Something bad is happening to my Bettas!

[Kitty Whiskers]

Today I lost another Betta from my Female Sorority! This is the 4th death in like 2 weeks! They all act fine but are dead the next day. 1st it was my new Betta Holly that I only had for a couple of days then died, Next it was Lacey one of my older Bettas, then Spectra several days ago who was my favorite Betta of all, Now today it was a newer Betta Joy.

They all were fine and eating well yesterday but now today, Joy died and most of them seem to have claped fins. Some ate only a pellet or 2 then didn't eat anymore. Some didn't even eat anything at all even when I offered Frozen Brine Shrips and Frozen Blood worms their favorites!

They went back down to the bottom and sat on the gravel with clamped fins. Even while swimming they were clamped fins.

I changed some water and put in conditioners but they still are the same. The water tests are actually better than usual so that is odd.

The only things different lately for the last 3 months is I started using tap water set at around 80 Degrees for water changes. Usually during warm months I use room temp filtered water from the PUR filter water filter container. But it is too cold now to do that because it only reaches 60 degrees in the filtered jugs of water we have water in. (I use it to water my plants) Plus the other different thig is I added 6 Oto Catfish like last week.

Here is the info you need:

Housing
What size is your tank? 30 Gallons
What temperature is your tank? 80 Degrees F
Does your tank have a filter? Yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? Yes
Is your tank heated? Yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? There are 8 Female Bettas left with 4 Cory Catfish and 6 Oto Catfish.

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Pellets plus frozen fish food as a treat.
How often do you feed your betta fish? Once a day in the morning

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? One a week on the weekends
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? About 10 Gallons out of the 30 Gallon tank
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Stress Coat, Stress Zyme, and Prime.

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia: It is within the safe zone
Nitrite: Zero
Nitrate: Zero
pH: 7.5
Hardness: 180
Alkalinity: 180

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Clamped Fins
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Laying at bottom of tank, eating little or no food.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Symptoms just showed up today, but fish have been dieing for 2 weeks.
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? No, just a water change today.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? Yes, recently they have had Fin Rot, and a few looked to have parasites not long ago. But otherwise been pretty well for a long time.
How old is your fish (approximately)? Young to older, all under a year and a half aprox.

[Jessa24]

Could the first one that died had something the others could have caught? Or the new Oto Catfish...could they have something that is contagious that's perhaps affecting the bettas? It's weird how your new one died and all of a sudden one you've had longer suddenly dies...hmmm.

[Kitty Whiskers]

Another Betta died this morning, my Betta Sky. I only had her for 2 months! What should I do? Pretty soon they will all be dead!!!!!

[MSG]

Seperate each betta into their own containers & treat the ones that won't eat.

Like Jess mentioned, it's most likely the oto cats that introduced a pathogen that's slowly infected your tank.

Also I don't think you need to add these 3 every time you do a water change => Stress Coat, Stress Zyme, and Prime.

Prime should be enough for treating NEW water. Save the stress additives for your sick fish/hospital tanks.

What kind of medications do you have on hand?

[LittleBettaFish]

If you watch them long enough can you see any flashing or scratching? Are they breathing heavily or acting odd apart from the refusal to eat and clamped fins?

Unless you quarantined your otocinclus for a couple of weeks prior to introducing them into the sorority you most likely introduced something nasty into your tank.

If you run a strong flashlight over your females can you see any small white specks (ich can sometimes be difficult to see when it first breaks out but look around the gills and on the membrane of the fins) or sort of grey/gold dusting? Velvet and ich are pretty common and I lost a couple of females when I first started my sorority because they had come in with ich and their colouring made it very hard to notice at first.

[Kitty Whiskers]

*MSG* Maracyn 2 and an anti parasite med that I forget the name of.

[Kitty Whiskers]

Originally Posted by LittleBettaFish

If you watch them long enough can you see any flashing or scratching? Are they breathing heavily or acting odd apart from the refusal to eat and clamped fins?

Unless you quarantined your otocinclus for a couple of weeks prior to introducing them into the sorority you most likely introduced something nasty into your tank.

If you run a strong flashlight over your females can you see any small white specks (ich can sometimes be difficult to see when it first breaks out but look around the gills and on the membrane of the fins) or sort of grey/gold dusting? Velvet and ich are pretty common and I lost a couple of females when I first started my sorority because they had come in with ich and their colouring made it very hard to notice at first.

No, they do not scratch on things and no flashing. They are breatheing slow like normal. The only other odd thing is that they lay at the bottom of the tank.

Yeah, I didn't quarantine the Otos... But the Otos are acting just fine however and my Cory Cats are acting normal too with no deaths to the catfish yet.

I took a look with a bright flashlight and I don't see any spots, specks or dusting on them. Their fins and skin look normal. No sores or redness, nothing. But today some of them look more pale in color and my Purple CT Violet is starting to turn all white on her head and face. It is not fuzzy or slimy or anything, I can tell it is just her skin/scale color. But the change was within the last 2 days.

[Friendlyfishies]

do you see any fungus/fuzz/cotton on the fishes? Around the mouth particularly? The ottos or water perams could have intro'd columnaris possibly?

[MSG]

Whatever the outbreak is.... from what you're describing, it's going to take our your bettas first.

Otos might have developed an immunity to the pathogen they're carrying that's why they appear okay.

Since the bettas are JUST laying around, it should be easy to take some clear photos of them.

The sooner you diagnose them, the sooner you can treat them before it spreads to the rest of the fish.

Try to take some snapshots & upload good focused photos or you'll continue to WONDER what's going on.

Sudden changes in color in specific areas are not a good sign so document them ASAP with photos whenever it happens.

[Kitty Whiskers]

Originally Posted by MSG

Whatever the outbreak is.... from what you're describing, it's going to take our your bettas first.

Otos might have developed an immunity to the pathogen they're carrying that's why they appear okay.

Since the bettas are JUST laying around, it should be easy to take some clear photos of them.

The sooner you diagnose them, the sooner you can treat them before it spreads to the rest of the fish.

Try to take some snapshots & upload good focused photos or you'll continue to WONDER what's going on.

Sudden changes in color in specific areas are not a good sign so document them ASAP with photos whenever it happens.

OK I'll try to get some pictures of the ones that are doing the worst.

My fish aren't the only ones sick today, I think I'm getting the flu! I hope I'm not sick for Christmas! But I'll try as much as I can to get my Betta babies well again.