[kbeuning]

I am writing about my room mate's betta, one year old. He is sick, see pic below. I have never personally owned a fish, I am learning about it now.

Background: fish lived in a 1 gallon tank with aerator for a year. He started looking sick, whitish patch on his side, spitting food out, lethargic, hanging out in a corner.

We put him in a bowl with 1/2 gallon fresh water (distilled, that is what she had been using), put the aerator in it and he perked up a tad and started eating again.

A few days later, she got a 1.5 gallon tank with aerator and filter, and some tap water treatment. She also got Lifeguard all-in-one treatment. The treatment called for one pill per 5 gallons of water so she estimated how much for the 1/2 gallon bowl.

Treated him for a few days then moved him to the new 1.5 gal tank. She treated for a couple more days. The treatment instructions were not followed exactly. They called for removing the carbon from the filter during treatment, didn't do that. But he did have a few days of treatment in the bowl with no filter running. I am assuming the filter traps the meds, but don't really know. And, a 1/4 water change at day 6, didn't do that step.

It's been about a week since treatment ended. He is better but still not right. He likes to stay by the filter, keeping the patchy side of his body up against it, maybe it itches or hurts him there? He doesn't seem to swim quite right, either, but there is now a big castle in the tank with not a whole lot of room to swim, so hard to judge. He likes being in the castle too.

The question is, is this a fungus or something?
Thank you in advance.

 

[kbeuning]

Additional info:
He eats pellets - all he wants. The pkg says all he can eat in 3 minutes. One time he ate 10. Now about 4 to 6 a day.
He has no tank mates.
Water temp is room temperature, mid 70's. Nights were about 68 during the winter. Now low to mid 70's most of the time.
Water not tested. Not sure how often it was changed, but I think she changed 100% when she did.

I honestly did not pay much attention to what she was doing with the fish until he started looking sick. Then I became attached to him, mother instinct, I guess. My room mate is my son's girlfriend, I live with them both. So I must be careful not to interfere too much!

 

[kbeuning]

One more thing... the white stuff sloughed off a bit since I took the picture a day ago.

 

[sgamez1]

mmm im no expert but aquarium salt helps i think i dunno if he might have a bacterial infection. make sure to not touch him ither use gloves because if its TB then you can catch it too.

 

[sgamez1]

or it might just be a open wound is there something in there that could hurt him that severely

 

[Sea Dragon]

Don't use distilled water, it has no essential minerals in it that fish need to be happy. Also try using a heater, bettas need heaters more than filters or aerators, but having three at the same time is optimal

Also try to follow the exact dosage and directions for medication next time since deviating can kill the fish or exacerbate the problem. If you have trouble dosing try a method like this:

1 tablet treats five gallons
5 gallons= 1.5gal x 3.3333...
Dissolve 1 tablet into 6 tablespoons of water
Take 2 tablespoons of the solution and put it into the tank.

 

[Sea Dragon]

I should also add that don't follow the instructions on food packets. They recommend too much in order to steal your money. If your betta's an adult, 4 pellets a day should be fine. 3 minutes of eating is way too much.

 

[kbeuning]

Thank you!! Should the treatment be done again? Any idea what the stuff is on his side? When he was in the original tank, my room mate said he was rubbing his side on a decorative ceramic type coral thing. I think that was in response to whatever that stuff is on his side.

 

[Mo]

Cysts? Fungus? And Dropsy? It looks very serious, from the raised scales I would depict that it has dropsy, and it's organs a failing as a result of numerous things

 

[Sea Dragon]

I've seen nothing like it so I have no idea on what it could be. Hopefully an expert here will further guide you concerning the diagnosis and medication

 

[Mo]

Just from the notes of the slightly raised scales as shown in the picture, we can almost definitely infer that you bettas has what is called dropsy. It is a common symptom to when organs fail within the Betta is is very highly unlikely to treat, there are a few cases of treatment yet it rarely works and by the times the scales are raised, the fish is already very close to death and Ideally should be eauthinized if the symptoms progress and get worse.

The bump looks like a very well developed cyst infection and is another fatal disease in which the cyst will progress and get larger then eventually "pop". The fish containing this disease should ideally be eauhanized as so far it is far along, looks very serious, and this disease is usually data, and there is no known cure.

Or it could possibly be some sort of very well progressed fungus

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

Treatment
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. But no higher than 82. 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 lored immune system which leaves all fish helpless towards all diseases

 

[kbeuning]

Here is another picture if that helps. Is that fin rot on the left?

 

[Mo]

yes. also looks like a slight case of fin rot

Symptoms
-Ripped tails, bloodshot, black edged, or has a fuzzy white appearance in the edge
-The Betta will become unusually inactive
-Won't eat
-Looks pale, and looses lots of color

Causes
This profilic disease is caused by stressful water conditions primarily but here are a few main examples of the conditions it is most likely found in

-Poor water quality with unacceptable amounts of ammonia, along with nitrites and nitrates
-Nippy tankmates
-Incompatible tankmates
-Tailbiting
-Plastic plants ripping fins constantly
-Over feeding
-Over crowding
-Sometimes after a disease, while the bettas immune system is low it can strike unexpectedly

Treatment

This disease is most commonly treated with mainly

-daily water changes of around 25-50 so more diseases dont settle in while the Betta is vulnerable
-a high quality fin rot treatment. Use tetracycline or Ampicillin for the best possible results

Prevention
-Keep the water clean
-don't over feed
-choose the right tankmates
-make sure that the bettas fins are always in the best shape
-keep the water heated
-change the water weekly

 

[kbeuning]

Do you still think he has dropsy?

 

[Mo]

yes. the raised and darkened scales are the primary reason why I think he has dropsy.

 

[kbeuning]

I guess we need to assume that he is a goner then...

 

[kbeuning]

Is there really no hope for him?

 

[ao]

ouch poor fish, just had a minnow die on me today...