New betta, open sore! :-[

[DearAmbellina]

Hello Betta Buddies ;-]

My hubby and I bought a male crowntail betta 2 days ago at Petco (bad place to get them..I know) Upon getting him home, once we got him out of that hard to see through blue water, we noticed he has an open sore/wound on his gill cover. It doesn't appear to be a disease, it looks like he got a bit banged up somehow. He also has a couple raised scales (not dropsy pinecone scales) and some fuzzy (ich?) looking stuff on his side fins. He is flaring, eating, and swimming well. He is acting like a healthy betta, just doesn't look the part. He is my hubby's and he is really hoping he'll make it!


Housing
What size is your tank? 10 gallon
What temperature is your tank? 70-72 (I know it's not as warm as it should be, we live in a very cold-in-the-winter area)
Does your tank have a filter? No
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? Live plants(?)
Is your tank heated? No. ;-[ Need to find a heater!!
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? Alone, we are keeping him isolated until we know whats up with him.

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? freeze dried blood worms
How often do you feed your betta fish? we have fed him once a day, for the 2 days we have had him. he ate very well! and didn't really spit any food back out unless it was just a big piece.

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Haven't had him long enough to change the water.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? n/a
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? We put a pinch of aquarium salt, 1 tsp Melafix Fish First Aid, and 10 tsp (1 tsp per gallon) Aqueon BettaBowl Plus water conditioner/dechlorinator+trace elements.

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

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH: 7.0
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Open sore, several raised scales, bloated belly, some (possible) white fuzzies.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He is actually pretty active!
When did you start noticing the symptoms? after we got him home.
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? yes, with the melafix fish first aid.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? not known
How old is your fish (approximately)? hmm...he's smaller than our other betta (seperate tanks) so I'm assuming he's fairly young.


Thank you for your input!

[Harley]

That blue water sucks for getting a good look at a betta in-store. It's supposed to have antibacterial properties though. You likely want to get a filter (to help reduce the water changes) in addition to a heater . For a 10g tank, look for a heater in the 50W range, preferably with an adjustable temperature dial. Depending on the instructions, you'll likely want to use 1 rounded tsp of Aquarium salt but they're not all the same. Also freeze died blood worms should only be used as a treat, not daily food. Sure they'll eat them up, but the nutritional value isn't great. You'll want to get some betta pellets for daily use. Try to get some that have protein as the first 2 ingredients and about 50% protein overall.

[DearAmbellina]

Okay, thank you! :-]

[turtle10]

I agree, freeze dried foods are basically the equivalent of potato chips.

[TheKingsFish]

The blue water is "supposed" to have anti-bacterial properties, but the fish where we go are shipped in them, and they sometimes arrive so covered in columnaris that they don't always survive the trip. If it looks fuzzy, it's probably not Ich; that usually looks like little salt grains. We've had this problem with some new arrivals before...we and the pet shop we usually get them from treat it with antibios. We use API T.C. Tetracycline to beat "the Fuzz," which we usually dissolve in a medicine syringe with some warm water before adding it to the quarantine area. This enables you to control how quickly it goes into the water, and it mixes more quickly if it is already dissolved.

[DearAmbellina]

Okay...yeah it looks more Fuzz-like than salt-like. Maybe it's a fungal thing? We are giving him MelaFix, it has tea tree oil and some other really good, natural things in it to combat infection and keep it away. We have brought the tank temperature up to 75-80. It fluctuates a bit during the day but it stays within that range. We are going to get to town next week, (we live an hour away from any where that sells filters&fish food!!!) and we will pick some filters out and get some betta pellets.Any brand in particular that works well for them, and doesn't cost a million dollars? ;-] I had 2 bettas when I was young...I was about 9 years old and they both ate only blood worms for their entire lives, and they both lived to be 5 years old. Coincidence? I'm not bashing you guys for thinking blood worms are bad!! Just curious as to why they would have lived so long? They never had any illnesses or problems. Both lived in bowls, unheated, unfiltered. Just wondering :)

Is API TC Tetracycline a human antibiotic? I have Keflex/Cephalexin and Nitrofurantoin..I have another one too, but I'd have to go look and see what the name is. I was given these for kidney infections. Just curious if that's what you were referring to. We had birds we gave Penicillin to one time, so just a thought.

Thank you all for your help, I know us newbies have a ton of the same questions, thanks for puttin up with me!! :-]

[turtle10]

Originally Posted by DearAmbellina

Okay...yeah it looks more Fuzz-like than salt-like. Maybe it's a fungal thing? We are giving him MelaFix, it has tea tree oil and some other really good, natural things in it to combat infection and keep it away. We have brought the tank temperature up to 75-80. It fluctuates a bit during the day but it stays within that range. We are going to get to town next week, (we live an hour away from any where that sells filters&fish food!!!) and we will pick some filters out and get some betta pellets.Any brand in particular that works well for them, and doesn't cost a million dollars? ;-] I had 2 bettas when I was young...I was about 9 years old and they both ate only blood worms for their entire lives, and they both lived to be 5 years old. Coincidence? I'm not bashing you guys for thinking blood worms are bad!! Just curious as to why they would have lived so long? They never had any illnesses or problems. Both lived in bowls, unheated, unfiltered. Just wondering :)

Is API TC Tetracycline a human antibiotic? I have Keflex/Cephalexin and Nitrofurantoin..I have another one too, but I'd have to go look and see what the name is. I was given these for kidney infections. Just curious if that's what you were referring to. We had birds we gave Penicillin to one time, so just a thought.

Thank you all for your help, I know us newbies have a ton of the same questions, thanks for puttin up with me!! :-]

Just be careful because melafix is actually not good for them. I can damage their kidneys.

Also, just because a fish lived long doesn't mean it was healthy or happy.

[TheKingsFish]

Pet store antibiotics are specially formulated FOR FISH. If you try to give them human antibiotics you could end up killing some of the symbiotic bacteria that they do depend on for digestion, etc...that is if you don't accidentally kill them with an overdose. It also says on the package of fish meds that they aren't meant for human consumption.

Tea tree oil also damages the labyrinth organ, which impairs their ability the breathe air (yes, they do this).