External parasite? Pics included

[phoenix91]

Housing
What size is your tank? 3G
What temperature is your tank? 78-79
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? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Betta buffet flakes. I couldn't get him to eat the pellets when i first got him and he still turns his nose up at them. He likes the flakes though
How often do you feed your betta fish? 2 x day, am/pm

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? 2 x weekly or more
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 2 x 50-75% usually a 100% in there too.
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? prime

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

didn't have a chance to test before i left for work, but 75% wc was done 2 days ago.

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

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? I noticed a small lump/something attached around his right fin
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He's been less active, less interested in food for a few days.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? A few days he's been less active, noticed the lump thing this morning. He also didn't eat this morning.
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? No, wasn't sure what to treat with.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? Yes, when i got him he was close to death. Skinny, fin rot, lying on his side a lot. He didn't eat for a while but once he started to eat and had clean water he seemed to do a lot better
How old is your fish (approximately)? between 6 months and 1 yr.





I have maracyn, some kind of tetra parasite stuff and prazipro in the house.

I'll do a wc when i get home and if someone could give me a hint as to what this is i can start treatment. I'll just take the plants out of his tank and treat the whole tank.

[Sixwolf]

Hm, it's kind of hard to tell, since the position of it might also make it just poop. It might be that he's just constipated! You could try giving him part of a skinned, blanched pea, if he'll take it. I can't exactly tell from the pics and have no personal experience with parasites, but hopefully someone that does can either confirm or deny your fears.

[ANHEL123]

Be careful in case it something contagious not to cross-contaminate any equipment with other fish.

Sorry i also not sure. On the picture he really looks good.

If it internal parasites he will become bloated, his poop will appeared to be white,clear, or broken up white with some transparent parts here and there ,stringy,wormy shape.


What kind of Maracyc do you have?Is it Maracyn Plus or just Maracyn.
Also i don't know some people saying tetra parasite guard helped. But i also heard that a few ingredients in that medication are not fish friendly. I think someone said diflubenzeron was even used in lawn fertilizer .
Do you have Epsom salt?

I would definitely check his poop. So we can decide if he has internal parasites. If he is bloated a little which i can 't tell from the picture. Buy Epsom salt from any pharmacy probably has it. Epsom salt will help with constipation and clean out his digestive system . Also if you can find frozen daphnia in the store it also recommended with constipation. If he has internal parasites it really good if he would it so he can pass them with poop.Also when is last time you saw him pooped?

[phoenix91]

Originally Posted by Sixwolf

Hm, it's kind of hard to tell, since the position of it might also make it just poop. It might be that he's just constipated! You could try giving him part of a skinned, blanched pea, if he'll take it. I can't exactly tell from the pics and have no personal experience with parasites, but hopefully someone that does can either confirm or deny your fears.

I will laugh so hard at myself if it's just poop :D It looks like something stuck to him, i considered stuff like gill flukes but the pictures don't really match up. Could be something else. I'll try and get a closer look at him later tonight and maybe try him on another food just in case it's the food he's gone off making him not eat. He is a bit of a fussy eater.

Originally Posted by ANHEL123

Be careful in case it something contagious not to cross-contaminate any equipment with other fish.

Sorry i also not sure. On the picture he really looks good.

If it internal parasites he will become bloated, his poop will appeared to be white,clear, or broken up white with some transparent parts here and there ,stringy,wormy shape.


What kind of Maracyc do you have?Is it Maracyn Plus or just Maracyn.
Also i don't know some people saying tetra parasite guard helped. But i also heard that a few ingredients in that medication are not fish friendly. I think someone said diflubenzeron was even used in lawn fertilizer .
Do you have Epsom salt?

I would definitely check his poop. So we can decide if he has internal parasites. If he is bloated a little which i can 't tell from the picture. Buy Epsom salt from any pharmacy probably has it. Epsom salt will help with constipation and clean out his digestive system . Also if you can find frozen daphnia in the store it also recommended with constipation. If he has internal parasites it really good if he would it so he can pass them with poop.Also when is last time you saw him pooped?

Yup, my clown fish have internal parasites right now with the stringy poop but i use all different equipment with them so no cross contamination.

I have just the maracyn. I have aq salt but not epsom, i can try and pic some up tonight. How would i dose the epsom, i'll do a wc and then add some but how much per gallon? If i can't find any i'll add some aq salt until i can find out further what it might be.

Not sure, i rarely see him poop, he's quite secretive and likes to hide in his log or cup.

If i hadn't seen the odd thing on his side/belly i would have thought he looked in great health, a million times better than when i got him. I just hope this is nothing and clears up soon.

[callistra]

I'm not sure what that is.. It's hard to see it in the pics. Is it fuzzy at all? What color is his poop?

[phoenix91]

Yeah it's pretty tough to see. It looked clearer today but i didn't get any pics yet. His poop is usually darker, more orange that that plus it looks more to the side instead of the middle.

I couldn't find epsom salt in the grocery store so i'll get some from the drug store today but i did do a wc with aw salt treatment last night and it seems to have perked him up slightly. The thing is still there but he was swimming around more this morning and even flared at his food which he ate a little of.

It kind of looks hard and pointy, not fuzzy, more like a raised/ out of place scale. Maybe he got caught somewhere or rubbed and damaged some scales?

I'll try and get a few clearer pics with my ipad instead of my phone when i get home.

[Sakura8]

Did whatever it is ever fall off? I have to agree, it looks like parasitic poop to me but if it has never fallen off, then we might be looking at something like possibly lymphocystis. Now I've never heard of lympho starting on a fish's bum, but I guess anything is possible.

If it has fallen off only to be replaced by more of the same, then I would say it's parasitic poo. Find the epsom salts (look in the pharmacy/drug section under laxatives) and get epsom salts that have no dyes or scents.

Other than the thing on his belly/bum, he looks very healthy and good.

[phoenix91]

It hasn't fallen off as far as I can tell, although it might be new. I couldn't get any good pics tonight, he was wriggling round too much, I'll try again tomorrow.

[Sakura8]

If he's wiggling a lot, he's still pretty healthy which is great news. If it hasn't fallen off, I don't think it's just poop. I wonder if it could be the beginnings of lymphocystis. This is a virus that causes growths that typically look kind of cauliflower-y. The virus is almost always nonfatal unless one of the growths bursts and gets infected. Unfortunately, there is no way to treat this virus so all you can do is let nature run its course and it usually cures itself in 2-4 months.

Does the lump look at all like this?

[phoenix91]

Good news! Whatever it was is gone today. Probably parasitic poop like a few people said, i bet the aq salt helped. He's eating better today too.

The above disease looks like the thing that killed my other male Oji, eventually i had to euthanize him because he was struggling, he had tumours in odd places, i don't want to go through that again.

Igor's nice and relaxed and happy again and wants to thank everyone for putting his mams mind at ease!