[Jbettas]

So, in my 30gal sorority tank im currently having 4 betta females, 4 guppys and 2 siamesis. So totally not overcrowded anyhow! Ive noticed lately that they are twitching and scratching their gills! One of the females even tried tp burrow her head in the gravel and it was pretty brutal ive treated them with Easy life Multicura for 4 days ( this medication should be the best thing you can get in Sweden..) i even tried doing two 70% WC with a lot of salt to help them calm down. The problem is still there and ive seen them all twitch and scratch today. My bettas are having the hardedt time dealing with it my guppies seems fine except some scratching. The same with my siamesis. 30gallon, aquael heater and pump. 0.0 nitrate and nitrate. PH is 6.8 dont know the rest but the water doesnt seem to be the problem.. i bought all my female from different breeders so perhaps one of them had flukes with them?

 

[ToniMarieHolka]

well they either have body flukes or anchor worms

 

[ToniMarieHolka]

is there a layer of mucus covering their gills or body?

 

[Jbettas]

Ive noticed on one betta a small hanging thread.. but i thought it just were beacuse of all the rubbing :/

 

[ToniMarieHolka]

man......your fish have anchor worms.

 

[ToniMarieHolka]

Treatment:
Common methods include physically removing the parasite and cleaning the wound with an antiseptic like iodine. Also common is bathing freshwater fish in a seawater bath (35ppt) for about 5 minutes for multiple days until the parasite falls off.

 

[lilnaugrim]

Let's not jump to conclusions here. It's completely possible that the thread is actually just slime coat coming off as it often comes off in grey-ish sort of clear strings from anywhere on the body. Fill this form out and if you can get any pictures, please post any and all of them. Best time to get photos is when the fish are eating.

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)?

 

[TerriGtoo]

man......your fish have anchor worms.

Not necessarily! There could be one of any any number of issues. We don't have that much to go on.
Can you post a photo or two?

 

[Jbettas]

Let's not jump to conclusions here. It's completely possible that the thread is actually just slime coat coming off as it often comes off in grey-ish sort of clear strings from anywhere on the body. Fill this form out and if you can get any pictures, please post any and all of them. Best time to get photos is when the fish are eating.

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)?

30 gallon / 112litres
Uhm atm 30 celsius!
Yes aquaels filter!
No airstones. But I use the filter to stimulate the surface for my oxygen.
Heated, Yes.
4 guppys and 2 siamesis.

I feed them with white/black mosquito larva and artemia.
Atm I feed them every third day beacuse of the medication and I want the water to stay as clean as possible. Before it was once everyday.

WC once a week, about 30%. But this/ last week twice one 50% and one 70%.
I use AquaSafe before adding the water to eliminate chlorine.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
pH: 6.8
Didnt test the other two.

They all started scratching themselves a little, for about 2 weeks ago. Wasnt so bad they all seemed happy so I did a waterchange beacusr i thought it might be bad water. Later on checked the water and nothing was wrong. This week they have all began looking so sas swimming with their fins next to the body, they can swim normally so its not fin rot they spread them from time to time. One have become very pale but it seems to come and go.. My other fish scratch but their appearance havnt changed (guppy and siamesis). Today one of the females tried to burrow her head brutally in the gravel scared me a lot. Also as you are saying the threads does not look like worms! They are barely visable and comes out of the whole body now so i would take a guess its the slime coat. My male betta who shared the same water before with a divider has the same symptoms with the slime coat. I will try and take some pictures.. :/ they are all pretty new. Oldest 1month newest around 2 weeks.. when it all started. No history of being ill i guess since they are new

 

[Jbettas]

Not necessarily! There could be one of any any number of issues. We don't have that much to go on.
Can you post a photo or two?

This is what he used to look like.. or at least when my male got home..

This is how i found him now when i got home its worse than when I went to work this morning.. I surely hope he will make it through the night.. hard to see my babies like this :/

One of my females..

Another one.. Cant get more pictures of my females until tomorrow since the light just got off.. I will try and take some tomorrow.

 

[lilnaugrim]

Siamesis? What are those?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you didn't quarantine anyone?

 

[Jbettas]

Siamesis? What are those?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you didn't quarantine anyone?

Siamese algae eater, called siamensis. No I didn't quarantine anyone of them.. which i probably should have done :/ Any ideas what it could be? they are still twitching and scratching a lot.

 

[lilnaugrim]

Ah, that's why, we usually refer to them as SAE's lol. no worries!

Yeah, sounds like something came in with one of the fish. Especially in a sorority, it's a high stress environment especially if the tank is not densely planted--like literally a jungle, so they cannot chase each other as much. Though, in sorority, it's not just about the aggression you can see but the aggression you can't see and there is a lot of it.

