What in the world is going on?

[ghostgirl90]

About two and a half weeks ago I noticed that the edges of my Betta's fins were ragged, but they weren't black at all. I treated for ten days with Aquarium salt, 1/4 tsp in a half gallon, and put him back in his large tank. He lasted in there for about four days before a huge chunk of his tail came off and I began to see some blackness around the edges of his tail. I'm treating with Jungle Fungus cure now (good for bacteria too, the box says), and the blackness is almost completely gone, but he's still losing his tail and there are chunks missing out of his fins now. Can anyone tell me what's going on?

Here's a pic of him:

http://tinypic.com/r/3328hgn/6

Housing
What size is your tank? 10 Gallon
What temperature is your tank? 78 F
Does your tank have a filter? Yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
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? Pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? Once a day, four pellets

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Change a gallon every other day unless otherwise noted on medication
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 10%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Just Dechlorinator

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? No
If so, what are the following parameters?

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

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? He's lost parts of his tail and fins and has developed a small yellow spot above his left eye
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He's begun blowing bubble nests and he's been flaring more in the past couple of days, but other than that, no
When did you start noticing the symptoms? two weeks ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? A ten day course of Aquarium Salt followed by a five day course of Jungle Fungus Clear
Does your fish have any history of being ill? I believe he had a slight case of fin rot when I got him on his frontmost fins. They are just about regrown now.
How old is your fish (approximately)? I really have no Idea I've owned him for Three and a half months.

[callistra]

You took any carbon out of the filter before you started treating right? Carbon will remove the meds and render them useless.

Small yellow spot like dusted in gold?
http://bettatude.com/Misc/buck-velvet-macro.jpg
http://media.beta.photobucket.com/us...rimary]=images
http://www.petfish.net/articles/pix/arts3/velvet.jpg
http://www.bettafish.com/attachment....3&d=1315280143 He's definitely got a good case of fin rot.. that med should clear it.

Are you sure he's not getting caught in the filter (hob?) or getting snagged on anything? have you used the panty hose test on everything in his tank? The black is rot now but before maybe not.. maybe so.

How long has your tank been established? In a fully cycled larger tank like this a once weekly 50% water change, including using a gravel vac to thoroughly clean the gravel, is needed. It's important, imho, when you run a cycled tank to invest ina drops kit for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate so you can check levels every now and again and when problems arise. Cycling takes up to 2 months and during that time you should have been testing daily and doing 50% wc any time you saw as little as .25ppm ammonia or nitrite. In addition to that the regular 50% wc was needed.

Since you're used Fungus Clear you've toasted your bb and now have to recycle everything.. http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=47838

I would split up those feedings to two smaller meals a day. He also needs one fast day a week. What brand are they?

First step get a drops kit and test everything. Report back.

In the meantime I'd do a large 50%ish water change along with gravel vac.

[ghostgirl90]

Originally Posted by callistra

You took any carbon out of the filter before you started treating right? Carbon will remove the meds and render them useless.

Small yellow spot like dusted in gold?
http://bettatude.com/Misc/buck-velvet-macro.jpg
http://media.beta.photobucket.com/us...g.html?filters[term]=betta%20velvet&filters[primary]=images
http://www.petfish.net/articles/pix/arts3/velvet.jpg
http://www.bettafish.com/attachment....3&d=1315280143 He's definitely got a good case of fin rot.. that med should clear it.

Are you sure he's not getting caught in the filter (hob?) or getting snagged on anything? have you used the panty hose test on everything in his tank? The black is rot now but before maybe not.. maybe so.

How long has your tank been established? In a fully cycled larger tank like this a once weekly 50% water change, including using a gravel vac to thoroughly clean the gravel, is needed. It's important, imho, when you run a cycled tank to invest ina drops kit for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate so you can check levels every now and again and when problems arise. Cycling takes up to 2 months and during that time you should have been testing daily and doing 50% wc any time you saw as little as .25ppm ammonia or nitrite. In addition to that the regular 50% wc was needed.

Since you're used Fungus Clear you've toasted your bb and now have to recycle everything.. http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=47838

I would split up those feedings to two smaller meals a day. He also needs one fast day a week. What brand are they?

First step get a drops kit and test everything. Report back.

In the meantime I'd do a large 50%ish water change along with gravel vac.

I haven't done the pantyhose check on anything in my tank - I've never heard of it before.
His Tank isn't cycled - I bought Herman before I knew what cycling was. As for carbon in his filter, He's got a sponge in his filter - is that carbon?

I feed him once a day as most days of the week I'm only home for eight hours - I sleep at work. He gets Nutrafin Max Pellets

I have a drops kit just never felt I needed it as my tank is uncycled. The stats:

PH - 7.5
Ammonia - 0.05
Nitrates - 0
Nitrites - 0

Thanks for your reply!

