Help diagnosing my Bettas

[glutenfreemama]

I posted a week ago and need some help still.
Cant figure out what they have and therefor unsure how to procede with treatment.

Housing
What size is your tank? Female=10 gal, Male=5 gal
What temperature is your tank?lowered to 76 to treat, usually 80
Does your tank have a filter?Yes - hang on
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? Female= 3adf, 1 snail.

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? pellets, bloodworms
How often do you feed your betta fish? twice a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? weekly, 25%, prime added to water

Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:15

Does your fish have any history of being ill?First illness
How old is your fish (approximately)? had both for a year, bought as adults

How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
Male - white spots on face, cloudy eyes, body curved funny
Female - Silver hard scales at gills,
clear patch on back, bump on side with scales lifted.
also noticed gold specs on body in picture but cant see in person.

How has your betta fish's behavior changed?still eating, come to me when i approach,

Tried bettafix caused gills to gasp, hiding.
Water changes every 2 days 50%, cleaned decorations with hot water. Added aquarium salt 2 days ago, 1 tbsp per 5 gal.
lowered temp from 80 to 76

Sorry some pics are upside down and sideways. they are taken with my phone and I cant edit them.

[lvandert]

your boy is bloated for sure. and possibly had ich. I would get him in a 2tsp per gallon treatment of epsom salt asap. I would also throw in some ich cure for the white spots.

As for the girl I see what your talking about but I've never seen that before. Is she acting funny at all?

[katrina89]

they look like you are overfeeding them... but im no expert...

[glutenfreemama]

She is acting normal aside from an episode when i put in the bettafix.
I think I might be overfeeding them a bit. they eat about 5 pellets in the am and 5 in the pm.

I just tested my water and it came back a bit off. Not sure if it is dangerous.
the ph is 7.6, the hardness is 150 (hard), and the alkalinity is 40 (low). Is this all because of the aquarium salt??

as for the possible ich, would treatment hurt them if they didnt have it? or is it best to treat in case. I bought the jungle ich treatment.

With the next water change should I add more salt??

[glutenfreemama]

I just noticed you said epsom salt. is that ok to add when the aquarium salt is in the tank? I have epsom salt in my bathroom we use for baths....is that ok?? do I add it with ich treatment? should i treat the female? is it ok to use with the dwarf frogs and snail in the tank?
Do i take out the charcoal filter
sorry for so many questions i want to make them better and not stress them out

[lvandert]

its alright, asking questions are the smartest thing you can do right now lol. Yes your overfeeding. You need to cut down to two AM and two PM. no more. As for the dwarf frog and the snail. You should be removing the snail for salt treatments anyways, salt and snails don't mix. the frog i'm unsure of but it wont hurt to remove him anyways.

If you add the epsom salt from your bathroom make sure its UNSCENTED. scented will kill your betta. you can add it with the ich treatment that should make that much of a difference. I would also take the filter out. You don't want to get medicine in the filter. If you don't you'll just have to replace the filter after your done medicating. If you choose not to medicate with the jungle then just watch him carefully for signs of progress. if ti looks like its getting worse treat it immediately.

As long as the female isn't acting funny I wouldn't worry about her yet. keep an eye on her. If she becomes lethargic you might want to do the epsom salt treatment as well.

[glutenfreemama]

Thank you for your advice.
so it is ok to add the epsom salt with the aquarium salt in the tank? I added it 2 days ago and am going to do a water change soon. should i do 50% and add the epsom to that? although I suppose the aquarium salt will still be in the other 50 % and filter/decorations.

and im guessing the high ph and hardeness arent a concern right now??

[Shadyr]

Your girl looks coated with gold dust...that's the classic appearance of velvet, isn't it?

Velvet
•Symptoms: Can be found by shining a flashlight on your betta. If it looks like it is covered in fine gold of rust colored dust then it has velvet. Clamped Fins, no appetite, darting/rubbing, loss of color, lethargic
•Treatment: It is very contagious so you should treat the entire tank. Treat as you would treat Ick. PP is also my favorite for treating Velvet.

And for the record, PP...

•Potassium Permanganate (PP)

And the boy just looks bloated. Epsom salt can help move that through.

Hope they both recover!

[Aus]

Change 100% of the water to get rid of the AQ salt before adding epsom at 1 teaspoon per gallon. Epsom is safe to use with other medications and will help with any swelling problems.

If you're treating your fish for disease, it's probably best to change the water 100% daily. Good water quality is essential to the healing process, and to health in general. You may find this easier if you remove them to separate 1-gallon or so containers that can sit in their tank (they share a tank, right?) to keep warm.

To me this looks like they probably have a systemic bacterial issue, since it's causing swelling as well as skin problems. Treat them with a gram negative antibiotic like Kanaplex, Myxazin or Furan-2. Do this -quickly- and you might save your fish.

If they have parasite problems (ich or velvet, both are highly contagious & you'll have to treat both for it) this can be treated later. The bacteria is more dangerous.

The silver scales at the female's gills are perfectly normal, by the way.

I hope they're not still sharing a tank. It's stressful, and stress = sick fish.

[Aus]

Bah -- I hate the edit time limit.

Anyway, I just now noticed that your fish are in seperate tanks, I was reading too fast and misinterpreted, sorry.

Male - white spots on face, cloudy eyes, body curved funny

-- this is bacterial, treat with antibiotic as stated above.
- white spots could be ich, if they're not fuzzy. Treat the bacteria first.


Female - Silver hard scales at gills,
clear patch on back, bump on side with scales lifted.
also noticed gold specs on body in picture but cant see in person.

-- lump is probably bacteria.
-- she definitely has velvet.

If she's having trouble breathing, treat the velvet first. If not, treat with antibiotic for the lump, plus epsom to help the swelling go down. Keep her in the dark too, as velvet needs light to survive. Wait a few days, with 100% water changes, then treat the velvet with appropriate meds. Don't mix the two medications..