes: 2 litre changes roughly every 7 days
Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: Sponge filter
Tank inhabitants: No other fish
Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): Nothing new
Exposure to chemicals:
Tank Age: Tank has been running since the start of April
The type and size of your filtration: Fluval 2 Plus
Digital photo:

I've had my Betta since April 20th and his tank has been running since the start of April. I live in Australia in the middle of nowhere in a country area and my tanks use rain water. I get my pH neutral by mixing together water from two different tanks on the property (one side of the property is acid and one is alkaline) and letting the water sit for a few days, I try to avoid chemicals as much as possible. The tank is heated/filtered and I keep the water as pristine as possible. HIs tank usually has gravel, one sunken ship ornament with no sharp edges, a very small banana lily and a soft fake plant. He has been eating/acting normal the whole time and has never shown any signs of illness/injury/odd behaviour since I've had him.

Okay, so... on September 21st (Wednesday) I noticed Shark had a pinhole in his Caudal fin, I did a water change and was told by some betta keeper friends to add a fungus product (I used Aqua Master Fungus Cure) by Friday his tail looked pretty normal with no other pinholes or fraying of the fins. On Saturday as I was leaving for work and saying bye to the fish (I have two tanks, other has no problems) I noticed Shark had a small transparent section on his dorsal fin, I did a ~50% water change thinking the fungal product must have caused this and left for work hoping all would be well. When I got home from work the transparent section was bigger (roughly pinky fingernail size) and had the look of faint bloody streaks. Quite worried now I did some searches on finrot and following the advice of some friends again I took him out of the water with the fungus cure and put him in some water with a slight amount of salt - at this time I also took out his gravel and pirate ship decoration, banana lily was removed before the fungus cure.

By Sunday morning his dorsal fin didn't look bloody any longer and the transparent section hadn't increased in size so I left everything as is. Sunday evening the patch was almost double in size and his body under the dorsal fin had a bloody patch with missing scales. Very worried now I made plans to go into town on Monday to talk to my LFS and see what kind of treatment I could get. I live over an hour drive from the nearest town and sadly they had a very limited range available. They told me to use Bettafix which I was a bit iffy about as I've heard both good and very bad things about the product, but they didn't have anything else and I figured it couldn't hurt to try.

I didn't add any Bettafix until Tuesday; by this time almost his whole dorsal fin was looking transparent and bloody, his tail was very pale and he had some frayed edges on his tail. It's now Wednesday and he has a few missing scales on his body, his anal fin has many transparent patches, his ventral fins have transparent/whiteish tips and his damaged fins are covered in black spots/patches.

I have a friend visiting from the city tomorrow who is bringing me Indian Almond Leaves, and I thought I would ask her to also pick up any products recommended by users on this forum if she is able to find them.

The only other important bit of information I can think of is that just before he started to look unwell my partner told me that while I was out of the room my kitten was slapping the glass in his tank and nomming on the sides... which I figure would have stressed the crap out of the poor little guy. Since Saturday though I have kept his tank sides covered with a thick black towel and the kitten hasn't been near him since.

Massive thank you to any help/advice I never thought I could love a fish so much! I can't imagine the thought of not having this little guy.

 

[loraxchick]

looks like the begining of columnaris. It is bacterial and needs to be treated as such. If your friend can get any antibiotic meds (i dont know what is available in Australia, sorry) it would be helpful. Also, if you have any aquarium salt can add it to the tank at 1 teaspoon per 5 gal, so long as he is the only inhabitant (will make the environment less tolerable to the bacteria).
This can spread VERY fast. Ive seen instances of bad strains wiping a tank overnight.
melafix, betta fix or IAL would be useless if it is columnaris. While im not certain, looking at the area (it is also sometimes called saddle disease because of the area it usually starts on-right in front of the dorsal fin like in your pic).
so some google research on it. Loads of info.
all the best
cheers

 

[lovesikc]

looks like the begining of columnaris. It is bacterial and needs to be treated as such. If your friend can get any antibiotic meds (i dont know what is available in Australia, sorry) it would be helpful. Also, if you have any aquarium salt can add it to the tank at 1 teaspoon per 5 gal, so long as he is the only inhabitant (will make the environment less tolerable to the bacteria).
This can spread VERY fast. Ive seen instances of bad strains wiping a tank overnight.
melafix, betta fix or IAL would be useless if it is columnaris. While im not certain, looking at the area (it is also sometimes called saddle disease because of the area it usually starts on-right in front of the dorsal fin like in your pic).
so some google research on it. Loads of info.
all the best
cheers

Thank you so much! After doing a search this really does sound like his problem much more than anything else. I've asked my friend to pick up some gram negative meds so hopefully he'll hold out until tomorrow to be treated.

 

[loraxchick]

looks like the begining of columnaris. It is bacterial and needs to be treated as such. If your friend can get any antibiotic meds (i dont know what is available in Australia, sorry) it would be helpful. Also, if you have any aquarium salt can add it to the tank at 1 teaspoon per 5 gal, so long as he is the only inhabitant (will make the environment less tolerable to the bacteria).
This can spread VERY fast. Ive seen instances of bad strains wiping a tank overnight.
melafix, betta fix or IAL would be useless if it is columnaris. While im not certain, looking at the area (it is also sometimes called saddle disease because of the area it usually starts on-right in front of the dorsal fin like in your pic).
so some google research on it. Loads of info.
all the best
cheers

Thank you so much! After doing a search this really does sound like his problem much more than anything else. I've asked my friend to pick up some gram negative meds so hopefully he'll hold out until tomorrow to be treated.

gram neg is exactly what youd need..wasnt sure what was available to you. Well done you for doing outside research!
Lets hope he makes a full and quick recovery!
all the best
cheers

 

[colleen0309]

Nice to see someone doing research! Keep up the good work and good luck to you with your betta.

 

[lovesikc]

Thought I'd post an update... I'm still quite worried. While some parts of his body have improved with the medication my friend brought me (Bactonex by Aquasonic; 1.66 mg Aminacrine hydrochloride & 0.025 mg methylene blue) some other parts of his body are worrying me greatly. This medication has been in for two days now.

He now has missing scales around one eye, a very pale and swollen looking area under his belly around the part of his body which he uses to flare and some other assorted odd spots. He's having a huge amount of trouble swimming against his filters very gentle flow and keeps getting sucked against the filter (no parts he can get sucked into, but he keeps getting drawn against it) I'm worried about turning it off for the bacteria spread/oxygenated water, but I'm also worried it's exhausting him. It's an internal filter, so I tried turning it on it's side to try and minimise the area he can get sucked against, but this makes him get tumbled around more.

The area under his dorsal fin that was very bloody and raw looks like it's healing and the transparent patches on his fins don't look quite as see through, so that's a plus.

I was wondering if I'm able to put some Indian Almond Leaves in with the medication he's on to try and promote the healing? or if this is a bad idea?
Also, what should I do about the filter and how weak he is?

Thanks again for any help, I really appreciate the time taken!

 

[loraxchick]

IAL would be fine to use with the meds. The patch on his back looks better so thats good. I notice some finrot but the meds should help with that too. As for the filter is there a way you could tie something to the intake...would slow the current and prevent him from getting sucked in.
many times a fish will get worse before it gets better (or any animal for that matter). continue with the meds and see how it goes. Unfortunately not much more you CAN do. Just keep fingers crossed and hope for the best.
cheers