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What to do for potential inflamed gills

22K views 28 replies 6 participants last post by  aunt kymmie 
#1 ·
I've been doing some research about inflamed gills along with other diseases, and I've read that ampicillin is the best treatment for issues of this nature. Does anyone have any other advice on what could be done to treat inflamed gills? It supposedly will kill the fish after a small amount of time, and is bacterial in nature (?) If anyone has any home remedies that have helped their fish out I would love to hear about it.
 
#3 ·
Thank you for the response!

I have a small portion of salt in the tank already (about a third of a teaspoon per gallon when I mix up a new batch). The tank itself is 3 gallons, has a 25% change and a near-complete water change each week with rinsing and wiping of the tank decor, more or less as depending on how dirty it might be.

I feel awfully stupid for having checked the water parameters for nitrite and nitrate etc., but not for ammonia and I have the kit! Silly me. I'll go check on it now.
 
#4 ·
Lol we all have our days...

Keep us posted on the ammonia.

Were his gills by any chance inflamed when you got him? The ammonia poisoning they are often exposed to in those pet-store cups will scar their gills, giving them a slightly swollen appearance long after they are healed.

Check carefully for any white worms hanging from the gills. Gill flukes will cause inflammation, although I would thnk you would have noticed one if that was the root of the problem.

Can you get pictures? Normal and flaring?
 
#5 · (Edited)
Sorry guys - huge post! D: :D



EDIT: In the photos, I notice that he seems to have a whitish ring around his eyes - these are not as evident in him now. These photos have also been brightened, to increase ability to see.

I have gotten a number of different photos of his gills, though I realize they are almost all of one side of his head (the gills look fairly similar except from the front, as his right operculum looks slightly more extended away from the body which I thought was potentially suspicious. Sorry for the photo dump but I thought that different angles would help out any issue with identification. I am somewhat thankful that I have not seen any white strings or other patches on his body.

Current parameters:

Ammonia: .50 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Total Hardness: ~60 ppm (moderate)
Total Alkalinity: 120 ppm (ideal range)
pH: 7.2-7.3
Current tank temperature: 77 degrees F

From what the readings say in the booklet that came with my test kit (a Mardel 5-in-1 and Ammonia Master Kit), a pH of 6-7.6 and having a .50 ammonia reading is considered 'safe' with 77 degrees.

What is worrying to me right now is his current activity - since last night he has been active as usual, with small intermittent periods of non-activity - he will just stop, gills barely moving, and stay in place in the water, whether pointing downward in his corner with the silk plant, behind the heater (where he likes to sleep), or in the middle of the water with no supports. He does this, but it seems that he snaps out of it and swims over to me when I check in on him. Sometimes he has gasped for air, but I've only seen him do it three times over the past night and today. His breathing isn't exactly labored, but his gill motions sometimes are more noticeable. I have had the filter turned off since mid-day today since I accidentally gave him too much food and he was having a hard time staying upright. He is back to normal now and his stomach isn't slightly extended as it was this morning, so he must have passed his excrement okay.

As well, I have him in water that is treated with Jungle Fungal Clear, which tomorrow will be the last day of its treatment unless I want to continue (a new thin area on his tail appeared, but he does swim fast a lot and likes to flare at things at least three or four times a day, so I am thinking it is from that - his tail seems to be repairing itself with new, clear tissue however. Do you think the coloration will come back?)

Oops - I got ahead of myself. Here are the photos:
Marine biology Fish Organism Adaptation Fish


It was kind of funny when Desmoda saw me when I opened the tank lid to do the water tests; he seemed to be very expectant of food.
 
#6 ·
Those booklets are quite lax... .5 is pretty high for ammonia, you will want to keep it as close to 0 as possible at all times. Change his water as soon as ammonia becomes perceptible on the chart (at.25). Do a full water change now. Since he is otherwise healthy (no signs of parasitic or bacterial infection) I am inclined to think this is an ammonia issue.
 
