White then golden patch on chest area???

[blueboy]

My healthy 3yr old betta is showing all signs of illness and and to start with had a white smooth patch on his chest.....after some research and the pet store...I've treated him with Furan 2 for 7 days....this didn't seem to do anything.. so did a couple 60% water changes and put new sponge and charcoal to the filter to remove any remaining meds....still no improvement....it's been 2 days now....and the discolored area looks golden now with some red areas....I coaxed him out from the leaves late tonight and the swim by to say hello seemed to be difficult for him...weak maybe....as this has been going on for almost 2 wks....but amazingly enough he ate 3 pellets while he swam by.....should I treat with Tetracycline?? As there is definately a problem still. Any advice would be great and I will try to upload a pic or two. Thanks for reading!

[blueridge]

What do you mean by the golden patch? The color on the underside of his belly? If so that looks normal for his coloring. As far as him acting sluggish it looks like he might be bloated, caused by over feeding. You starve him for a couple of days and see how he does, like if he takes a big poo.

[blueboy]

Hi Blueridge and thanks for your reply :) Sorry for the poor pic also. The lightened area was white and smooth when he first started acting sick....not eating...not swimming around....not moving on the top of the leaves....he likes to nestle in the leaves normally...but was sitting on them like he didn't have the energy to keep himself up.....then did the treatment with no improvement....When he was young I did overfeed him as I didn't know better and he was such a pig....so he's always looked bloated.....and he's not constipated because I've been watching for that.....his underbelly was never white before....I watch him regulary for changes....now it's turned a golden color....I'm not sure what's going on....

[blueridge]

Hmmmm...that is weird. If you want more help I would post this in the emergency section and fill out the forum for it too. Good luck!

[Mo]

does the coloring look like sprinkled, gold dust?

[blueboy]

Hi Mo....no not sprinkled or dust like.....just smooth color change and somewhat translucent (spelling :) looking in some spots....I did start him on the Tetracycline this afternoon....so we'll see how that goes...some of his scales were slightly raised near the front of him today also....I think he may have a internal bacterial infection....he has eaten a couple pellets twice today so that is a good sign.....I'm hoping and crossing my fingers as I am quite attached to the little guy......

[blueboy]

Originally Posted by blueridge

Hmmmm...that is weird. If you want more help I would post this in the emergency section and fill out the forum for it too. Good luck!

Thanks Blueridge, I will try that too.

[kfryman]

Just saying trying to treat a disease that you have no idea what it is is a terrible idea. Just sayinng the raised scales could be dropsy, mine would never eat, clamped fins, and never moved. Come home one day and the scales were raised. Sign of advanced dropsy known as pineconing. I had to euthanasia him that night to ease the suffering.

[blueboy]

Well it's better than doing nothing.........besides he does move, eat, no clamping, and swimming ok.....but it's something...and I have ruled out other diseases....so just trying to help the big guy get better.....sorry to hear about your fish....

[kfryman]

It is okay, but some medicines can do worse than good. I just don't want you putting him on so many meds and not knowing what you are treating. There is a ton of different diseases that use different meds than others, external parasites, internal parasites, SBD, fin rot, dropsy, fungus, and more.

I would ask Myates or Sakura about it. Sakura is on right now so ask her.