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EMERGENCY... please help. ):

3K views 35 replies 6 participants last post by  Oldfishlady 
#1 · (Edited)
Housing
What size is your tank? 0.9 US gal
What temperature is your tank? the room temp is roughly 24 to 25 degrees celsius. I do not know the water temp.
Does your tank have a filter? No
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? It just has a breathing hole in the top
Is your tank heated? No
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? He lives alone

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Frozen Blood Worms
How often do you feed your betta fish? Once a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? I've changed it once since getting him, which was a few days ago. Now I know your not supposed to change it often but I had to do this change because of tissue particles being in the water.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? roughly 60%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? I add in Nutrafin Betta Plus

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? No


Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Yes
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Yes (acts scared)
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Today
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? No
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No He is just a baby
How old is your fish (approximately)? roughly 5 months




I recently performed a water change on my betta's tank. The next day he was acting scared of me and also two white small lumps appeared on his body.

I don't know what is wrong with him, I haven't even gotten to give him a name yet since i practically just got him.

I hope I haven't made him sick. But I don't know what to do.

Please help...

one of the bumps in on his head, while the other lines where his fin meets his back on the top of him.

I really dont want him to die, he is just a baby :cry:

p.s. : neither of these bumps were present yesterday
 

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#2 ·
ok first off with a .9 gallon container you NEED to change the water at least 50% every day or 100% every other day. "a breathing hole at the top" doesn't sound very big, exactly what do you have him in?

As for the bumps they could be injuries from the water change (running into things after being stressed) or they could be fungus or ich setting in from poor water conditions. I would get on those water changes and see how he is in 5 days
 
#3 ·
I was told that changing the water everyday is dangerous and can harm the fish. Also he is acting different today. He is hiding a lot and does not seem to be moving around too much. Here is a picture of his tank.

I don't want to do another water change unless you are sure what your talking about. I do want more opinions of course. But I know that I have been told by many people the water change only needs to be once a week.
 

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#4 ·
You should ask Oldfishlady...she knows everything. My own opinion is he needs a bigger tank, at least a gallon, a thermometer so you know the exact temp. Oh, and are you adding water conditioner to the water you add for changes. You can't use just tap or bottled water for them, they can get very sick.
 
#5 ·
Yes I do use a water conditioner, the specific name is in my first post. I dont exactly have the space for a gallon tank. Betta fish can live in bowl type aquariums and thrive as well. I just dont get why his behaviour has changed and why these bumps have appeared.

and thanks i will ask Oldfishlady for help too .
 
#6 ·
While that size isn't ideal-you can make it work.

I would recommend 3 weekly water changes-2-50% and 1-100% to maintain water quality.

First you need a thermometer to check the water temp, you may or may not need a heater, however, it may be difficult to safely heat that size. You can place it in the warmest place in the house and use a lamp if needed-Its not ideal and a healthy Betta can generally tolerate lower than ideal temps and the temp swings....But your Betta isn't acting right and that might be the problem....

Since he is new-how many days have you had him, is he eating, tell me about your water changes.
Right now-check the temp and make a 50% water change using double dose dechlorinator and give him time to adapt.

If you have a tannin source-either IAL or dried Oak leaf add some to the tank and to the replacement water used for water changes.
You need a more varied diet-will he not eat pellets?-If you have access to mosquito larva offer several rinsed once a day to improve nutrition.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Well... I just changed his water yesterday, then today is when these bumps appeared. I fear I may of hurt him and now he hates me or something. He is so afraid of me it makes me upset. Yesterday before the water change he was fine. but today he makes me worry. and so far I have had him for just about three days. and I just fed him about an hour and a half ago and he ate normally. would you recommend I get some pellets for him? and when you say dried oak leaf. do you mean take a dried one and crumple some pieces into the tank?

also I could get something to test the water temp, and i do have a lamp that gives off enough heat that would heat up his water. honestly i think I might of hurt him during the water change, im very new to this and it might of been during the transfer back to his bowl that it happened im not sure. But I know because he could possibly be sick i should do frequent water changes.
 
#11 ·
I would go get a heater they are worth their weight in gold. And yes smaller tanks need more water changes. Water changes can hurt fish if the new water is radically different. The best way to change sick fishs water is to slowly acclimate them to the new water at least 1/2 hr. I agree with tannin idea just make sure there are no pesticides on the leaves also some aq salt would help.He probably is skiddish not mad.
 
#13 ·
That sounds good I will go to the pet shop tomorrow and pick up those things. Now for a water heater i dont know how i could ever get one of those to fit in his tank, its very small. Im wondering if I can find thermometer small enough to stay in the tank at all times.

