Young betta with columnaris??

[bettalover23]

hello. so recently i got this young beta i’ve had him for about a month and recently his fins became clamped so i treated him with some bettafix and it didn’t seem to do much accept he had a bit more energy. and when i came home today he was covered in white I wasn’t able to get a picture of since he was hiding but he has white cloudy stuff all along his body which i assume is columnaris. he is struggleing too breathe and his breathing very labored and i wouldn’t want to lose him he has such a spunky personality and i already love him. he’s currently in a 3.5 gallon tank (he will be upgraded to a 10 gallon when he’s older) i don’t have any water testing strips left i will get some asap. but in the meantime what can i do? do you recommend any medicines or other treatments?

 

[Colin_T]

Don't add chemicals to the tank unless you know what the problem is.

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BASIC FIRST AID FOR FISH
Test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week or until the problem is identified. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Post clear pictures and video of the fish so we can check them for diseases.

 

[bettalover23]

ok sooo i did a full water change and cleaned everything. i put some medicine in that says it’s supposed to help the symptoms he’s haveing i figured it couldn’t hurt. here are the pictures i know the one doesn’t really show the white stuff as it was more on the other side of his body and he wasn’t moving.

 

[bettalover23]

his fins are very clamped as you can see to

 

[Colin_T]

I can't tell much from the pictures but it doesn't appear to have Columnaris.

He does have clamped fins and that can be from poor water quality or an external bacterial or protozoan infection. Bacterial infections usually chew the fins up and cause the infected area to become red (hard to tell on a red fish).
Protozoan infections usually cause a lot of excess mucous (cream coloured slime) to appear on parts of the fish.

I would be more inclined to think it's poor water quality or an external protozoan infection than bacterial, and more likely to be water quality than protozoan due to it being one betta in a tank by himself.

How long has the tank been set up for (1 month)?
How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?

What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the tap water and aquarium water?
What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

What do you feed the fish and how often do you feed him?

 

[bettalover23]

the tank had been set up for about 5 months and he’s actually been in there for about 5 months not a month, bad counting on my part. the water is changed once every 2 weeks 50-70% water change. i haven’t cleaned the gravel recently it been more than a few weeks. there is a double chamber carbon filter on the tank and it is cleaned during the water changes by rinsing it in the sink. The water is also dechlorinated before going into the tank. he is getting omega one flakes every night and is occasionally fasted for a day. This is also my sisters tank and fish i am just posting for her as she didn’t want to make an account. i am also going to the pet store later to get water test kits.

 

[bettalover23]

here is a better picture of the white slime

 

[bettalover23]

also what medicines do you recommend for the protozoan infections?

 

[Colin_T]

also what medicines do you recommend for the protozoan infections?

No medications until we know what the problem is. Salt can generally be used for 3 of the more common protozoan parasites so if you want to buy something, buy a bag of rock salt (aquarium salt or swimming pool salt).

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You mention washing the filter under tap water. That can cause problems by washing off some of the beneficial filter bacteria, which in turn can cause an ammonia or nitrite problem in the tank. When you clean the filter media/ materials, just squeeze them out in a bucket of aquarium water. Re-use the media and tip the bucket of dirty water on the lawn outside.

Carbon isn't normally required in an aquarium and you can normally replace carbon filters with a sponge. Sponges get squeezed out in a bucket of tank water and the sponges will last for years.

If you have a white granulated substance in the filter, it is Zeolite and is used to remove ammonia from the water. Once it is full it no longer removes ammonia and you can get ammonia and or nitrite readings. If you do have Zeolite in the filter, throw it away and replace it with a sponge. You can buy sponges for different brands of filter. Just get one that is the same size as the cartridge, or slightly bigger and cut it to fit.

Try to gravel clean the substrate whenever you do a water change.

 

[bettalover23]

so when i got how from school today his tail was gone it had fallen off. his tail is also what had the white stuff on it. here is a picture

i also went to my pet store who specializes in fish and showed them pictures. they advised me to use fungus clear by Jungle. on the package it says it clears up a lot of problems should i use it? his scales also seemed to be puffed up. he also hasn’t eaten food for 2 days.

 

[Colin_T]

He is dying. The raised scales indicate dropsy, which is an internal infection. When fish stop eating and develop dropsy, it is over. I would euthanise him because he isn't going to last much longer.

The quickest way to euthanise a small fish is wrap it in a couple of paper towels and hit it on the head with something hard. If you can't do that, look for clove oil and put the fish in a small container of water. Add a few drops of clove oil and wait a few minutes. Keep adding a few drops of clove oil until the fish rolls over and stops breathing. then put the container of water with fish in, into the freezer and freeze until solid. then bury it in the garden outside. If you can't get clove oil and can't smack the fish on the head, put it in a small container of water and put a lid on it. Pop it in the freezer and walk away. Leave for 24 hours then bury the iceblock outside.

If you plan on getting more fish, I would wash the tank out really well and let it dry for a week before setting it up and getting more fish.