[jcatelly]

I am currently taking care of the office fish which is a betta. He is not doing so well lately. He seems to be eating less and swimming less. As of late, he's got a white lump growing on his tail. It's only getting larger. I'm quite worried.

He is two years old and lives in a fairly small tank. It's probably about 3-4 gallons. He gets Betta Bio-Cold pellets for food everyday. His water is changed every 7-10 days. I have always changed 100% of the water, including rinsing the stones in the tank. I put in ChlorXChange when I change his water. There is no filter. The water is room temperature. I have no way to measure what's in the water at this point in time. I've been filling the tank with tap water, but do have filtered water available to me.

There is black mold growing in the tank. I've tried to scrub it out, but it's not coming out very well.

I'll admit, this responsibility was given to me when I started working here without really knowing how to take care of a fish. Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks.

 

[Bikeridinguckgirl14]

Housing
What size is your tank?
What temperature is your tank?
Does your tank have a filter?
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?
Is your tank heated?
What tank mates does your betta fish live with?

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?
How often do you feed your betta fish?

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change?
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?

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

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
When did you start noticing the symptoms?
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
Does your fish have any history of being ill?
How old is your fish (approximately)?

 

[VivianKJean]

you need to get a heater. Bettas need the water to be 78-80 to remain healthy.

You also need to up your water changes to one 100% (like you are doing) and one 50% water change.

as for his tail, It may be columnaris.

Columnaris
•Symptoms: White spots on mouth, edges of scales and fins, Cottony Growth that eats away at the mouth, Fins rapidly disingrate, starting at the edges
Gray areas around head and gills, As the disease progresses the gray lesions may change in color to yellow/brown/red, Lesions often occur in front of the dorsal causing a “saddleback” appearance, Lethargic, Loss of appetite, Clamped, Gasping for air
•Treatment: There are 2 versions of Columnaris: chronic and acute. Chronic Columnaris can take days to progress while acute can kill within a day. It is contagious so isolate sick fish. If more than one fish shows symptoms then treat the entire tank. Perform daily 100% water change in small tanks or ¾ water change in larger tanks. Make sure to clean the gravel. Treat with Aq.Salt: add 1 tsp/gal Aquarium Salt 3 times, 12 hours apart so that you end up with 3 times the normal concentration. Do NOT raise the temperature as it thrives in temps over 85*F, however, lowering the temperature does not seem to help fight it. Combine salt treatment with Mardel’s Coppersafe, Maracyn I & II, API Erythromycin, OR API Triple Sulfa, combined with Jungle’s Fungus Eliminator (if possible).

The other thing it might be is lymphocystis. If this is the case the only cure is to make sure that the fish is in warm and extremely clean water and on a good diet.

 

[KohakuRiver]

That spot looks similar to the one that formed on my betta recently. He's also around 2 years old. Soon after it formed it created a hole in his tail that ripped to the edge of the fin. I was told it could be pinhole fin rot and I'm currently treating him with salt and stress coat. This all happened only 2 days ago, so I'm not sure if what I'm doing will be enough. Because of the similarities I am inclined to believe our bettas are suffering from the same disease, so I'll keep you posted on anything that might help. I was also told to try API Tetracycline, API Fungus Cure, API Triple Sulfa, OR API Erythromycin if conservative treatment didn't work.

 

[jcatelly]

Oh yes, please keep me posted. I'm seriously worried and hope that there is a solution for this!

 

[KohakuRiver]

The salt treatment with 100% water changes daily has helped, and it keeps fin rot from forming where he tore his fin. The spot hasn't gotten bigger and appears to be healing.