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Just noticed some white places

704 Views 15 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  Olympia, 
J
I have had a red male betta since last June. I really need new glasses so I don't see as well as I should. I just noticed a white spot under the mouth. It looks to be flat, not fuzzy and smooth. I had noticed the tips of his long fins being white before and did not give this much thought.

But I have been reading everyones posts and came upon some about ick and wondered if this could be what the spots are?

What size is your tank? two gallon What temperature is your tank? ?Does your tank have a filter? noDoes your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?
Is your tank heated? no
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? by theirself
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? pellet type
How often do you feed your betta fish? twice a day
How often do you perform a water change? every couple of daysWhat 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? type sold for bettas
Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? no
Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? the white under mouth

How has your betta fish's behavior changed? no

When did you start noticing the symptoms? under mouth today, the fins alwaysHave you started treating your fish? no I don't have anything on hand

If so, how?
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no

How old is your fish (approximately)? I have had him since June 2011 ?

I do have one of those pink/yellow.green houses from Walmart. It has one big opening in it and my fish does go inside it at times. Some of the holes are rather small but I don't know which he uses. I read about them rubbing against rocks plants etc. is why I mentioned this. Sorry I have so much for you to read.

I hope to buy a tank and more supplies as soon as possible. I thought the fins were normal and had not seen the underside of fish until today so did not have a clue how long it has been white. I thought it might be normal for it to have white places on it since it looks as smooth as rest of th skin and he hasn't acted sick at all, eats well everything. I must say tho that I haven't noticed the black stuff like was in the last blue betta bowl I bought. Poop I guessed. I have not noticed ANY and I have had them long enough they must have been going surely??? There was plenty in the last container I bought and water was low etc. I had a betta once before that lived for over a year and I was happy as I had never been able to keep any type fish alive before (always goldfish).

any suggestions for me. I do so appreciate everyones dedication. Bettas are such lovely things and so neat to watch. Wish I had know about this place with last one I had years ago.
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Laki
First of all, I don't know what the spot is. I do think you should clean his tank really well. Make a mixture of 1tsp aquarium salt (this stuff is extremely cheap and sold at walmart and pet stores) to 1 gallon of water. IF you wish to fill the 2 gallon then pre-mix another 1tsp/1gal water to fill the tank. De-chlorinate as usual and change this daily for a MAX of 10 days.

If it's some sort of fungus I'm not sure on heating but some parasites and fungus is ill-immune to heated water. I would suggest picking up a heater since bettas are tropical fish anyway and it will just be beneficial to him anyway. With warmer water he might be able to fight whatever this is better.

I remind you that I don't know what the spot is, only treat with salt until someone else reccommends something better and you should pick up a heater :)
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Mo
It sounds extrremely similar to 3 diseases, if you could examine the below statements to depict which one it is, that would be wonderful

Also, bettas are tropical fish which means that they prefer a steady temperature of around 78 degrees, to be happy and healthy, not giving them these optimal conditions that can easily be attained from purchasing a heater can lead to stress, which leaves your betta with a lowered immune system. From having a lowered immune system he could easily get attacked by parasites. In your ordinary house the temperature will be fluctuating much more than you would imagine, leading to a stressed Betta. This was most likely the main factor in this situation that you ae now encountering

Symptoms
White, or fuzzy growths on the outside of fish
Fish has become less active
Won't eat
Diluted colors
Patches of white

Treatments
This disease is very common with stressed fish and is cured with Higher levels of added salt, easing the temperature within the tank to 80 will also help . If the disease progresses then invest in a high quality fungus treatment to help aid the treatment, if that doesn't work then I highly suggest that you either euthanize the fish or heavily Medicate, sterilize, and heat the temp even higher within the tank

Cause
There are many factors to what causes this specific disease but it's similar to many others.
-poor water quality, like high ammonia, and nitrites along with unecxeptable Amounts of nitrates
-stressful tankmates and constant nipping
-being battered around by flow
-not acclimated properly
-stressful housing
Are all main factors to the disease as they all lead to a lowered immune system which leaves all fish helpless towards all diseases