Brea

[callistra]

A sponge is not carbon. Carbon will be a bag of fine black sand like stuff.

What filter are you using? What is the brand/model?

So your filter only has a sponge in it? Nothing else? All you have to do to maintain that filter is rinse the sponge in his old tank water (that you removed during the change) when you do a water change. Only replace it every 6-12 months. Before replacing it, I'd also seed a new sponge by leaving it in his tank a month before you replace the old one (then take the 1 month old sponge into the filter and toss the old.

Cycling happens whether you intend it or not, unless you are doing so frequent and complete changes that ammonia never has a chance to build. Your water changes are not frequent enough to avoid this, but every time you have replaced the sponge you restarted everything over again. If you maintain your sponge as above eventually your tank will be cycled and all you have to do is that 50% weekly with vac change.

Ammonia is too high. Should do a 50% change every time you see .25ppm. All you have to do to cycle the tank is is give it a test daily for ammonia and nitrite and do a 50% change any time you see it hit .25ppm. In addition to this do a 50% weekly change with a gravel vac. Your tank will be cycled in 2 months or less, probably closer to a month. At first you will see only ammonia, like you see now. Eventually you will see nitrites. Ammonia will fall to zero, then nitrites will be at zero and you will be left with only nitrates.

----------

For now I wouldn't worry about cycling your tank since you have to get him healthy first. I would keep him in the 1/4 gallon floating in the main tank for warmth and do daily 100% changes in it along with the redosing of meds.

You can do large water changes without shocking this way.. I posted for 50% 100% alternating but the acclimation and everything is the same:

To do a water change, use a little cup like a plastic solo cup - this cup must be only for him and have never been used with soap or other chems. Scoop him up in this cup (keep him in the cup about 1/4 full of water - it doesn't need to be much because he won't be in it for long) and leave him in the cup while you change his water. To do the 50% use a turkey baster - dedicated only to him that has never seen soap or chems - and drag it through the gravel and try to suck as much of the poop out as possible, in addition to 50% of the water. Use a thermometer under the running tap to get it to be the same temp as the water that is normally in his tank. When the thermometer says the flowing tap is the right temp, fill back up his tank. At this point, add the conditioner (dose for how much water you change - if you change half the water you add half gallon worth of conditioner, If you do a 100% water change dose for the full gallon change). Float his plastic cup with him in it in the new water. Slowly add a couple tablespoons of the new water into his cup every 10 minutes for at least an hour. Finally, dump him in gently but try to get as little of the old cup water back into the tank as possible. When you do the weekly 100% you will do mostly the same thing except empty his tank fully and rinse everything in it very well under warm water but never use soaps or chemicals. Once it's fully cleaned/rinsed you can refill it and repeat the cup/acclimate phase.

[ghostgirl90]

Thank you for your help - I don't know the model of the filter, sorry.

As the Ammonia is only .05, .2 below the allowable limit, I'll leave Herman where he is and let the Fungus clear work the way it says it should on the box, but thanks for the info. I'll move Herman back to my hospital tank on Friday.

I'll keep your information in mind when I replace the sponge too. Didn't know about seeding.

Brea

[ghostgirl90]

So I moved Herman back to the hospital tank and he was doing better - I saw new growth on his tail and everything. But the new growth is starting to go black - could it be the aquarium gravel and plant that I put in there? The gravel was strictly for the hospital tank but the plant was from the large tank. Am I doing something wrong? Is there anything else I should try or keep going with the Melafix?

Housing
What size is your tank? 1/2 Gallon
What temperature is your tank? 78 F
Does your tank have a filter? no
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
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? Nutrafin Pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? Once a day, four pellets

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Every day
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 100%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Just Dechlorinator

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

Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:0
pH:7.5
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? New growth on tail has begun to turn black
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? no
When did you start noticing the symptoms? yesterday
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? A ten day course of Aquarium Salt followed by a five day course of Jungle Fungus Clear, followed by a two week course of Melafix and Pimafix (# Drops Each)
Does your fish have any history of being ill? I believe he had a slight case of fin rot when I got him on his frontmost fins. They are just about regrown now.
How old is your fish (approximately)? I really have no Idea I've owned him for Four months.

[callistra]

Melafix won't help this and I would stop treatment as it has an ingredient that can coat their labrynth organ and cause bettas to suffocate.

Can you share photos?

I would look for Triple Sulfa or Kanaplex and treat for at least a full week and until the very last sign of rot is there.. you could safely treat for 2 weeks.

[ghostgirl90]

Thanks for the information! I'm going to head to the big fish store right away. Here's a picture of his tail (Back View). Herman seems a little lethargic today - normally he's flaring at the glass whenever I come up to him, but he didn't today.

http://tinypic.com/r/347w6zq/6