IMPORANT: Watch For These Disease Signs

[Mo]

Yet another victim of the mystery disease. My blue Double tail named show off. Dead in less than 24 hours.

[Bounce]

Hello. I'm new to the forum and have a very sick Betta as of this morning. I have been searching the internet for information on what could be wrong and finally found this thread that seems to describe what I have going on.

I have had my betta since Sept. 2011 (so 8 months now) and he is in a 10 gallon aquarium with a sponge filter and live plants. I do weekly water changes of approximately 30%. I test my water monthly with the API liquid test kit and last month (as always) my readings were: ammonia-0; nitrite-0; and nitrate-5. He has never had a health issue and always had bright color and been very active. He is fed New Life Spectrum Betta Pellets (4 in the am and 3 in the evening).

Last night when I fed him at 8:00 pm, he was fine and this morning when I turned on his light at 11:00 am, this is how he looked. He has a large gray area across his back, on both sides, and into his tail fin. He will barely swim and his eyes are sunken.



I haven't been able to read this whole thread yet but am going to go back and read it right now. I just wanted to go ahead an post this in case someone might be able to offer some quick advice. Although from what I have read so far, the outlook is not good.

[Bounce]

The pictures I posted earlier were taken around 2:00 pm or 2:30 pm this afternoon and by 5:30 he had lost his ability to stay upright and and was lying on his side and having very little gill movement. I just checked on him at 6:15 and he had passed.

These were taken at 5:30 pm and you can see how much more area was covered by the gray and how much lighter it had become.

[lelei]

Oh my goodness.. that is terrible, and it affects only the "blues" I saw a few at Petco, and they had finrot..but I am just now hearing about this..very sad..:( I am sorry to all those who lost their friends to this horrible disease

[DarkMoon17]

So Leto, my blue dragon HM, just passed away from what I assume is this disease. It presented a bit differently since he was a dragon scale (his fins turned greenish/grey instead of full black/ash colored) but he died less than 20 hours after symptoms first appeared and his body turned grey so pretty sure it's the same thing.

I have him preserved in a formalin biopsy jar and am preparing to have him sent out for a necropsy and hopefully a diagnosis. It will probably cost about $100-150 to have him tested, we'll know a more accuarate price once i've found someone who can do it. I am a college student and cannot work much because I have to shadow veterinarians whenever possible so if anyone wants to donate to this diagnosis please let me know. It would be very much appreciated!

[DarkMoon17]

Ichtheology labs typically use 90% alcohol with fish. It will draw out all their color and turn it flesh/sculpy colored but it works.

[DarkMoon17]

Alcohol is not the prefered preserve for necropses but it is easy to find. It's just 90% Isopropal slcohol (rubbing alcohol). Walmart sells it. Pharmacies probably do too.

Formaldehyde/formalin is very easy to get thought. Just walk into your local vet office and ask for a biospy jar. We all have them and if you just explain why you need it, they shouldn't have no problem giving you one.

To preserve fish while you are searching for a preservative, wrap it loosely in a paper towel or gauze and put it in the refrigerator (not the freezer). If the fish has been dead in the tank for more than 6 hours, it isn't a good subject for testing.

[BlueStar]

I read to post 120 and if post #91 is right about hormones, fungus and bacteria are behind it then I would suggest a mix I found elsewhere that lead to me buying Kanaplex which will treat everything=bacteria, fungus and parasites you might want to try on this fast acting killer. In this post it said the hormones would work out of their system if they live long enough. Probably poster #91 hit it right on the nail as to the cause of this since they had seen it in bulk before. Even America is guilty of this when they used hormones in chickens that affected our young girls bodies that ate them long term and with breast cancer on the rise it may even have something to do with that.

The mixture I found was to make a product that is no longer made that was called Paragon 2 by Aquatronics. To make it you need Kanamycin combined with Furan 2 & Metronidazole. The Kanaplex (Kanamycin) & Metronidazole I use are by Seachem. Only problem with the site was it didn't break down exactly how to mix this up but I used the below for 10 days and it didn't kill 2 of my fish I treated with it.

Kanaplex can damage the kidneys if used for extented periods of time so 10 days was all I put them through.
I may have used Methylene Blue on them before using this which helps improve their oxygen, internal organ damage, etc. but I was not treating for this fast killing disease. I have no ideal if that can be used with this mixture or not, but I didn't combine them.
Furan-2 Powder (Nitrofurazone) can be harmful to you so protect your eyes/hands and don't breath any dust. Wash hands after use.

This is what I mixed up in a pill container to use in 2 gallons of water:
Kanaplex_Level spoon=5 gal...Level spoon-half=2.5 gal so little less than half spoon
Metronidazole_1 measure=100mg...25mg/2gal=1/4 measure
Furan-2 Powder(Nitrofurazone)_1pkg/10g daily...2 gal=1/5pkg..25-50mg Nitrofurazone/2gal=1/4 pkg to get Nitrofurazone amount

Treat: 2 Gal
100% water change...Dose 1
2 days=50 % water change...Dose 2
2 days=50 % water change...Dose 3
2 days=50 % water change...Dose 4
2 days=50 % water change...Dose 5
2 days=75 % water change
Each water change I did not get the water on me since the Furan-2 warns of cancer and I soaped the sink down, should have put it down the toilet.
It will turn the water yellow and have flakes in it that are okay.
The Furan-2 said the water color would clear up using a carbon filter, but that doesn't apply to a hospital tank. From there I just did the normal water changes in it getting the floating pieces out.
Not sure on these medications affect on niftifying bacteria.

Site that suggested this mixture:
Dose every 2 days with 50% water change before each treat for 10 days.

I don't like using heavy medications either, but if I'm not sure what I'm treating or a combo of problems or something like this fast killer it's worth having it on hand. I'm about to explore the use of epsom salt on one tonight, but if that doesn't get him better of his multiple problems he came up with a week after being put in a 5 gallon cycled tank I will use this as a last hope for him.

[Sakura8]

BlueStar, I've read about some of the medications that used to be made by Aquatronics. It might be a potent mix of meds but it seems like little else works for this fast-moving mystery disease. Note to all: I would not recommend such a potent mix for ordinary cases of columnaris, fin rot etc. If you choose to use this mix, use it only for extremely severe cases where the fish will certainly die otherwise.

[Bakergal]

I have a new tank, onc the water levels were correct on Sunday I bought my betta. It is now Tuesday and for the last 6 hours he has been getting sicker. He has stopped moving laboured breathing stopped eating his tail fins are falling apart and he is turning a grey colour from
Tail up his body. I can't get any advice or medicine til
Tomoro and I'm worried he won't make it that long! What is happening to him?!