sick female half moon

[Momoko]

past month now my female better has been lethargic, not eatting. just hanging near the surface, occasionally gulping air which results sometimes in bubbles escaping her gills.. i noticed she had a hard like white spot on her gill flap so did a 30% water change using tetra water conditioner, treated the tank with esha 2000.. didn't work..
The other week i noticed that it looked like she had ick, so didnanother water change, added some white spot and parasite treatment and turned the tank up 82f.. looks like the ick has come off but this white spot is still there and she is still the same, during this time of the temp being turned up i had 2 neons die unexpectedly and sudden.. ive had my neons a long time and they had no visible illness, .. done some major water changes this past week to make sure nothing nasty is going on.. as i noticed the neons were breathing very hard.. last night i did a 20% water change, turned the temp back down to normal and i had a spare aqauel filter that creates bubbles so i took the media out of that and just used that to make bubbles as i thought it was a oxygen problem, breathing on all fish as improved, my betta tho is still the same.. I just dont know what else to do.. all fish other than her are acting normal.
No new fish has been added in 4 months to this tank, got some live plants over a month ago, but all the plants i bought are split in all 3 of my tanks and i have a 30ltr with 2 female guppys and a female crown tail and a african frog all are healthy.. and a 24ltr with just a male betta in, he is healthy too so i cant see it being the plants.

She wont even come out so i can try and get a photo to show


Housing 70litre planted
What size is your tank? 70litre
What temperature is your tank? 27C
Does your tank have a filter? yes interpet P2
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? not usually but have a old filter creating bubbles at the moment
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? male guppies, neons, lamp eyes, pigmy corys, salt & pepper corys

Food TetraMin tropical fish flakes
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? as above, tried tetraBetta and she turned her nose up at it!
How often do you feed your betta fish? once a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? weekly
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 20-30%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Tetra tap safe, sometimes add a little tetra easy balance once a month

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

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 30 and stable ( has always been this level, cant get it any lower, its the same in all 3 of my tanks, think its the water in this area)
pH: 7.6
Hardness:270mg/l
gh mg/l 500

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? in description above.
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? no
How old is your fish (approximately)? 6months since date of purchase

[Momoko]

ok here is a photo i just got of her, you can clearly see the white spot on her gill, it does not look like fungus, could it be a gill fluke?

[eatmice2010]

I cant really tell, but if its an illness it may be ich

[eatmice2010]

also are you sure thats a girl

[Momoko]

Originally Posted by eatmice2010

also are you sure thats a girl

I did have my doubts about that too.. bought her as a female half moon, she was in a tank full of her sisters lol she is big tho with large fins.. and she does have the white spot underneath her

[callistra]

That's not a female that's a veiltail male.

Nitrates are too high. If you do a series of 2 or 3 50% water changes over the next 2-3 days it should get that under control. If you really think there are nitrates in your tap then test your straight tap water, but I doubt it. Once things are under control I would increase water changes to 50% weekly since you're so heavily stocked

Ick takes 2weeks to a month depending on the temp of the water.. 85F will be about 2 weeks so at only 82 it would probably take longer. She probably still has ick. Best to treat the whole tank. Treatment lined up here: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=73332

However I'm also concerned about that bloating.. He looks really bloated too from what I can see.. What color is his poop?

Sometimes flakes can cause bloating issues. I suggest looking for a high quality protein based pellet to try to feed - Something like New Life Spectrum Betta or Omega One Betta Buffet. Depending on what you choose depends on how much to feed. The idea is the first two or three ingredients should be whole fish, not fish meal and even worse would be wheat. No matter what you feed I he needs one fast day a week with no food. Make sure he's not being a pig and getting the food intended for the other fish too. Some people have to cup during feeding because they won't leave it alone.

I would fast your fish for the next 2-3 days and monitor poop during this time. I would also treat with epsom salts at 1 tsp per gallon predissolved and added slowly over an hour to avoid ph shock. The salts need to be pure 100% magnesium sulfate via the ingredients label with no dyes or perfumes of any kind.

[Momoko]

Originally Posted by callistra

That's not a female that's a veiltail male.

Nitrates are too high. If you do a series of 2 or 3 50% water changes over the next 2-3 days it should get that under control. If you really think there are nitrates in your tap then test your straight tap water, but I doubt it. Once things are under control I would increase water changes to 50% weekly since you're so heavily stocked

Ick takes 2weeks to a month depending on the temp of the water.. 85F will be about 2 weeks so at only 82 it would probably take longer. She probably still has ick. Best to treat the whole tank. Treatment lined up here: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=73332

However I'm also concerned about that bloating.. He looks really bloated too from what I can see.. What color is his poop?

Sometimes flakes can cause bloating issues. I suggest looking for a high quality protein based pellet to try to feed - Something like New Life Spectrum Betta or Omega One Betta Buffet. Depending on what you choose depends on how much to feed. The idea is the first two or three ingredients should be whole fish, not fish meal and even worse would be wheat. No matter what you feed I he needs one fast day a week with no food. Make sure he's not being a pig and getting the food intended for the other fish too. Some people have to cup during feeding because they won't leave it alone.

I would fast your fish for the next 2-3 days and monitor poop during this time. I would also treat with epsom salts at 1 tsp per gallon predissolved and added slowly over an hour to avoid ph shock. The salts need to be pure 100% magnesium sulfate via the ingredients label with no dyes or perfumes of any kind.

Thanks for the info.. you recon he/she is a male then.. hmm interesting..

Well he hasnt been eating anyway and to be honest he must have secret poos as i never see them hanging from him or him even going poo.. he must do tho, just never witness it..

I'll have to try and treat again with the white spot and parasite treatment.. prob is it seemed to upset my other fish with heavy breathing, doesnt help that i have to remove alot of my filter media and just leave a sponge due to the medicine.

where can i find epsom salt? ive not seen that in the pet stores

[callistra]

Epsom salts can be found in pharmacies (Like CVS Pharmacy) or pharmacy sections of grocery stores.

[Momoko]

also will the epsom salt be ok with my corys, I've read mixed reviews about salt and the fact they cant tolerate it

[callistra]

epsom salts are nothing like aquarium salts except in their appearance. It's probably safe for corys.. not sure. Some people just add it regularly to help their plants.


ETA: You might research it more, but just because corys can't handle AQ doesnt' mean they can't handle ES. It's magnesium sulfate where aq is sodium chloride. I've seen people use epsoms with corys but I have no personal experience. I would keep it lower dose if you want to try.. 1/4tsp to no more than 1 tsp per gallon. Definitely acclimate more slowly than normal and watch for signs of distress.