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Possible sick girl... worried about the others.

594 views 8 replies 3 participants last post by  Punki 
#1 · (Edited)
I just got back from a weekend vacation and my bettas have only gone one day with out a meal. On Thursday (before I'd left Friday morning), Madam passed away from being bloated three days prier. She was growing pale, barely moving and abnormal bloated with her scaled poking from her sides.

Now im worried about Lelu who is growing pale and wont eat. She doesn't normally eat the floating pellets but since its Saturday my bettas get frozen blood worms... I'm not sure that she ate any since Lelu usually will only eat the brine shrimp and pellets for my cories, but she hasn't even touched the pellet that i put in the QT tank.

Im also worried about my other girls. Lelu would be the third infected (i guess i would call it?) First Raja who didnt really get put in to the sorority because she was highly aggressive and died 3-4 days after id gotten her. Second, poor Madam who passed on Thursday. And now Lelu. Should i separate my girls into cups and watch them over the next few days? Or watch them for any similar behaviors? And what more can i do for Lelu?

Housing

What size is your tank? 20 gallon - planted
What temperature is your tank? 78-80 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? has heater but not currently in use
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? other female bettas

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Hikari Floating pellets, frozen brine shrimp (Tuesdays) & frozen blood worms (Saturdays)
How often do you feed your betta fish? once a day

Maintenance

How often do you perform a water change? every Monday
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 30-40%
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?

Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: little to none
Nitrate: little to none
pH: 7.6
Hardness: soft
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Looks pale
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Not eating/not as active
When did you start noticing the symptoms? may 29th
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? separated with 100% water change in QT tank
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no
How old is your fish (approximately)? had her for two months (Madam a few days more)
 
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#2 ·
Lelu just passed and now Sunshine is showing the same symptoms. I've separated all my girls and put them in fresh clean water. They are all eating with the exception of Sunshine.

I've just finish washing out my 20 gallon tank making sure that I've washed the gravel very well and as well as giving the walls of the tank a good washing with a sponge and clean water. I have the plants separated as well as the drift wood and rock.

I was thinking that maybe it might be the foods that i'm feeding them, but all my males have the same meal schedule and none of them are showing any signs of ailment.

If anyone could please help or have any suggestion i'm open to anything right now... i've already lost two of my favorite females... i would hate to lose the others too.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Seperating them is good. Im not an expert but if they are bloating Epsom salt treatment is supposed to help. I had some help with my female and my females treatment is ongoing at the moment, what i was told to do is to get a gallon of water, use conditioner, and put two teaspoons of epsom salt in the gallon, let it dissolve for about 20 minutes and put each girl in her own cup with the epsom salted water. Float the cups in a heated tank at 76 degrees. If you have oak leaves or Indian almond leaves you can put them in the jug to soak and release tannins as well. Fast them for 3 days and then feed them a small amount of live foods after that until epsom salt treatment ends, which is 10 days in my case and my girl isnt severely bloated but she is lethargic and floaty and alittle bloated. Cover the tops of the cups with plastic wrap and i put a couple little holes in it. Hopefully someone can come and help you more soon, and pictures always help :)
 
#4 ·
Thanks Punki I'm going to the store right now to get some epsom salt. Sunshine isn't bloating right now, but she's displaying the same behavior as Lelu and Madam. Lelu didn't start to bloat till a few hrs before she died. I didn't get a picture of it.... she also lost most of her coloring after she passed... Madam and Raja did too... i don't know if that's normal in deceased bettas.

My other girls look and are acting normal... but ima give them a few days before i put them back together... it'll also give my tank time to settle. I'm still open to suggestions and help.
 
#6 ·
I picked up some fungus clear too it says it helps with dropsy but i dont wanna to mix them together. Im going to give the Epsom a try first... the fungus clear tablets are huge and require 10g of water to dissolve.

Im off tomorrow to so its no big deal :) i will always make an extra trip if it helps my fishies. hopefully just a simple salt treatment will do the trick... if not i have a plan B.

lol yet again still open to suggestions and help!
 
#7 ·
It doesnt look like sunshine is going to make it through the night... she's starting to bloat and tilt to one side.

I went ahead and dosed the other girls with the fungus clear in case it's dropsy. other then that i dont know what is killing off my girls...
 
#8 ·
It sounds like Raja may have been the trigger. What you describe as raised scales is definietly dropsy. My female died of it the day before mothers day. It's hard to treat without knowing what to do. It's basically organ failure. I wish you luck and I think keeping them seperated may help in keeping away a possible outbreak. I can't be sure though since it hit me out of the blue.
 
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