Help! White strings on crowntail's fins - fungus?

[Starfish1]

Just reread your last line, must have missed that.. All is asked was if anyone had seen white strings on their bettas, and yes, i do know better how their bellies look after they eat because i am the one who has been feeding them for the past year!

[Fishehgobloop]

O.O sorry to interrupt.

Are you feeding your fish just pellets? Because if they haven't grown at all, you might try adding a frozen food (either brine shrimp or glassworms) to their diet two or three times a week. It's possible your fish are just small, and the best way to find out really is to add some good ol' fashioned as-close-to-live-as-possible protein to their diet. :) I know that the NLS pellets are AMAZING (totally my favorite pellets for my bettas) but frozen food is the best as far as nutrients, and the closest you can get to a betta's natural diet without going live. And you're right about you being the best to tell if you're feeding them the right amount, because you get to see them every day. :)

And as far as your stringies, it may or may not be a fungus. If you can put him in a nice comfy hospital tank (a 1 gallon if you have one, with a filter, heater, and a light) with a proper dose of AQ salt, and some stress coat for a couple days, you should be able to tell 100% either way (because it'll either get worse -in which case its a fungus- or go away and get better). The best thing I've learned to do if a betta is showing signs of any kind of sickness is to QT him with fresh water and the AQ salt and keep an eye out, because until you know for sure, you don't want to medicate, because you don't want to incorrectly medicate him and/or weaken his immune system more.

[Starfish1]

Thanks, fishehgobloop! I've never tried any frozen foods before. I think they are just a small breed, any of mine from online overseas are smaller and my petstore bettas are much bigger. And seem like they can eat much more! When the online ones got here they had very long fins so i'm assuming they're full grown? Anyway, they each eat different amts but they all get fed till they have a nice rounded belly. They'd probably just LOVE me if i came home with frozen foods!

I did his water change and kept him in his 3 gallon, no gravel right now, heater, and put salt in. he looks better today, some of the stringy things have come off. i'm gonna do another water change in a few minutes. I've never tried using aquarium salt as a treatment but i am doing that this time because like you said, i don't want to treat him with the wrong thing and make it worse.

thanks for you help :)

[Fishehgobloop]

;) not a problem. I hope he makes a full, speedy recovery, and I hope he likes his frozen yummies. Let me know if there is anything else I can offer to help. :)

[Starfish1]

will do, thanks! :)