Do you think I shocked him with the water change perhaps and that why his body has reacted this way?
 
#14 ·
I wouldn't remove him for the water changes...just remove half the water and replace with like temp dechlorinated water.....

Since he is new he may need some more time to adjust-especially to the water changes...just be careful removing and replacing the water.

In my small tanks-I use my free clean hand to pour the water over to displace it some.

Turn off your light after the 50% water only change and hold food-unless you have some mosquito larva to offer.

Oak leaf-naturally dried and fallen from the tree-crush one up and add to the tank and crush one up to add to the replacement water an hour before you make a water change tomorrow.

Make a 50% water only tonight and another one tomorrow-use double dose dechlorinator with todays water change and regular dose tomorrow

Can you post a better pic of the bumps-also google Ich and see if the pic look like what your Betta has....Is he rubbing his body on objects in the tank?

Keep us posted.....
 
#15 ·
ok I am going to try and find some oak leafs right now, and get ready to do a water change. and ok i will hold off on the food for now he did eat today buy i wont feed him tomorrow. and as for the bumps , i looked up ick on google and his dont look like that they appear to seem like something is coming from them, they seem to be fuzzy ish and no he is not rubbing on anything. He is just hiding from me as best as he can. So Ill work on taking a better picture and i will post it as soon as possible.
 
#16 ·
Is alright. You could teach him to swim into a cup with an eye dropper and frozen bloodworms or mosquito larva. That way when it comes time to do a water change and your worried about stressing him out he'll just swim into a cup and voila he's out of the tank without even knowing it.
 
#17 ·
that is a good idea :) I will try that out once he is back to full health i dont want to stress him out anymore then i might already have of ): , you will for sure have to take me through this cup training process though. I want to make sure I would do it properly, also do you know where I could pick up mosquito larva? aside from finding it outside. im not sure if that is something pet shops would carry.
 
#18 ·
If the areas look fuzzy-I would go ahead and start aquarium salt 2tsp/gal.

Since he is already stressed-I would treat in the tank....

after the 50% water only change-remove half the water-using premixed treatment water slowly fill the tank over 20min-and repeat.....This will get him acclimated to the new chemistry and start the 10 day treatment.

Then make 50% daily water changes with the premixed treatment water for the next 10 days.

Premixed treatment water-Using a 1gal jug of dechlorinated water-Add Aquarium salt 2tsp/gal and a tannin source-(dried oak leaf 20 crushed/gallon) Let this steep for 30min-shake well and use as instructed as posted above.

He needs to stay in the premixed treatment water for the duration of the treatment period.....

Mosquito larva you will need to find outside.....just rinse well before feeding...
 
#20 ·
Just to add-

You can make things a little less messy if you wish, by adding the leaves to an empty tea bag. That way you don't get shmutz all over the place. Then let this sit in your gallon jug. and in his tank. You could also just toss in a whole leaf without crushing. It will water log and sink eventually.

Before you use the leaves rinse them a little if you live in an area that could have been sprayed with pesticides or peed on by dogs etc. (excuse me being blunt.)

I personally never used oak leaves yet due to the area I live in, I use indian almond leaves, but if any of the info I just gave above is different with oak please please correct me!

Love his little white mouth btw :)
 
#21 · (Edited)
thank you, he really is beautiful i love his white lips too :) he is so cute, i dont want to loose him. :cry:
but thank you for the tips. i will fetch some leaves tomorrow and would adding them to an empty tea bag be ok? he would not try and eat the bag would he? because if he wont i think i might use that method just so he doesnt eat the oak leaves thinking its food floating around.

also to Oldfishlady i just completed the 50% water change with extra water dose of my water purifier. then i dimmed all lights very low (twilight hours). he is actually acting better personality wise and he has always been swimming fine this entire time. he is swimming around and not hiding. I also took his fake rock with fake plants and sanded every sharp edge i could feel down. I also rinsed it very throughly to make sure all the grains were off.


tomorrow i am going to pick up all supplies and start his ten day treatment. if anyone has any hunces on what he has got I am all ears, and i am very grateful for all this help. You guys and gals are amazing !

also what else could i feed him aside from the mosquito larva (just because i really have no idea where i could find some)
 
#22 ·
you should be able to get them in the frozen food section (like where they have the frozen mice and what not for snakes). If they don't have those they should have frozen blood worms, or brine shrimp. All make good treats.
 
#25 ·
Ok that sounds good i will check it out at the pet shop later today, im not going to perform the next water change until the evening. Currently the past three days ive had him ive been feeding him frozen blood worms. Do you think I should continue that, or get him something else. ?
 
