White fuzz

[Skyewillow]

From our research, it seems we have cumularious in one of our tanks.

How can we get rid of it on the decor, and in the tank?

How can we get rid of the patch hanging off of Don Quixote's tail?

He WAS in a 2.5 with a filter, and a heater (80 degrees) with water changes twice a week, dechlorinated with tetra aqua safe.

I switched him to a one gallon, because he would become overwhelmed and not eat in the 2.5, and the fuzz apparently moved with him.

So, I need to know the safest way to clean him, and sterilize everything in this tank, and my filter, to get this under control.

[Oldfishlady]

This bacteria (Columnaris) is ever present in the tank-its the fish immune response that keeps it from infecting. No matter how much you clean-you can't get rid of it-but you can keep the number low-
You can build and support the Betta immune response so he can fight it off, however, he will need a treatment to help get him back on track.

Right now-what I would recommend is a high dose aquarium salt, tannin treatment with low temps for 10days and good nutrition.

Using the 1gal half full of water for the QT-lights off dim lit quiet location.

Premix some treatment water in a 1gal jug of dechlorinated water-Add salt 3tsp/gal and a tannin source-either IAL (1 lrg crushed/gal) or naturally dried and fallen from the tree Oak leaf (20 crushed/gal) Let this steep for 30min-Shake well before use.

Using this premixed treatment water-make 25% water changes every 15min for 1hr-
This will get him acclimated and start the treatment. Maintain water temp in the 76-77F range.

Tomorrow-using the premixed treatment water make 50% water changes every other day to complete the 10 day treatment.
If you used a tannin source the premixed treatment water should look darker everyday and this is what you want.

Nutrition-good quality varied diet fed in small frequent meals. If you have access to live mosquito larva offer several rinsed a couple of times a day to boost protein intake to support the immune response.

Once he is well-use like temp dechlorinated fresh water to make water changes over several day to get him acclimated back to freshwater.

You may need to remove the filter in his tank once he is ready to go back in his tank-Often the water flow can be a source of stress that compromises the immune response.

Hopefully, he has enough fight left in him to beat this....
Good luck and keep us posted

[Skyewillow]

We've started preparing the water for this treatment.

(I PM'd this information to OFL, didn't think to post it here till just now)
The white fuzz covers everything in our tank, the gravel, the walls, his IAL, the bamboo (that I forgot all about until just now). The bamboo is getting thrown out though.

[Oldfishlady]

It sounds more like a fungus or water mold due to the rotting of the plants...I would do a good clean on the tank, decorations-toss the rotting plants and start the 2.5gal over. I would still do the salt treatment on the Betta in QT-since he has fuzz on his tail.

[Skyewillow]

we had the fuzz take over a bare 1 gal that I was hatching the Fairy shrimp in (in spring water). It completely smothered the eggs, at the same time it was starting to fuzz up our hospital tank (the 2.5). The bamboo didn't go in until after the issue started.

We moved him back into the one gal because he started getting overwhelmed and he stopped eating in the larger tank. He's eating a little better now. We keep them at 76-78 degrees.

The only thing these tanks had in common was the airline being used, but I don't know if that really means anything. None of the other 5 tanks are affected at all.

Also, I just started the 25% changes.

[Oldfishlady]

Sounds like a water mold...what is your source water...well water, city supplied water.

Its not uncommon for eggs to get fungus-especially in still water

[Skyewillow]

The one tank was spring water with an airline for water movement, the other was dechlorinated city water. We're currently running all of our tanks on treated city water. No fuzz in any other tank.

The same airline running to the shrimp tank, and the airline that was running to the hospital tank were split from the same tube, and only those two had an issue. Is there a chance the mold could've been in the hose itself?