Betta Fish Forum banner

Possible fungus issue

486 views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  RillC 
#1 ·
Housing
What size is your tank? 5.5 gallons
What temperature is your tank? 80F
Does your tank have a filter? yes, Whisper 10i
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? one other male betta on the other side of the divider

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? pellets, rarely frozen bloodworms
How often do you feed your betta fish? 2 pellets morning, 3 pellets evening, fast on Sunday

Maintenance

How often do you perform a water change? once a week, got messed up before last water change and that one was after 2 weeks
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50%, 65-75% if late
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? API Stress Coat

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? no

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

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? he has 2 tiny tufts of white fluff on the back of his head this morning
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? no behavior change yet
When did you start noticing the symptoms? this morning
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? not yet, had to go to work
Does your fish have any history of being ill? never
How old is your fish (approximately)? I got him from the pet store a little more than 10 months ago


I've been having some trouble with white fluff growing in the tank on the plastic plants and rocks. I've had to remove plants and clean the bases, then scoop up all debris that I can with a turkey baster. The tank is bare bottom so there isn't much room for it to hide. I'm going to change the filter media next water change as I feel it is due. I currently have no medicines and may not be able to get to the store for aquarium salt or anything else. More of the white fluff has been growing on his side, but I have seen some on the other side. It may be that the debris settled on my poor boy and has just grown large enough to notice. He's my first boy and I don't want to lose either of them. Please advise.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
A picture would be helpful to determine whether it's fungus or slime coating sloughing off. If it's the slime coating, it may be due to missing the water change and he is fighting off a bacterial infection or some toxin.

The white stuff in your tank may be slime mold.. a common thing. Continue to clean off the decorations- usually happens when a tank is cycling.

For now I would go ahead and QT the guy with the "white fluff", and use 1 tsp per gallon of AQ salt, daily 100% water changes over the next few days to ten days to see if it clears it up for him- it will help whether it's slime coating or fungus.

One thing I recommend, when going a longer time between water changes, doing a large change (such as 75%) can actually cause your system to crash and cause your fish to go into shock. If you miss a week, then it is best to do a 25% one day, wait a day or two, then do another 25%.. or even break it down into 3 days of smaller %. That is a safer way to clean a tank that is overdue for a water change.
 
#3 · (Edited)
I'll definitely keep that in mind about doing smaller changes if it goes long again. I'm including some pictures this time so you can see what's happened. I think it's grown since I went to work this morning. Bad day all around since I had an anxiety attack at work and had to come home.

I don't have any medicines or salt right now and I can't get out until tomorrow evening to get some. My qt option is his original 1/2 gallon tank and the temperature in there doesn't get above 72F. Will that be enough? I don't have any real heating option for that size tank. Well, here are the pictures. They're a bit fuzzy because Ramesses really hates the camera.
 

Attachments

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top