#23 ·
He shouldn't try to eat the tea bag of oak leaves. But each fish has a different personality, you never know until you try. :) Even if he did, I don't think he could do any damage to it.

BTW- If you use a tea bag that had tea in it. You probably should make sure that it didn't have any whacky flavors in it first such as cinnamon, vanilla, etc. I don't know if that would be dangerous or not to him. Also if the staple in the bag is sharp after removing the green tea or whatever, toss the staple and just tie off the bag with the string. (remove the paper flap that comes on some bags)

You can also soak leaves in a cup of dechlorinated water and make a concentrate and not have to worry at all about tea bags, but more constant leaching into the water might be more along the lines of what OFL was wanting you to do.

BTW- Ivandert, I kept seeing your bunny in your avatar, hope your boyfriend loves him :D I kept getting distracted.
 
#24 ·
BTW- Ivandert, I kept seeing your bunny in your avatar, hope your boyfriend loves him :D I kept getting distracted.
lol oh I spent half the day watching those two. The bunny would come out and run around and then my bf would scoop him up and nuzzle him for a bit until he gets squirmy.
 
#27 ·
So far this morning his behaviour has changed, he is more actively swimming around in his bowl instead of swimming and hiding only coming up for air when he needed it.

Though i have not seen an improvement with the white puss like bumps on his back... ):
 
#28 ·
UPDATE. Please check out these pictures..

So this morning his behaviour is better but Trooper's body still has something wrong with it.


what do you guys think???
 

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#29 ·
Look up Lymphocystis and see if those pics look like what he has-if it is-no treatment since its a virus- except to prevent a secondary infection and the current treatment will do that...I can't tell by the pic-but if the wound is oozing let it and keep up with the daily 50% with the premixed treatment water and good nutrition.

Look around outside for some standing water-using a brine shrimp net or fine mesh net collect the critters-mosquito larva, daphnia, black fly larva etc...give them a good rinse under running water-then place them in a small container of dechlorinated water-then feed to the Betta. The more natural/high nutrient food can help boost immune response.

Hopefully its not Flex, but if it is the treatment that I gave you will work on that too-except you want to use higher dose of salt 3tsp/gal...

Good that his behavior has improved...Did he have an injury of some type or did the wounds just show up one day. Can you see anything sticking out of them-like a parasite-but since he isn't flashing I don't think that is what it is...but you never know....It hard to Dx when the fish isn't right in front of you...Pretty fella by the way....I hope we can get him through this
 
#30 ·
Thanks :) he is a reall looker :p

Its hard to tell I looked up photos of lumphocystis and what people have describe it doesn't exactly look like that. but more of the fuzzy description i have seen while researching flex. but then again flex is said to cover most of the body and these spots are small on my fish.

I wonder should i be worrying about spreading Trooper's infection to my family? considering I do have a dog and a young nephew that I am worried about because they are both young.

If i am abel to save him, what are the risks of the infection reoccurring?

and i will try to find the larva but there arent very many bodies of water where they would lay their eggs around my house. but i do want to feed him something more nutritious...

also should of be sterilizing his rocks and fake plants ?
 
#31 ·
As long as none of the family are immune compromised the chances of catching anything from the tank/fish is rare, however, it is always good practice to always wash your hand before and after working with aquariums as a general rule...but that is with anything......

Most of the bacteria/pathogens are always in the tank and its the immune response that keep it from becoming pathogenic or problematic. No amount of cleaning, sterilizing will keep it at bay for very long since these things are ever present-plus you have both good and bad and by trying to kill all the bad you are killing the good that help to keep the bad controlled...The all important balance....

Too clean can often be as bad as too dirty-it is hard to support life in too clean and sterile environments as well as the ability to build antibodies to fight the battle on its own. The balance.....

With fish/aquarium you have to treat the closed system as a whole by giving the fish the tools to support their immune response-that being-low stress, water quality, proper temps, stable chemistry and good nutrition to name a few....
 
#32 ·
Right that all makes sense, and thank you for the information. I actually just got home from the pet shop, I bought a thermometer. Which is telling me the tank temp is 24C. and I bought aquarium salt as well. After which I went out and found some oak leaves. They are drying out outside right now. After which ill get everything ready for day one of his treatment.
 
#33 ·
A question...

So... I just completed day one of treatment. Now my question is, because the bits of oak leaves that are currently in the water. Should I be worried that there will be too much in the water? or tomorrow should i just progress with day two of the treatment and what ever leaf pieces come out, come out, and what is left in stays in. Or should I attempt to get every leaf out before the new batch of the treatment water goes in tomorrow?


thanks for all the help everyone.

p.s. He tried eating a bit of the leaves, is that ok?
 
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