Help, Darcia is getting worse!

[Aluyasha]

I got another Betta on friday (so I have had him for a few days). He was already diseased when I bought him. He has (from what I can tell) White Fungus and Fin Rot, maybe ich.
My problem is. First, the meds do not seem to be working. In fact, the fungus appears to be spreading.
My other problem is what type of treatment should I do for his illnesses. I read that fin rot needs frequent water changes but fungus gets worse with water changes. I have no idea what to do.
Also, his fin rot has two different types, chunks of his fins are missing, but he also has what looks like bullet holes all over his fins aswell. Are they both fin rot or two different things?
I have been using Aquarium Salt for his fin rot and a med called 'ich attack' by Krodon which is supposed to treat ich and fungus.
Personality wise, he has not eaten since I got him. He never swims around unless he is jerking his body over the gravel (scratching I think). And he hides alot.
He is in a 1.5 gallon tank with a small filter. (For treatment I removed the filter cartridge). And I am using a heating pad for heat currently. His tank water is about 77-78 degrees.
Please help! I do not want him to die.
Thanks.

[coolcucumber]

Well, how much aq salt are you using? And, if it is ich, i would suggest trying to get the heat up to 82 degrees. then, the ich should stop being able to reproduce.

I would suggest getting a cup and floating it in there if there is gravel. if it is ich, it should start to fall off, then you can manually remove it from the cup. not sure if it'd be that easy with gravel. just a thought, i havent had to deal with ich in a while.


I wouldnt suggest trying this unless someone agrees with it, since i am quite rusty when it comes to ich.

[Aluyasha]

I am using what the AQsalt container says to use. Half a teaspoon for every gallon.
And I am still not sure if he has ich. I know for sure though that he has fungus and fin rot.

[coolcucumber]

Alright. I know that aq salt is also good for fin treatment. I also thought it was 1tsp/gallon

[JKfish]

If you keep your temperatures around 86* for a good 14 ish days, that'll kill the ich naturally. Keep your water super clean, if possible, IMO you might want to do complete 100% water changes to make sure you get anything that falls off of him out. the pinholes and finrot are probably the same thing, and the salt, which you might want to up to 1 tsp per gallon, as well as clean warm water, will take care of that. As for the fungus, it depends on what sort it is.

There's true fungus, sort of like the puffy mold stuff you see on really old fish food in the water, and then there's columnaris, which is basically body fungus (cotton mouth, etc). That should probably be easy enough to treat the way you're treating everything else, maybe, I dunno... Ask OFL for confirmation...Columnaris is extremely quick to spread, it'll look like cottony stuff around the mouth, or white splotches, etc. In that case, the issue is that you'd want to lower the water temp to the lower end of temps bettas need (so it won't grow and spread as quickly), and treat with either aq salt or meds.

I'm no disease expert, so at this time, I say wait for OFL, Adastra, and all those other fish doctors and see what they'd do.

[Oldfishlady]

When you have multi problems going on at the same time it is best to treat the one that will kill the fish the fastest....and I agree with JKfish that it may be columnaris and this can kill a fish fast if it is the fast moving strain...

I would get the fish in a small QT container big enough to add a airstone without it pushing the fish around too much and get the temp in the 76F range...pre-mix some treatment water in a 1gal jug of dechlorinated water...add 3tsp/gal aquarium salt and tannins-the darker the water the better and use this water for 100% daily water changes for 10 days....hold food for now and on day 3 offer small amount of high protein food

Cover the top of the QT container with plastic veggie wrap to keep the air above the water warm and humid for the labyrinth organ

Good luck and keep us posted.....

[Aluyasha]

Bad news, this morning I found Darcia dead. He never had a chance against that fungus, it was too quick.
...Walmart, I blame you. I so wanted to see him happily darting around in the 5 gallon I had waiting for him. I only had him for 5 days but he was one of my favorites.

[BettaHeart]

Im soo sorry to hear that, i really had hope he would pull thru

again sorry for your loss

[Elena]

So sorry you lost him :( He was very lucky to have you as you gave him a better few days before he passed. Also you may know this already but just in case- columnaris is extremely contagious- make sure to disinfect tank, filter, net, decorations etc very well with bleach solution. Also was your hands very well after you handle them. This thing spreads like fire- I lost four of my beloved fish last year to it :(

[Aluyasha]

Thanks for the info, Elena. I already cleaned everthing in the tank. I am cleaning the tank itself today. And I am throwing the filter cartridge away just in case.