What is wrong with my fish?

[corneliusmom]

Hello!

My betta Fineas has been acting weird for a week now. I have been treating him with tannins and Kanaplex as suggested on a forum but I can't tell if he's getting better.

Tank size: 10 gallons
tank age: 8 months
pH: 8.2
ammonia: 0 ppm
nitrite: 0 ppm
nitrate: 5 ppm
kH:
gH:
tank temp: 80 F

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):
Lethargic, just stays at the top with body slightly slanted so mouth is at the surface. Seems confused and disoriented at times (bumps into things). Hides in caves sometimes, which he never does. Seemed to be suffering as seen in pic below, but this incident only lasted a few mins. Doesn't really eat. Sometimes seems to struggle with buoyancy, as he will be swimming down and then stops moving and just bobs back to the surface. However this is either improving or not constant, as he is also able to stay at the bottom at times. His fins used to be very long and have receded (but, he also fin bites).

Volume and Frequency of water changes: 20% weekly

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: Kanaplex as of a week

Tank inhabitants: None other

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): None

Exposure to chemicals: Kanaplex

Digital photo (include if possible):

 

[Colin_T]

How long have you had him for (8 months)?
Was he full grown when you got him?

What sort of filter is on the aquarium?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change each week?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the aquarium?

How long has he had the red lines around his body where the fins meet the body?

Can you post a video of him acting weird?
Upload videos to YouTube, then copy & paste the links here.
If you use a mobile phone to film the fish, hold the phone horizontally (landscape mode) so the footage fills the entire screen and doesn't have black bars on either end.

 

[corneliusmom]

@Colin_T Thanks for your help!

I have had him for 8 months. He was fully grown when I got him; I adopted him from his previous owner as she couldn’t take care of him. She estimated his age at 1 year but isn’t sure.

It’s a sponge filter. I clean it about once a month by squeezing it multiple times in tank water I siphoned out.

I do gravel vac, but maybe I don’t do it thoroughly enough? I mostly try to vacuum leftover food at the top of the substrate. I do dechlorinate.

He has always had them. I think they’re veins that show up because he is a cellophane betta. This pic was from when I first got him.


I unfortunately didn’t think to film when he was acting odd, and he isn’t doing it as much anymore. I will for sure film if he does it again.

Something I forgot to mention: when I first noticed his symptoms, I thought he had worms because I saw a long stringy tube hanging from him. I posted in another forum and was told that it might just be a mucus cast if he had not been eating much recently. The string did fall off after that night and I haven’t seen anything like that since. See pic below.

 

[Colin_T]

He has blood in his fins, which is a bacterial infection. The Kanamycin should help. If it doesn't the fish might have a drug resistant bacterial infection.

The stringy white poop can be from intestinal worms, an internal bacterial infection, or an internal protozoan infection. The internal bacterial infections tend to kill the fish within a few days. Intestinal worms take months to affect fish and they don't go off their food. When they go off their food and do a stringy white poop, it's an internal protozoan infection and Metronidazole usually helps.

 

[corneliusmom]

Thanks @Colin_T

When I went to see him yesterday he seemed to be swimming around slightly more and I did get him to eat one pellet. I had just completed a three dose course of Kanaplex. Is it worth doing another course (perhaps waiting a few days) since he seems to be showing slow improvement?

I was able to get a few videos and upload them to Imgur. I've been finding him hidden in small corners with his head pointing up like in the video below which is not his usual way of resting. I get scared he might be stuck or suffocating so I will gently try to nudge him up with my finger, but then he always swims up on his own. This time however he started rapidly fanning his fins after a few moments. I again assumed he needed help but he shot up.

https://imgur.com/a/X57QsAv

He still shows signs of lethargy and weakness, but no so much buoyancy issues anymore. In this video he seems to let himself drop after swimming normally for a few seconds. He stayed in the nose-down position for about 30 secs before righting himself.

https://imgur.com/a/3ad9CMt

Later in the evening he stayed like this for a bit.


Lastly, I hadn't noticed before but he also has moments of heavy breathing, like in this video.

https://imgur.com/a/9f5oL2B

Thanks for all your help so far. Should I try Metronidazole then, even though I have not seen stringy white poop in a week? If yes, and if you also recommend another round of Kanaplex, do I do Metro first or the other way around? I just don't want to overwhelm him with a lot of medications in a short time.

 

[Fishfunn]

As its instructions say, I would not do more than 3 doses of Kanaplex. Too many doses of Kanaplex will damage its kidneys.

I'm wondering if it has a gill disease like gill flukes or mites, treat with praziquantel as in API General Cure.

 

[Colin_T]

My guess is he is dying but I don't know what from (probably an internal issue). The heavy breathing is characteristic of a fish with a major internal problem.
The choice is yours if you want to try more medication but I don't think it's going to help. Normally if a fish is going to respond it will do so within a day or two of being treated. If there's no improvement after a full course of treatment, the medication isn't working and you need to try something else.
If you haven't tried Metronidazole then you could but it might be cheaper to replace the fish because the medication might not work. I wouldn't bother using Kanaplex again.

 

[corneliusmom]

@Colin_T and @Fishfunn

Thanks for the help. I think I'll buy API General Cure as it seems to contain both Metro and Prazi