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Alpha de Beta is Sick -- What should I do next?

674 views 11 replies 4 participants last post by  fiky95 
#1 ·
I've been trying to tackle an issue with my fish for almost 9 months now and I am at a loss. The problem started out looking like a little balloon on my fish's dorsal fin. After about 2 months, the balloon burst and left my fish's fin looking a little ragged.

Since this point, I've:
(1) upgraded my filtration system (month 3-5, his condition was stable but his fin looked pretty ratty)
(2) tried a dose of tetracycline (once at month 6 and and a second one at month 7, condition looked to improve after the second round, fin looked to be healing but was maybe at 50% recovered)

The fish seemed to improve until this Monday when I returned to a gnarly looking fin. After doing some research online and comparing photos with other diagnosis, I came to the conclusion that my fish may have a parasite (it looked like he had little tiny hairs sticking out of his dorsal fin sore spot). I saw that many people recommended aquarium salt, so I bought some after work yesterday and put it in the tank this morning.

By the afternoon, my fish's sore spot looked significantly worse. The sore spot turned white, looked like it was peeling, and was clearly inflamed. He was also acting depressed (hovering at the bottom of the tank and not responding to my hand as quickly as he normally does). Despite his weird fin issue, my fish has always been active and engaged, so now I am concerned that I will get to work tomorrow to find him much worse and/or no longer with us.

HELP!:cry:

I've attached a photo so hopefully it's available for you all to see.
 

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#2 · (Edited)
Answers to standard questions

:oops: I forgot to include this earlier....

Housing

What size is your tank? 2.5 gal
What temperature is your tank? 75*
Does your tank have a filter? Yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? it has flow aeration
Is your tank heated? No, it get's good sun and is in a stable office environment so the temperature hovers right at 75
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? He's alone

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? betta pellettes
How often do you feed your betta fish? twice a day, 3 pellettes in the AM and 3 in the PM

Maintenance

How often do you perform a water change? I change out about 8 oz every Monday/Wednesday/Friday
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? See above
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Water conditioner

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? I have not tested the water -- local store is out of tests!

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

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Yes, his fin issue recently got much worse... photo is attached to my original post
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Betta seems to be depressed today... I added aquarium salt in the morning
When did you start noticing the symptoms? 9 months ago, but he got worse over the weekend and today
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? I did two rounds of tetracycline several months ago and added salt today
Does your fish have any history of being ill? He has never fully recovered from the fin bubble that burst
How old is your fish (approximately)?I would guess he's pretty old. I've had him for two and he was pretty big/mature looking when I bought him
 

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#6 ·
Hi georgiasowner and welcome to the forum. I'm sorry your guy isn't well. From the pics and your description of his symptoms, it sounded like he had a cyst that burst and became infected.

Since he doesn't seem to be reacting well to the AQ salt, you can go ahead and remove that. If you'd like to try a medication to tackle this bacterial infection, the med I recommend is API Furan-2, which is a good medication to tackle topical infections caused by sores. You may also want to add Kordon Fish Protector to the tank as well; this product will coat the open wound and help provide some slime coat.

Most likely the reason the tetracycline didn't work is because Alpha's wound is almost certainly a gram negative bacteria and tetracycline only treats the less common gram positive bacteria.

I'd also recommend upping the amount of water you change out to a gallon or so, 50% of the water. The cleaner the water, the less likely the wound will become more infected.

You've obviously been taking good care of him since he's had a good long life. :) Also, I love his name.
 
#7 ·
Oh boy poor guy. I would do a dip in a 1-2 g container hospital with clean warm de chlor water with a broad spectrum med like Paraguard. It is an ant septic and kills bacteria and fungus well ime. Since it is also anti parasite and not a harsh med it would cover the bases. You can give him the full dip dose quickly. Most lfs carry this product. Simple to use just follow the instructions well. I only recommend it because it works for me and can be used in combination with Kanaplex which is another great med to have on hand. If it gets worse you may want to use an combo of the two but you can see how he does first. Good luck he is a nice fish.
 
#9 ·
Creating action plan for tomorrow!

Thank you (x million). I will test out your recommendations ASAP! Especially the water change portion since you suspect bacteria.

One random observation today is that there was a weird black dotted film on the surface of the water. I usually turn off the filter while I feed AdB and noticed it during his morning feed. I took out about 4 (8oz) cups of water and replaced it with fresh cups if water as quickly as I could. The film did not reoccur during the evening feed. Not sure if that adds anything of value to his story.

Again - thank you!!
 
#11 ·
Fiky95 - you were right! Completely random but I visited the Czech Rep. (Brno and Prague) a few month ago. Lovely country, friendly people, and delicious food!

Thanks again Sakura8!

Hopefully I will have good news to report in the next few days.
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