I've pretty much given up, but any answers would be appreciated.

[Badjer]

I swear, I've had just one fish problem after another. First, Skelly jumped and died (and it was my fault). Even before that, my Thailand import HMPK, Cirque, mysteriously lost over half his dorsal fin. I haven't the faintest clue how it happened as the only things in his section of the tank are a rock cave, driftwood and plants, all of which have always been with him and have no jagged or rough edges. When it didn't appear to be healing, I QT'd him with AQ salt in a floating cup, with daily water changes. During this time, I had a planaria outbreak and preformed a 70% water change. Water parameters are fine. Two days ago, it appeared to be healing and he was more active and had been QT'd with the salt for 10 days so I released him back into the tank. He seemed fine, was eating and swimming normally (or as normally as he could with his half dorsal). A few minutes ago I came home from swim practice to find him on the bottom of the tank, pineconing, nearly totally inactive and (weirdest of all) where his dorsal should be...the scales are like, missing and it's a strange rot-like brown color. He's still alive, but I'm sure I'm going to lose him...so any answers/last ditch effort advice would be very welcome. Oh...and that darn planaria is back. How do I get rid of them? Should I change my filter media and just deal with the loss of the BB?

Housing
What size is your tank? 20 gallons
What temperature is your tank? 78 F
Does your tank have a filter? Yes
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? Until recently, a female in this DIVIDED tank

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? [i]New Life Spectrum, with frozen bloodworms occasionally as a treat[i]
How often do you feed your betta fish? [i]Twice daily, once on bloodworm days[i]

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? With such a low bioload, I mostly just top off the tank when it needs it evaporates quickly, and vacuum the substrate as needed. I check the parameters of the water frequently and they're always fine.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 70% recently to combat planaria
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Stresscoat +

Water Parameters:
Tested using API liquid test kit

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite:0ppm
Nitrate:0ppm
pH:8.0
Hardness:N/A
Alkalinity:N/A

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Dorsal half missing a few weeks ago, the "rotting" spot just showed up in under 24 hours
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Went from active and eating to almost completely inactive
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Under 20 minutes ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? I have him cupped again in a few inches of water so it's easy for him to breathe. Should he go back on the AQ salt?
Does your fish have any history of being ill? Not until recently!
How old is your fish (approximately)? I purchased him from Thailand back in February or so. I have no idea as to his actual age (I honestly never thought to ask).

About a year ago I got into the fishkeeping hobby. I swear, I'm having more problems now then I had then! Also, seriously some advice on how to handle this planaria would be helpful. It grosses me out so much. 0_o

[cjconcepcion]

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=90086

could it possibly be this?

[Badjer]

That was honestly the first thing that popped into my head, but the spot isn't really a grey color. It's more like the yellow that is in his fins and some of his markings but more flesh toned. I'm doing my best to get pictures up, but my electronics aren't cooperating.

[jeremywadejunior]

I'd treat him with an anti bacterial medication. Sounds like he may have open wounds that should be treated and if it's dropsy the medication can help.

[Badjer]

Unfortunately, I came upstairs just now to find that Cirque has passed. I'm snapping some pictures, just because I would like to see if anyone could figure out what the culprit here is. Though in the past few hours, that spot has gotten more grey and judging by how fast this all happened, I think the mystery illness struck again. Tomorrow I'm going to break down my tank and decide what to do. Depending on how hard it would be to remove the aquarium sealant, I wouldn't mind doing either a single male with a community or a sorority. But first...I need to make sure it's safe for anything to live in! I'm sick of watching my fish die.

[jeremywadejunior]

Awh I'm so sorry. Yes, it would be good to post a picture so other people can look out for this too.
:/

[Badjer]

WARNING: This post contains links pictures of a deceased fish, and may be considered graphic to some viewers.


The partial dorsal was there before today, but all that grey toned area is completely new in less than 24 hours. I'm even fairly confident that he was fine this morning. Heck, he was active and eating last night. The grey area has no noticeable damage, just a complete change in coloration. I apologize for the poor photo quality...all I had to take picture with was my iPad, which not only has a less than desirable camera, but holding it over a tank and trying to get a decent photo was difficult! I'm going to take a closer look at him tomorrow before burying him, but I really don't see anything different aside from that one spot and there seems to be no external damage.

http://i50.tinypic.com/24d10ft.jpg

[jeremywadejunior]

Awh poor boy. Sounds like whatever it was got to him extremely fast. My initial opinion (due to the gray) was the "mystery" disease that was posted about earlier. Either that or some nasty bacteria or parasite. Whatever it was "ate" away to make the dorsal fall off. I'm sorry for your loss.

[Aus]

No mystery about it, IMO - that's the classic 'saddleback' pattern of columnaris, a bacterial disease.

There's different strains of it, some take weeks to kill, other hours, some hit internally and some on the fins and body.

For future reference, a good treatment is Kanaplex and/or Furan-2.

ETA: there's anti-planaria products on the market, but you can also be very careful not to allow waste food to drop into the tank and vac it regularly. They eventually starve to death .

[jeremywadejunior]

Originally Posted by Aus

No mystery about it, IMO - that's the classic 'saddleback' pattern of columnaris, a bacterial disease.

There's different strains of it, some take weeks to kill, other hours, some hit internally and some on the fins and body.

For future reference, a good treatment is Kanaplex and/or Furan-2.

ETA: there's anti-planaria products on the market, but you can also be very careful not to allow waste food to drop into the tank and vac it regularly. They eventually starve to death .

Oh dear, I've read about the "saddleback" pattern :/ Good to know what it looks like, though.

Hey, Aus, I've actually been suspecting that my fish have an early case of Columnaris, and I'm planning on getting them medication tomorrow. I'm looking into Maracyn; do you have an opinion/have used it before?