White String + Spots?

[Schwielala]

Housing
What size is your tank? 10 Gallons
What temperature is your tank? 80-82
Does your tank have a filter? No
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? Yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? Two bettas with a divider

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? TopFin Color Enhancing Betta Bits
How often do you feed your betta fish? 2 pellets Twice a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Twice a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? API Stress Coat/Water Conditioner

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? White strings above their eyes. The red betta has discolored pink spots on body and fins.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Still acting normal
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Today
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? No
Does your fish have any history of being ill? One had swim bladder, the other had a mystery illness that was solved by aquarium salt. They are rescues.
How old is your fish (approximately)? Had them as rescues for a couple weeks.

[Sceven]

Looks like an external parasite. If I remember correctly you treat with Aquarium Salt (1tsp per gallon), warm water (80+), and daily water changes until you kill all of the parasites or 10 days whichever is less. I am not sure what you would do at that point.

I would recommend replacing everything, some people think you can clean it, but I am freaked out by little wormy things. They give me the heeby jeebys.

I just realized breading may not be for me, I would have to touch little wormy things *shiver*

[TheCheese909]

Originally Posted by Sceven

I just realized breading may not be for me, I would have to touch little wormy things *shiver*

That just made my day! LOL!


Yes, you'll need to quarantine both of them and treat as Sceven said.

You can clean what's in the tank, so long as you do it correctly you shouldn't have this problem again. If you have fake plants & decor then take them out and rinse with hot tap water -UNTREATED-. Completely empty the tank, and rinse the gravel thoroughly, again with the untreated hot tap water.

If you're able to, boiling water will also help. Boil some water and dump it in your tank (of course make sure the fish are out and in their own separate hospital tanks), add enough to cover the gravel and any already rinsed decor. Don't add any conditioner. Let this sit for the duration of the time you are treating your fish. Once your fish are all healthy and better again you can rinse the tank again and set it back up.

If you have live plants then place them in another tank or bucket with untreated tap water for 1 week to kill off any living bad bacteria they may have on them.

[Schwielala]

Did a full water change and left everything out of the tank for now. I added 1tsp/gal of aquarium salt. I'm treating them both in the tank because they both have similar symptoms and I don't have a quarantine tank/container.

So far they are still looking and acting the same. The red one's spots seem a little more pronounced than yesterday. When he turns around I can see that they are raised like bumps. They might be a little more white now? I wish I knew exactly what I was dealing with so I could know if I'm treating the right way. I'm just hoping that the "cure all" aquarium salt will come through for me/them. They still act healthy and eat, and they haven't lost color so I guess there's hope

I don't know if the white strings above their eyes are parasites like an anchor worm or a fungus.

[TheCheese909]

I'm guessing parasites, that's kinda what it looks like to me and the little bumps are probably ick, sometimes they show up as little bumps at first then go and turn white showing what they really are.

Keep up with the AQS treatment, you do have to change it daily though.. and since it's a divided 10 gallon maybe only fill it half way during this treatment so it will be easier on you.

So long as they are eating and have good color they should be fine.

[Schwielala]

Thanks, I actually DO know that I need to change it daily because I've had to do it multiple times between my two tanks of rescue bettas @_@; The darn guys just don't want to stay healthy. I'm a newbie so I've been having a heck of a time trying to get everyone on track. (My whole progress/help thread is in the betta care section)

[TheCheese909]

lol, once you get the hang of it and get your ducks in order things get sooo much easier, you can really learn alot from this site, i did.

You can learn alot from these people here, many of them started off like me, keeping their single Betta in a tiny unheated goldfish bowl and now have multiple Bettas in beautiful planted or artificially planted tanks with heaters and filters.

Just reading through other threads with people asking for help and other members giving suggestions and such can really educate you on good, proper care.

For about a year I kept a written daily planner for my fish, logging every water change, every feeding (and how much) any and all medications that i used and how much.. I logged everything and having that to look back on when i needed help was great to have and super helpful.

Also, i'm sorry if i add anything you already know, i find it easier/better to explain everything thoroughly when trying to help anyone in case if there's something they didn't know or perhaps forgot about. :)

[Silverfang]

I had the little ... whatever it is on his nose, on my first boy. I treated with salt and it didn't help. I believe that this kind of parasite is quite resilient, it can shrink back into the scales and hide.

[Schwielala]

Thanks Cheese, and I was just joking/being sarcastic because I've had to do so many salt treatments already. I didn't mean anything else by it.

I am afraid of Silverfang being right because so far they still look the same. One string on the blue guy got longer. Pictures of anchor worms I saw made them look more clear whereas these strings look more fungus-white.

[Silverfang]

When it was on my boy it looked like one or two little dots that would extend into short strings (2-3mm in length I'd guess). I was never really able to get rid of them. I couldn't tell if they bothered him, he was just plain grumpy all the time.