DarkMoon17 said:
Ick
•Symptoms: Betta has white dots (looks like he was sprinkled with salt) all over his body and head, even eyes. Lethargic, No appetite, Clamped Fins, Might dart and scratching against decor
•Treatment: 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.
•Alternative Treatment: Personally, I have not found Ick medications very effective. I prefer to use PP to treat all external parasites. In the past, I have used 3 or 4 different ick medications unsuccessfully, and every time I resort to PP which works like a charm. Do lots of research before using PP as it is a more dangerous chemical than most.
Click to expand...
DarkMoon17 said:
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).
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Olympia
For a two gallon tank, you should be doing 1 50% change and 1 100% change every week. Also, he will need a heater, warm water helps them fight illness, and makes them more active.
If he has a single white spot, I doubt it's ick. Look up ick online, it's lots of small specks.. White fin tips could be natural colour, or growth.. Are his fins shrinking or getting longer?
Do you have a photo of him?
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Mo
Olympia, no offense but how do you think ich starts out. Just millions of spots appear? They gradually appear starting with one, then the spots become more visible and concentrated as time passes

Also, I think that 100% water change every few days is completely fine, it's like substituting the 50% for a 100% water change, nothing is wrong with that. Actually your probably going to be less likely to have bad water quality
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Olympia
I'm assuming it's been a while, it wouldnt be a single spot for weeks. Also we don't know the size of this spot. Ick is also not flat, it is little bumps..
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Mo
Ich doesn't always nesicarelly look like little bumps, it can be standardized into multpiple appearances such as the one that the OP is facing right now, from the provided information on it just being a spot. It could be a great wide range of possible diseases. From experience and loads of research, ich is probably one if the most likely ones it would be
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Olympia
Which is why I asked for a photo.. It's silly to make assumptions based on a rough description where there are so many possibilities..
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Mo
Olympia. Since you are a very experienced member of this forum. What diseases do you think could be possible, I would just like your input on this situation
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Olympia
I don't want to say anything until I see the photo.. AQ Salt would be a good treatment for any of these possibilities for starters.. Along with a heater.
I don't think it's fair for an inexperienced person to be left with descriptions to decide what their fish has, as that can be confusing and they might choose the wrong illness... I used to assume that every little thing was the worst possible disease.
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J
I bought aq salt and BETTA REVIVE. I placed Big Red back into his purchase container after washing it in hot water. The 16 oz size was perfect for medicine drop and watching.

I do not have good enough camera nor am I computer savy any longer for posting pictures. My days of being the best at this have long past since retirement. So has my days of extra cash, sad to say. Recent time for husband requiring hospital stay has made sure of that so far this year.

I am on second day of medicine and will continue to monitor his health. While trying to get a closer look he flopped to floor so more worrying on my part now.

Wish Him luck, at least now I have decided on what to call him. Back when I was in grade school that was the name of a dog in one of my favorite books. Times really have changed but I realise that I need not try and rescue fish any longer unless I can provide them with the needed heated tanks. I was just lucky and had not read anything with last fish years ago.

thanks for your interest and replies.
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ao
if he has a grey white chin, Ive learnt its normal of it looks like part of his coloring, tips of those long fins being white is also normal... has his behaviour changed in any way? If he's acting negatively to the betta revive, I would recommend you take him off that. and be very careful of overdosing. assuming that you have a two gallon tank, and maybe 1.8 gallon of actual water, you should be putting around 13 drops in, NO MORE or you might poison him.
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J
He did not get damaged from the fall and is still very active and eating as much as ever. I count the pellets so as to not overfeed and remoive all that does not get eaten. I did get that closer look before he fell and it looked smooth as I said it did, not fuzzy at all. And yes both of their fins are looking longer and they both fan them out at times.

aokashi I measured out the amount it said to use and placed him back into his container I purchased him in after pouring hot water from coffee maker used only to heat water in to clean the container.

BTW he finally pooped! ah now I know he must be feeling better, LOL.
If he is still acting okay, he never has acted anything but okay after I got him home and into clean water and regular feeding, I will put him back into the larger container. Save my money, like I have to do anyway and scheme to get a better setup. Thanks for the help everyone.
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Olympia
If his fins are getting longer than he is surely growing :)
My boy has a slightly grey chin, he's always had it, so it can be nothing. As long as there's no negative progression. Sounds like it may have been a false alarm from the start, but the treatment should back anything small up anyways :)
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J
Finally found way back here. Yes I think it was just a case of my worrying too much. Last fish years ago I did not read anything and now I am spending far too much time at this site just reading, LOL. Everyone has been so helpful. So much knowledge and things to learn still.

People are so nice, makes me mad that I clicked N/A on all the statistics questions. Now I don''t know how to go back and change that option. I am still hoping to change both their setups to better one.
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Olympia
That's good to hear, I'm glad :D
And yes, this forum is amazing!
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