Sick betta with white film

[Kiwi03]

Hi everyone,
I could use your help. I recently got back into bettas. I bought my first betta last Saturday. He is a beautiful half moon betta whom I named Giupetto. He seemed ok the first couple of days other then the fact that he was a very picky eater. I ended up getting the Omega One pellets which he did start eating- and is still eating. He does split some of them out like they are too big, but over all he is eating, but not great.

I noticed he was hiding in his castle a lot and rubbing his body on the plants and the side of the tank on Wednesday. On Thursday his top fin was more like a sharks fin and he had a white dot on his tail and some white film on some parts of his body. I knew he was in trouble so went out on Friday and got him a medication called "Maracide". The package said it treats Ick, velvet and other external parasites. It says to treat on days 1, 3 and 5. I treated him yesterday and will treat him again tomorrow, being day 3. I also have added some aquarium salt. I also bought some "Betta fix" but haven't used any yet because it dosent say that it treats Ick and the white film he has on him.

He is in a 2.5 mini gallon tank. It is filtered with the tetra whisper filter that is geared towards aquariums 1-3 gallons. He has a heater in the tank with is currently at 80 degrees. He has real plants in his aquarium.

Will the maracide help my little guy? Today, all of his fins are clamped together. He does swim around but dosent look very healthy all at. Poor little dude :(

Any help would be great. Thanks!

[veggiegirl]

Hey there,

Your boy definately has some sort of parasite probably white spot if he has white dots on him. If the medication is for parasites it should be fine, I think copper-based medications are supposed to be the most effective for parasites, though that is not to say that non copper based medication won't work.

[callistra]

Maracide is a copper based med. It's malachite green.

You should use meds or salts, not both: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=73332

If he's tearing his fins on the plants and ornaments they are too rough.

[Kiwi03]

I'm not seeing any white dots anymore. When I cleaned his tank I was seeing white fluff which I got all out. His main issue is his fins are all clamped together. What can be used to treat that?

I'm very concerned. Please advice.

[callistra]

Well he may always have clamped fins while you're treating as that stuff is pretty harsh. Just focus on treating the ick and whatever else and once you got that under control and he's in clean water you can evaluate the clamped fins.

[Kiwi03]

But I don't know if maracide will treat whatever is wrong with him?? Can you confirm that?

[callistra]

Maracide will treat ick or other external parasite infections, if that's what he has. Photos would be helpful to help diagnose. Did he look like he had a sprinkling of salt on him? that's ick.

Exactly how heavily planted is it? How often/how much were you doing water changes? How long have you had this tank set up? Have you used a drops kit to check ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels? More info is needed: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=49233

I'm not sure if maracide is safe to use with life plants or not. The salt isn't.

[MattsBettas]

Please fill this form out- Housing
What size is your tank?
What temperature is your tank?
Does your tank have a filter?
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?
Is your tank heated?
What tank mates does your betta fish live with?

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?
How often do you feed your betta fish?

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change?
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?

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

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

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
When did you start noticing the symptoms?
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
Does your fish have any history of being ill?
How old is your fish (approximately)?


Also, a picture would help lots to. Hope I can help!

[Kiwi03]

Please see below for my answers.

Originally Posted by MattsBettas

Please fill this form out- Housing
What size is your tank? 2.5 gallons
What temperature is your tank? 80 degrees
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? filter
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? omega one pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? twice daily

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? once weekly
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 25%
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? Do not have a test kit

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

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Clamped fins
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Not swimming around a lot, rubbing on things in tank
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Wednesday
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Yes, with Maracide
Does your fish have any history of being ill? I only got him a week ago
How old is your fish (approximately)? He is young, definitely not full grown yet


Also, a picture would help lots to. Hope I can help!

I don't have any pics on this computer :( Will try and get some

[callistra]

Your water changes need to be increased. That may be the cause or he could have come with it.

Something of this size is hard to cycle. A lot if not most will tell you not to try and you will always have to do the standard water changes of 50% and 100% - with the later including a thorough rinsing of gravel and all decor. However you can always try to cycle it and it is generally thought on this forum that a twice weekly 50% water change, including using a turkey baster/small vac or stir/dip method to remove poo might eventually be all that is needed. In the meantime cycling takes up to 2 months and you really should be using a drops kit for ammonia nitrite and nitrate. You should be testing daily and making a 50% change any time you see as much as a .25ppm ammonia or nitrite. Additionally a weekly 50% change should be done. You'll see ammonia spike first, then nitrite. Ammonia will go to zero and finally nitrite and you would be left with nitrates that will hopefully be kept under 20ppm by the 2x weekly change.

Depending on how heavily planted it is you might not have to do much cleaning of the gravel.

I would also check the flow on the filter and make sure it's not stressing him out. You may need to baffle it and prefilter it.

Since you've already started it I'd keep up with the Maracide and see how it goes. His behavior does point to a parasite issue which that should likely take care of. I'd be doing 50% changes every other day and 100% weekly while he's being treated.