Through the aggression that you can't see (the way they look at each or approach) comes the stress which leads to disease which can then spread to everyone else. Stress itself can cause fish to flash against decor. But it could be anything from Gill Flukes to regular Stress or other internal symptoms. Have you witnessed any of their poop lately?

 

[Jbettas]

Ah, that's why, we usually refer to them as SAE's lol. no worries!

Yeah, sounds like something came in with one of the fish. Especially in a sorority, it's a high stress environment especially if the tank is not densely planted--like literally a jungle, so they cannot chase each other as much. Though, in sorority, it's not just about the aggression you can see but the aggression you can't see and there is a lot of it.

Through the aggression that you can't see (the way they look at each or approach) comes the stress which leads to disease which can then spread to everyone else. Stress itself can cause fish to flash against decor. But it could be anything from Gill Flukes to regular Stress or other internal symptoms. Have you witnessed any of their poop lately?

No I havnt. Only the guppys which are normal. Tonight my coontail withered.. is it beacuse of the salt? Im thinking about having them all in a separate bucket instead of the aquarium since all of my coontails now are gone over night!

 

[Taeanna]

Since the entire tank is affected now the whole lot will need to be treated, no need to take individual fish out unless you see signs of stress agression.
For the moment take out some of the salt (it may be the reason the fins are being changed) and add a tannin agent to the water like indian almond leaf. If you dont have that decaffinated green tea/rooibos tea can work. This softens the water and will help soothe some of their itch.

Since everyone is scratching a lot it comes down to targeting what is the culprit. the two that are the most likely are either a parasite or a fungal infection. I can't see any signs of parasites in the pictures you have shown but that doesn't mean they aren't there, your sweeties are all very iridescent after all.

What are the active ingredients in the medication you are using? it should mention the chemical names on the bottle.

 

[Jbettas]

Since the entire tank is affected now the whole lot will need to be treated, no need to take individual fish out unless you see signs of stress agression.
For the moment take out some of the salt (it may be the reason the fins are being changed) and add a tannin agent to the water like indian almond leaf. If you dont have that decaffinated green tea/rooibos tea can work. This softens the water and will help soothe some of their itch.

Since everyone is scratching a lot it comes down to targeting what is the culprit. the two that are the most likely are either a parasite or a fungal infection. I can't see any signs of parasites in the pictures you have shown but that doesn't mean they aren't there, your sweeties are all very iridescent after all.

What are the active ingredients in the medication you are using? it should mention the chemical names on the bottle.

Hmm its a broad spectrum action. So ot doesnt mention the ingredients.. but its called Easy life Multicura if that helps. Its the only one i could find around my place. I will try to order some almond leaves!

 

[Jbettas]

I can order some medication called Aradol from JBL too.. Should I order it in case Multicura wont work? I've used multicura for a week soon and changed water twice too.. So I'm feeling a tiny bit desperate, I want my babies to be healthy and happy

 

[Taeanna]

Okay I have done some research into the brands you are using. The general cure you are using is a very good first option, if it isnt working we need to look into which avenue you feel is causing the upset.

The aradol you mentioned looks very good if you are convinced it is a parasite. But if you feel it is instead fungal you might need to look into a different product.

Can you post any new pictures for us to look over? The spots we need to look at most are=
the side of the body, the top of the head, the fin edges and the inside of the gills (this one is tricky with girls but do your best to get them to flare, sometimes a girl will flare- if you can't get a picture of this then take a good look at the color of them when they gulp a breath. You want fresh salmon pink, anything darker and they have inflamed gills)

 

[Jbettas]

Okey so, this is what I could accomplish in 15min! I had to take the bus to work so I did my best uploading and getting all the pics. I have a video too of my male but I will try and upload it when I come back home. As you can see, she is pooping GREEN?

 

[Taeanna]

MY goodness, everyone is having different symptoms! I'll try to do a break down of what I can see picture by picture.

Your male appears to have lovely fins, but the raising of the scales on his back appear to be from obsessive rubbing and possibly from a skin inflammation.

The little white girl is doing some light clamping but otherwise I see no larger symptoms.

Green girl has a fin split and a very odd colored waste...very odd indeed. Have you ever fed her a pea or is her food green at all? Could she have been nibbling on anything in her tank that might have caused it? (for instance live plants)

The little brown and reddish girl is clamping badly and is discolored, likely from stress and itching.

That lighter girl in the background has a large tummy, does she appear to be bloated to you or is it just the angle of the shot?

(sorry to ask all the questions but many of your girl's are having conflicting symptoms, the more we know the better we can help you make the right choice)