Flexibacter columnaris?

[betta526]

Woke up this morning and found one of my bettas with cottony growth on fin and his side. Immediately put him in a bucket of salt water - 3 teaspoon of salt in 1 gallon of treated water. I dont have any meds on hand so this is the best i can do. A few hours later, he has not changed. So I upped his salt to 4 teaspoon of salt to a gallon and moved him into a smaller clear container so I can see him better. I don't have a good feeling about this. I recently lost one to the same thing and it quickly killed the betta. This guy was in a cycled 2.5 gallon sponge filter tank with twice a week water change. I think what might have compromised his immune system was the water change I did. Perhaps the temperature of the new water was too cold. I don't know. But I must have taken out too much water. The tank is unheated, but in a heated room in the basement with door closed to trap the heat.

Here is a photo:

[betta526]

Half an hour after he is in higher salt dosage he was moving around a little bit. so I decided to give him a couple of betta pellets. He ate them, thank goodness. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.

Plan to Change the water again later this evening. About 50% water change. will continue with 4 teaspoon salt per gallon.

[betta526]

To my surprise, the fuzz has fallen off the fish! Yeah!! Yesterday, at the end of the day, I used a swab to remove the fuzz off his body and fin the best I can. I also used a pair of clean shears (I dedicate one hair cutting shears just for fish use $1 at Dollar Tree) to snip his tail to remove part of fin that has fuzz on it. It wasn't easy. And swabbing him in shallow water was the only way to get him to stay still.

I've gone ahead and reduced salt by a teaspoon. And plan on reducing another teaspoon tomorrow. Hope that the fuzz won't return. I'll keep him on 1 teaspoon per gallon for another 6-7 days after that.

Here is what he looks like now:

[sareena79]

yikes you are brave, id be afraid of hurting him...love his color by the way. hope he gets to feeling better :)

[betta526]

Thanks. He is eating normally now and his energy appears to be back to normal.

I know, I was scared that I might hurt him too. Thank goodness he stood still long enough for me to snip quickly. I think he was probably too weak to move away.

[sareena79]

[quote][Thanks. He is eating normally now and his energy appears to be back to normal./QUOTE]

good Im glad, keep up the good work and keep the pix coming, I love progression pix

[Tikibirds]

Keep an eye on him. If it was columnaris, I'm not sure if cutting off the fuzz would of removed the bacteria that caused the fuzzies or not.

If you can, try to get a medicine like Furan 2 or triple sulfa - just incase the bacteria is still in his system. I usually have to find them online - petco does not carry it but petsmart does.

I suppose it could of been a fungus he had too.

[betta526]

When I changed his water tonight, there were a few cottony fuzz in the water. It must have fallen off the fish completely because I don't see any left on the fish. Yep, I will keep a close eye on him.

Do you think 4 teaspoon of salt is lethal to Bettas? I was nervous putting that much in but I read somewhere that it's still ok.

[LizzyP]

4 tsp is a little high, I think. The highest I've ever gone with aquarium salt is 1 tsp, but I've used Epsom Salts in 3 tsp, but ES really isn't salt so...

He's a cutie pie. Glad you caught it early. Like Tiki said, just keep a close eye on him incase whatever he had is still in his body.

[Silverfang]

I'd keep him on AQ salt for a bit longer, until at least 7 days on it have passed. Where you snipped can be like an open wound. The salt will help rot and fuzzies set back in. I hope it was just fungus. The big "C" is brutal.