Extreme Velvet Issues - Please Help!

[rebeccabeth225]

Hi everyone, I just got my first betta a little less than three weeks ago and since then I have become obsessed with her. Unfortunately, she has fallen ill and all my research online has led me to believe she has velvet. It has gotten really bad...the yellow has spread from just her head to her whole body and her fins are clamped and she is really lethargic.

Last night I was extremely worried I was going to lose her, but it was late so there was no where I could go to get medication (even in New York City!). I had to work early the next morning, before stores would be open, so I asked my friend to treat her while I was working so it wouldn't be too late. I instructed her to get either CopperSafe or Maracide. She went to Petco, which doesn't carry either, and she ended up treating my fish with Bettafix. My fish's fins looked great because of this, but it did nothing to her velvet except that she was more active.

Tonight I went to an independently owned pet store and got Maracide, administered a dose, and then realized it expired THREE YEARS AGO! Ridiculous. I'm livid. Is this going to hurt my poor fish?

I've read that you can scare away velvet with darkness, elevated temperatures, and aquarium salt. Is this true? Is there hope for my fish Poivre? I'm really, really worried that I'm acting too late.

I really don't want to lose her. Any help or good thoughts are appreciated! Thanks!

[jfw]

I'm sorry to hear about your fish. If he is still eating and being active I wouldn't let yourself get too down.

There are allot of very knowledgeable people on this forum that will be able to give you thorough instruction on how to treat him.

If you go onto one of the stickies in the Betta fish Diseases and Emergencies there is a form they always ask everyone to fill out. They need to know all the information so they can give you the best diagnosis to their ability. A picture is also very helpful and is one of the best ways for a more accurate assessment of the problem. Any pic is better than no pic.

I would help you but I really don't know that much (one of the reasons I started frequenting this forum) lol Seriously don't worry too much I'm sure they will respond to you very soon, and if he is acting semi normal and still eating there is a very good chance that they can help you save him!

[rebeccabeth225]

Here are more stats (please don't think I'm a horrible owner...I'm very new and I know so much more now from all the research I've done after I got my fish):

Housing
What size is your tank? .75 gallons
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? no
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? aqueon betta pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? 5 pellets once a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? at least every four days
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? top fin betta water conditioner.

Water Parameters: don't have a test kit but will buy! any suggestions on the best but affordable ones?

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? yellow dust covering body, clamped fins
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? lays at bottom of the tank, especially behind plant
When did you start noticing the symptoms? clamped fins for about 5 days, yellow dust for about 3 days, lethargic for 2 days with a period of lots of swimming this morning
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? dose of bettafix, aquarium salt, expired maracide.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? minor case of swim bladder from overfeeding - lasted only about an hour, an hour and a half.
How old is your fish (approximately)? no idea. got her three weeks ago as an adult.

[rebeccabeth225]

Thanks for your reply jfw!!

I wish I had a picture showing all the yellow dust, but I have her tank in darkness and I don't want to aggravate her just to get a picture.

Healthy:


Clamped fins on Saturday:

[jfw]

Your welcome, I wish I could help you my self, hopefully someone will post shortly.

[Myates]

I'm sorry for your little girl.. without a picture it will be hard to say for sure what is wrong. Usually it's gold to rust coloration you see when shining a light on it.. but it could very well be what she has. I would try to get some pictures of her now before treating her just yet..

You would treat it as you would Ich-
You can treat Ick either conservatively or with medication. Ick is a parasite. Because ick is contagious, it is preferable to treat the whole tank when one fish is found to have it. Ick is temperature sensitive: Leave your betta in the community tank and raise temperature to 85 F. Then you can choose to treat with salt or medication. Conservative: Add 1 tsp/gal Aquarium Salt 3 times, 12 hours apart so that you end up with 3 times the normal concentration. Perform daily 100% water changes to remove fallen parasites before they can reproduce. Replace the water with the right amount of salt. Do not continue this treatment for more than 14 days. If it fails or you do not want to use salt, treat with Jungle’s Parasite Clear, API Super Ick Cure, or Kordon Rid Ich Plus. If your betta lives in a jar/bowl, then it can be difficult to heat the water. There are heaters for smaller containers, but you can also float the quarantine container in a larger heated tank during treatment. Do a full water change every day and add an appropriate amount of medication to the water.

A few tips though on other aspects:
Feeding a lot of pellets in one meal, one meal a day is a dangerous habit to be in. It could easily bloat her and cause her to have SBD.. it's best to feed smaller meals, multiple times a day. A good way of doing it is 2-3 pellets for breakfast, and 2-3 pellets for dinner- feeding when you eat. Helps her digestion be able to keep up and it won't cause her to bloat as pellets do expand some while in the stomach, and their stomachs are the approx size of their eyes.

"dose of bettafix, aquarium salt, expired maracide" Is a very dangerous combination. AQ salt should never be used with other medication at the same time- Bettafix is highly not recommended as it has an ingredient (a tree oil) that has potential for harming their labyrinth organ. It's a watered down Melafix which is very bad for bettas... and you usually don't want to use expired medicine. For humans, sometimes it just means the medication isn't as strong, but unsure about these types of medications. It's always wise to never use expired medicine for us or animals.

You may want to up your water change since it is less then a gallon.. normally 1-4 gallons you do 1 50% and 1 100% water change per week.. for 3/4 of a gallon, I would do that plus one more 50%.. so would be 2 50% and 1 100% per week to make sure the water is clean and safe.

[rebeccabeth225]

Wow thank you so much for your help, Myates! I will definitely make those adjustments to her eating schedule and her water changes.

I'm going to try heating her water and adding salt at the specified times. Hopefully it works!

[jfw]

How is she doing?

[rebeccabeth225]

Well, she's still alive...and she's much more active. But she's still yellow! I tried to get some pictures today, and I will attach them. Unfortunately they're very blurry, but you can definitely see the yellow.

[Myates]

Good sign she is more active! Continue with the salt treatment with daily 100% water changes- adding in salt/conditioner each time until the 14 day mark. If she is still colored like that and clampy I would start on a true medication and stop the salt.
If she starts to go downhill once more, then I would stop salt and go to one of the medications listed above also there is Jungle’s Velvet Guard that may help. Unsure what is available around you though.
You may have got it early which is very good and improves her chances greatly.

Keep us updated!