I should have asked this a long time ago...

[roarsirroar]

Housing
What size is your tank? 3 gallons (approx.)
What temperature is your tank? i just dropped my thermometer, but it has been usually 79-82 degrees
Does your tank have a filter? nope
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?nope
Is your tank heated?yep
What tank mates does your betta fish live with?none besides a bunch of little java ferns and three young anubias barteri!

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?those betta buffett pellets, hikari freeze-dried bloodworms
How often do you feed your betta fish? 4 pellets a day (2 in morning, 2 at night), and freeze-dried bloodworms only like 3 times a month.

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? i try my best to do one 50% and one 100% a week, but sometimes it's just one 100% a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?see above
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? seachem prime

Water Parameters: don't have a kit

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? milky white stringy stuff on one ventral fin, and white-blue glob on caudual fin
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? hasn't changed at all!
When did you start noticing the symptoms?stringy stuff: today, white-blue glob: a month ago (lol)
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? haven't really done anything about the white glob cause it hasn't done anything to the fish during this time.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? let us all relive this: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=82933
How old is your fish (approximately)?i've had him for 1 1/2 years

sorry i couldn't get a good photo of the white stringy stuff.

any thoughts? feel free to ask questions, since this post is quite vague, lol.

[ChoclateBetta]

No 100 prevents do two 50 percent less stress will help him heal. Without water test sounds like fin rot. The fins are pretty tattered.

[LionCalie]

There is nothing wrong with 100% water changes for an uncycled/filtered tank. In fact, when only doing 50% changes you are leaving a lot of nasty water. One 50% and one 100% a week is perfect for a 3 gallon.

To me this sounds fungal, but I will let members more experienced with disease treatment help with that. I hope he feels better!

[roarsirroar]

besides the little rot on his dorsal fin, he doesn't have any finrot anywhere else from what i can tell.

i thought it was finrot as well, but the blob has looked the same for a month. i'm talking about the one on his caudual fin. it just doesn't go away!!

and yeah, maybe the stringy stuff is fungal. i don't think it is columnaris (i know that's not fungus), though.

and the weirdest thing of all is that he doesn't seem to be affected by any of this. he still acts skipper and happy!


this fish is so confusing you have no idea.

[aokashi]

can you get your params tested at your lFS?
it is possible that his fins are affected by the water hardness...

excess slime coat production however usually indicates irritation...
might be a parasite.. might not

[ChoclateBetta]

Might be fin nipping causing a disease.

[Oldfishlady]

Looks a bit like Lymphocystis-google pic and see if it looks like that-If it is-its a virus and no treatment-usually resolves on its own and not fatal-provided that it doesn't impede on swimming, eating...etc....

Usually when a Betta has excessive slime coat-it is due to an irritation of some type-either due to chemical additives, heavy metals, external parasites, contamination of some type to name a few.

Since he is otherwise acting okay, swimming, eating and responding to you-I would start a fresh, dechlorinated water treatment, good nutrition and observe. If you have a tannin source-either IAL or dried Oak leaf-that won't hurt to add that to his tank.

Do the fin tips look tattered, discolored and crusty...

As for water changes-since you have live active growing plants-I would recommend in a 3gal unfiltered with live plants- 1-50% weekly with light vacuum in all areas you can reach without moving anything. With a 50% water only as needed.

For the fresh water treatment-I would make 50% daily for the next 3 days-add a tannin source if you have one-Feed good quality varied diet in small frequent meals.

[roarsirroar]

it kinda looks like lymphocystis, but it looks like it is part of the fin like the fin swelled up or something. hard to explain. lymphocystis could still be an option though.

and that is kind of strange how his slime coat is excessive now cause i haven't changed anything. i mean my thermometer broke in the tank, but the tank was completely empty and i got all of the broken pieces/balls out.

would organic green tea work as a tannin?

the fins look fine to me

thank you for the help, everyone! i will try the fresh water treatment, and if anything goes wrong i shall update!

[aokashi]

organic green tea will not work... the caffein is verybad for fish

[Laki]

Needs to be indian almond or oak leaf. You can buy blackwater tannin at the fish store (It's concentrate so read directions carefully).
Once a week cleaning on your tank is good :) Like OFL says.