#7 ·
Hey there.. So i think my betta has inflamed gills too.. .but i'm not sure what to do about it. ..He hasn't been doing the greatest.. I wanted to know what you guys think.. look at my post here.. tell me what you think..

this was my previous post this week:

" Okay, so my betta, Sonic has been acting weird in the last week. all this past week he wasn't eating anything. he might of taken 2 pellets the whole week. He keeps spitting them back out.. and I usually get it out of the tank immediately so it doesn't make the water acidic. I just changed his water as I always do except I added new rocks, that I did wash well before adding it to his tank. He still isn't eating.. just keeping it in his mouth for a few moments then spitting it right back out. Does he have some sort of digestive problems? I also recognized that he's been pale and hasn't been holding his fins completely open. He still swims around and seems happy.. but he needs to eat. He does look pale/loss of his color behind both his gills.. .. I need some help! thanks :] "
 
#11 ·
Hey there.. So i think my betta has inflamed gills too.. .but i'm not sure what to do about it. ..He hasn't been doing the greatest.. I wanted to know what you guys think.. look at my post here.. tell me what you think..

this was my previous post this week:

" Okay, so my betta, Sonic has been acting weird in the last week. all this past week he wasn't eating anything. he might of taken 2 pellets the whole week. He keeps spitting them back out.. and I usually get it out of the tank immediately so it doesn't make the water acidic. I just changed his water as I always do except I added new rocks, that I did wash well before adding it to his tank. He still isn't eating.. just keeping it in his mouth for a few moments then spitting it right back out. Does he have some sort of digestive problems? I also recognized that he's been pale and hasn't been holding his fins completely open. He still swims around and seems happy.. but he needs to eat. He does look pale/loss of his color behind both his gills.. .. I need some help! thanks :] "
-How often do you clean the tank?
-How much water do you change?
-How big is the tank?
-what's the water temperature?
 
#8 · (Edited)
Okay - here is an update:

I've given the tank a 75% water change, added conditioned and salted water (about a fourth to a third of a teaspoon for a gallon), and have put the carbon filter back in to the system. I took another reading and the ammonia level was at first .25 then .50 on the next testing (I took another test right after the first one after changing the water). Extremely worried, I put in 3 gallon's equivalent of Prime water conditioner (7 drops), as I read on the container that up to 5 times the normal amount can be applied to the tank directly in emergencies.

What I am thinking is going on is that the tank never truly cycled to begin with, something I didn't really understand at the time, and the ammonia levels are spiking since I did not change the water as usual due to my fungal clear medicine directions. I would really prefer the tank to be cycled, so I looked up some info on it on the Tropical Fish forums, and it is said that I should just continue to detoxify the ammonia with Prime and maybe even add some extra starter bacteria (supposedly the Bio filter I received with the tank had some bacteria on it, but maybe it didn't actually have any or didn't have enough to deal with the ammonia.

I have also cut back on his feeding - only three or four pencil-point-sized flakes a day, maybe even less now.

What is really concerning me is that he is still behaving erratically - he will swim around like he normally does, but then just... stop. A little gill movement, but no fin movement at all, no up or down motion. Like he has frozen in time. When he does swim, he often has difficulty keeping his body straight, difficulty swimming downward, and his tail end will sometimes drift upward, so I am thinking that it is a swimbladder problem. He will also drift up to the surface and be on his side for a number of seconds, then go swimming off again. I have to say though that he is not as sluggish as he was before I put in the conditioner when he is active. He will probably stop in place four times every minute. *sighs* I know he is my first fish, and I accept any errors I have made, but still... I really hope he pulls through. :(
 
#12 ·
Okay - here is an update:

I've given the tank a 75% water change, added conditioned and salted water (about a fourth to a third of a teaspoon for a gallon), and have put the carbon filter back in to the system. I took another reading and the ammonia level was at first .25 then .50 on the next testing (I took another test right after the first one after changing the water). Extremely worried, I put in 3 gallon's equivalent of Prime water conditioner (7 drops), as I read on the container that up to 5 times the normal amount can be applied to the tank directly in emergencies.

What I am thinking is going on is that the tank never truly cycled to begin with, something I didn't really understand at the time, and the ammonia levels are spiking since I did not change the water as usual due to my fungal clear medicine directions. I would really prefer the tank to be cycled, so I looked up some info on it on the Tropical Fish forums, and it is said that I should just continue to detoxify the ammonia with Prime and maybe even add some extra starter bacteria (supposedly the Bio filter I received with the tank had some bacteria on it, but maybe it didn't actually have any or didn't have enough to deal with the ammonia.

I have also cut back on his feeding - only three or four pencil-point-sized flakes a day, maybe even less now.

