Distilled water, 1/2 tap to 1 tap salt (start with 1/2 and increase slowly). Triple Sulfa. Temp no.higher then 80°F. Daily water changes for 10 days and no more then 14 days..
and bleach everything!
This goes against everything we know as fish keepers, but if caught early it can be slowed down. I am about to take them out of this so I don't know if it is gone, but this at least stops it before it kills.
Just saw this a tad late. The silver is almost at the body... I do not know what to do, I do not want him to suffer... he cannot swim anymore, he's fighting to remain in the bottom but his swim bladder forces him to float upwards.
9 hours has passed since my last pic.
Last edited by asukabetta; 11-01-2012 at 03:33 AM.
Aquilies died this morning at 3 am, I stayed up all night with him. Since it was impossible to keep the body stable till 10 am that the nearest vet opened I gave him a river burial.
I know this has been mentioned before, but this is probably columnaris.
I cross posted this thread on another forum of very experienced fish keepers, since I've never dealt with this disease myself, and those who responded said that this is columnaris. I know that classic columnaris involves tufts of white or gray, cottony looking "fungus", altho is actually caused by bacteria and is not really fungus. However, it doesn't always appear cottony or stringy looking. I also know it can spread and kill very fast and can be very difficult to cure. So just because some of these cases may not look like classic columnaris and don't respond to treatment doesn't mean that it's not columnaris.
Anyhow, I did some searching on it to see if I could find pics that match the pics of the bettas I've seen on here, and I did. Here are some links:
It's definitely been mentioned that it's columnaris and it seems to me like a very high possibility. But the part that worries me is how it only attacks blue bettas who are kept in good conditions. It's like a blue gene columnaris only. Can a bacteria do that? Evolve to attack only a certain color betta?
I have no idea. I know I read here that this has been seen in other colors as well, just not often. I'm wondering if maybe the necrosis of the tissue just looks different because of the blue color of the fish? Like what might look whitish or light gray on a lighter colored fish looks darker on a darker colored fish, and that's why this "appears" to be only effecting the blue bettas. Just an idea. It's also possible that it's killing so fast that the "fungus" that grows over the wounds doesn't have time to develop in some of these cases, which makes it harder to diagnose and makes it look "different" since that is also one of the classic symptoms.
Looking thru some of the pics here, for example the pics on page 30 of this thread, you can easily see the classic saddleback shape so common in columnaris. That, the fin rot, and the speed at which it spreads and kills all point to columnaris.
This thread was started in January, and there was alot talk of people having necropcies done on their fish and samples sent to labs - what happened with all that? A look at the bacteria under a microscope would determine if it was columnaris or not as the "stacking" is supposed to be easily identifiable.
I have said on this thread or forum before, that I believe it to be a very fast-acting and virulent strain of columnaris or at least something very similar.
I agree that I think it may just be how this particular strain/disease actually presents that is causing the grey discolouration to occur on blue fish only.
It would be interesting to see the results of a necropsy. With the amount of medications and toxins most mass-produced bettas seem exposed to during their life prior to purchase it is not surprising that a disease like this would be prevalent.
It's definitely been mentioned that it's columnaris and it seems to me like a very high possibility. But the part that worries me is how it only attacks blue bettas who are kept in good conditions. It's like a blue gene columnaris only. Can a bacteria do that? Evolve to attack only a certain color betta?
Perhaps there is something in their gene that makes them weaker to this?
But it's amazing how they die within 24 hours of getting it. Surely bacteria is slower no?
I absolutely love blue bettas... I have a blue VT and a semi red blue HM. -_- I don't think I could take it if one of them succumbed to the mystery disease yet again.
Plus does it only affect pure blues, or even those with a slightly blue coloration are weak to it?
Last edited by asukabetta; 11-03-2012 at 04:06 AM.
Columnaris is known to move and kill very fast, so it's not unusual at all. In community tanks it can wipe out an entire tank of fish in a matter of days. It attacks ALL fish, not just bettas and not just blue fish. How it presents itself varies from case to case, which is probably why it's been misdiagnosed for so long.
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