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Very sick, Very Loved Betta. Treating for Columnaris. Please help me heal him. It's been weeks. Very Detailed.

Rubylovesbettas

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I copied this from another forum for help, here is everything I posted:

What is the water volume of the tank? His home: 55gal community tank.
Quarantine: 10gal, by himself.
How long has the tank been running? His home: 4 months. Quarantine: Setup the day I noticed he was sick, he's been quarantined for 3-4 weeks.
Does it have a filter? Sponge filter from 55gal tank.
Does it have a heater? Yes
What is the water temperature? 74F, diagnosed with Columnaris, set low for slow spread. 55gal is set to 79F
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.) Community: BN pleco (3), 14 Neon Tetras, 6 Julli Cory, Rili shrimp ~10 (getting rehomed soon due to breeding (yay)).
Plants, Moss, mopani driftwood, has been treated via boiling and soaking.
Quarantine: Just him with few hiding hutches, sponge filter, catappa leaf, and a "betta bed leaf".

Maintenance
How often do you change the water? 55gal: Once a week Quarantine: Per instructions following medications.
How much of the water do you change? 55gal ~30%, Quarantine: 25%, Today: 50%
What do you use to treat your water? Prime Seachem, along with plant stuff.
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? Both.

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? Yes, for 2 months.
What do you use to test the water? Master Test Kit
What are your parameters?

Community Now and Before Vacation:
Ammonia: 0.0
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
pH: 7.4

2 Weeks of Vacation:
(This is when my betta came down sick, while we where gone, we used an automatic feeder and a sinking pleco block)

Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0.25
Nitrate: 0.0
pH: 7.4

Quarantine:
Part of the reason I joined this forum, test results prior today have been perfect, however, I dosed medication yesterday, tested today after waking up seeing my betta gasping for air. I did a 50% water change.
TODAY:
Ammonia: 0.50
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 0.0
PH: 7.4

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? Betta : Small amounts 3 times a day. Betta Pellets, usually 6 or until he stops, I stand and hand feed him. While on vacation, feeder was set but the amount varied, and we came back, the amount was too much. The rest of the fish, twice a day.
How much do you feed your fish? Just enough for the Corydoras to have some leftover flakes 4-5 small peices at the bottom (hopefully, hard to gauge how much they need) , 1 algae wafer broken up into pieces for the plecos, and 3-4 sinking pellets
What brand of food do you feed your fish? Hikari Cichlid Sinking Pellets, Top Fin Algae Wafers, TetraMin tropical Flakes,
Do you feed frozen or freeze-dried foods? Yes, however, with my betta sick, he will only eat pellets. Once a week: Frozen: Jumbo Blood Worm (Hik Ari Bio Pure), Frozen Brine Shrimp (San Franciso Bay Brand) For the Plecos and Corys: Blanched Cucumber and Zucchini.

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? 2 Months
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? 3-4 Weeks, lost track of time.
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? Day we came home from vacation: Started off noticing he was lethargic (and he's an EXTREMELY active betta fish), then noticed his lips where swollen. That very day, set up a quarantine tank.
Have you started any treatment for the illness? First week treatment: Kanaplex. Waited a week, started new treatment of Kanaplex and Furan-2 combo. Will provide photo of instructions I've been following. Yesterday was his last treatment. Not sure what to do from here.
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? He was very unhappy, his colors where faded, he had something white on his eye that went away over time.
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? Today, his gills are sticking out. His lips are STILL swollen. I'm losing hope.
This is him when I first got him, as you can see the white area on his eye, and his faded colors:
First day.jpg

This Is his home the day we put him in:
New home.jpg

This was him a few days later after introducing him to his new home (he was super fast, greeted us every time we came to the tank, and hard to take a photo of):
He loves it here.jpg

The Next photo is when I first noticed he was sick:
First sign of sickness.jpg





Next photos are of him today as you can see, he still greets me, but he's staying at the top of the water...:

Today gills.jpg

today side view.jpg

today other side view.jpg

Kanaplex, Furan-2 Combo treatment plan I've been following:
Screenshot_20210202-103956_Samsung Internet.jpg



Explain your emergency situation in detail. (Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now)

We went on a vacation for 2 weeks, we bought an automatic feeder called Zacro Automatic Fish Feeder off of amazon. We tested it, ran it a few times, we noticed it varied in quantity so we set it to a small but large enough amount because sometimes it would drop food and other times it wouldn't.. We put in a block for the plecos, my s/o's family decided to add an extra block a week into our vacation (they left for vacation the day they put the next block in). We came back, the block had a white film on it, and there was lingering left over food at the top of the tank. The betta wasn't as active. I did a large water change. Within a few days the betta showed signs of what I think was columnaris which is when I moved him to the quarantine tank. All other fish since then have been fine, we didn't get the neon tetras till after vacation. I've been treating him but I believe the sponge filter I put in from the 55gal is losing it's beneficial bacteria from the meds (which is what is causing the ammonia spike?) I'm scared to leave him in there any longer and he doesn't look like he's improving. Today I woke up and instead of swimming around and greeting me (which he's been doing regardless of being sick) he's just staying at the top of the water consistently making bubbles and his gills are swollen. Yesterday he looked like he was showing large improvements, today is a huge swing backwards.
 
Thank you for calling attention to my post. Thanks for the well wishes as well, do to his swollen gills today and the ammonia spike, I'm debating on stopping treatment where it's at instead of doing another round, and just trying aquarium salt, which is something I haven't done before. I've never used it do to being told by multiple people it does nothing. If anyone has any thoughts on a new treatment, it'd be appreciated. I love my little guy, he has an amazing personality and I'd hate to see him pass on this young. I noticed a bit ago, there's a red piece of something sticking out of his gill, might be part of his inner gill and its torn now? Not sure..
 
Thank you for calling attention to my post. Thanks for the well wishes as well, do to his swollen gills today and the ammonia spike, I'm debating on stopping treatment where it's at instead of doing another round, and just trying aquarium salt, which is something I haven't done before. I've never used it do to being told by multiple people it does nothing. If anyone has any thoughts on a new treatment, it'd be appreciated. I love my little guy, he has an amazing personality and I'd hate to see him pass on this young. I noticed a bit ago, there's a red piece of something sticking out of his gill, might be part of his inner gill and its torn now? Not sure..
I could be wrong, but I see an increased number of whiteness around his gills. Could be Ich or fungus? @Colin_T can help you much farther.
 
If you have a separate aquarium that is clean and empty, fill this up with fresh clean dechlorinated water, a filter and a heater and add 2 table spoons of aquarium salt per 20 litres. The key is provide a clean and therapeutic environment. The salt will definitely ease the swelling of the gills. Change 100% of the water of the temporary tank on a daily basis.

If you do not have a temporary tank do the salt treatment option on your main tank and try to ensure any residue dirt from the automatic feeder that you used is removed.
 

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