What is really concerning me is that he is still behaving erratically - he will swim around like he normally does, but then just... stop. A little gill movement, but no fin movement at all, no up or down motion. Like he has frozen in time. When he does swim, he often has difficulty keeping his body straight, difficulty swimming downward, and his tail end will sometimes drift upward, so I am thinking that it is a swimbladder problem. He will also drift up to the surface and be on his side for a number of seconds, then go swimming off again. I have to say though that he is not as sluggish as he was before I put in the conditioner when he is active. He will probably stop in place four times every minute. *sighs* I know he is my first fish, and I accept any errors I have made, but still... I really hope he pulls through. :(
First off, the nitrifying bacteria probably died when you took the filter insert out of the water.

Second, any 'bacteria in a bottle' deal is really iffy... to put it this way bacteria cannot survive that long without food or oxygen. Same goes for your 'Bio Filter'.

Third, I don't see how detoxifying ammonia will help anything. Can bacteria consume detoxified ammonia?

Fourth, Flakes are kind of crud IMO. Their ingredients may be dandy, but they are 90% air and swell like sponges in the gut, causing contsipation. Same goes for freeze dried. Rather than soaking it (in which case your betta is getting 90% water instead of 90% air. Whoop-de-doo.), just get some betta pellets. HBH betta bites are cheap, readily available and awesome.

Fast him for a few days then feed him about a quarter of a thawed frozen pea to clear everything else out.
 
#9 ·
A more detailed update:

I was just watching Desmoda now - I think the major issue he is facing right now is his swim bladder. Like I said, he swims and stops, often can't get down to the bottom of the tank unless he uses his tail a lot more than he might, less use of his tail in general, and trying to get places with beating pectoral fins and slight tail movements which are more difficult.

Some odd physical phenomena are the facts that his side side seems a little more pronounced in areas - his right eye has a noticeable white ring around its base, mostly above the eye, his right gill is more pronounced and it seems as those his right gill is moving a lot more in his breathing, his swim bladder bulge is on the right but not the left, and whenever he stops, he always drifts up so that his right side faces upward. Perhaps his constipation/overfeeding has made this happen? His belly is still round though not freakishly so, so he hasn't defecated yet.

Just wanted to add this to make any corrections.
 
#10 ·
im inclined to think its the ammonia as well. also sounds constipated. fast him for a couple days, that usually helps.

for the ammonia, i would always do a water change as soon as its detected. in a 3 gallon tank it will build up much fast than a larger tank, so you always have to do more water changes, best treatment for inflamed gills? FRESH WATER always, let us know if it gets worse, or any new symptoms
 
#16 ·
I've given him a 75% water change and have more conditioned water on the side if I see any more issues. He's doing better, just very unstable and stopping a lot. And even that is getting better it seems. I'll definitely be heeding the advice about fasting, along with the freeze-dried food and flakes. Thanks a lot!
 
#14 ·
Yeah definitely daphnia (frozen or live, not freeze-dried) if you can get ahold of it. It's also a good food to prevent constipation, since IMO bettas only need peas in an emergency. Peas will do in a pinch, but as DQ has brought up before they are only a miniscule part of a betta's natural diet, therefore don't fare quite as well in the 'preventative maintenance' category.
 
#27 ·
From Bettababy, who is a member here and an aquatics nutritionist/specialist:
I don't use peas, have never used peas, don't suggest peas for a betta. Giving a laxative to a fish, especially when it isn't a part of their natural diet, is a dangerous game to play. That sort of thing can cause internal damage and digestion problems. Bettas are meat eaters, they need the protien. Their digestive tract is not designed to handle vegetable matter/roughage, and that is why it works so well as a laxative.)
 
#28 ·
That's what I'm saying... everybody says this but there's nothing to back it up. If the fact that they worked as a laxative meant that betta's stomachs weren't designed to handle them, wouldn't that mean daphnia is bad for digestion as well?

If I find any papers on it that would be enough to convince me, but anything without solid evidence can be pretty much written off as a myth.
 
#29 · (Edited)
The point being made here is that daphnia is a part of their natural diet. Peas are not indigenous to the area from which bettas hail from. I can feed cabage to my dogs and it will certainly act as a laxative but I'm sure it puts their guts in an uproar and isn't a pleasant experience for them. Dogs eat grass for this purpose, which is a natural process for them. Sure, cabbage will work for dogs, peas will work for bettas, but just because it *works* doesn't mean it's good for them.

It's late for me but tomorrow I will go hunt down the scientific proof that peas are not the preferred method for relieving constipation in bettas. I remember reading the article which convinced me and which is why I now keep daphnia on hand.
 
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