A Disease That Affect Females Only?

[blue_betta]

now.. some of you may have noticed the almost complete lack of females on the go in lfs's these days. none of my local places get females in anymore coz they die within a few days of arrival, and those that do get females in are getting in 95% PK males in there "females". no one seems to have any problems with males but one guy who works in one of my locals says all the females die of some sort of "gill disease" as he put it.

recently, ive has females starting to come down with a mystery illness. ive so far lost a VT girl and PK girl. that PK's sister is now going thru the same symptoms and my melano PK girl is also the same. teh only symptoms im noticing is that they become very lethargic and sit near the surface, usualy trying to prop themselves up with plands or ontop of the filter ect.

stats are as follows:

ph 6.8
amonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 50ppm

none of my males are affected, or my simplex, or any other fish i have. only the splendens females, and even then its only some. i have noticed they are all (but most noticable the "affected" females) very very fat looking, like they are extremely eggy. their scaled remain sleek and smooth and there is no loss in colour so im ruling out dropsy.
they are fed betta pro, hikari bio gold betta, and occasionaly bloodworms. i regularly give them a "starve day", usualy twice a week they go a day with no food, unless im conditioning for breeding.
the two sisters were/are a year old, the VT was aprox 5 months(judging by her size, iv only had her for 2 weeks), and the melanoPK is about 14months old and ive bred from her twice.

so any ideas? is there a disease that affects females only, hence the lack of females in LFS's, and hence why im only haveing females affected?

 

[modaz]

i wouldnt say that its the issue of a disease that affects females only, its more than likely that one of your females came in with something and passed it through their tank (i presume they are in the same tank) the shortage of females atm is b/c the breeders are reluctant to let go of their spawners and future spawners and a combination that the price of females except vt have risen alot so some lfs dont want to pay the price required for them.

 

[ryanp15]

my female seems to be quite ill, lifeless or lethargic like you said. She seems to be getting a bit better now though

i couldn't say if this is only in the females as i only have 1

 

[WILDER]

Signs of bacterial infections with not many symtoms are being lethagic and listless, being pale or darker in colour and sometimes not eating.
What does it look like when they go to the toilet.

 

[Colin_T]

Fish affected with Dropsy don't always go pale or have their scales stick out. Quite often they simply get really fat really fast, (overnight). Dropsy is caused by an internal bacterial infection. The bacteria damage or destroy the organs and when the organ ruptures it releases a heap of fluid into the fish's abdominal cavity. Thus causing the bloating. Once this happens the fish usually go up to the surface and do very little else. They often breathe heavily and might produce a stringy white poo that hangs on for a day or so. Then shortly after the fish dies.

The other common problem with female bettas is mouth fungus (Columnaris). Because bettas liplock and wrestle they are prone to damaging their mouths. Once the skin is damaged bacteria can get in. Mouth fungus is usually identified by the lips/ mouth going white but sometimes it just goes red and inflamed. It can kill fish very quickly.

If you are losing a lot of fish I would suggest taking a couple of sick fish to a fish vet and having them autopsied to get a correct diagnosis.

I don't know of any diseases that would only affect females. The disease would affect both sexes but because females are kept together and males are isolated, the disease goes through and wipes out tanks of females leaving the individual males unaffected.

 

[andy_j]

I've been having exactly the same problem blue betta....i've lost a lot of females due to the same problems. Females fed on frozen bloodworm or baby brineshrimp and i do water changes twice a week.

I've also been talking to a few LFS who don't stock them any more as they keep dying...and those who do stock them just can't get hold of them.

I've put them into a new tank and done a 50% water change and added some IAL.

 

[Essjay]

When I was looking for female bettas last month, one shop told me they never stocked them as all carried a virus which would not only kill all the females but any other fish in the same tank as well.

Another one (which I trust more!) said they'd never heard this, but were having difficulty sourcing them. In fact the only ones they had in were bred by a worker at the shop.

 

[modaz]

im gunna ring singapore in the morning and get a few answers on this issue, but i really dont see it be a female betta virus only, i truely do believe that with females in the same tank as other and other fish at times this is why it spreads, its just common sense really, but my source in singapore is one of the top breeders and they have no problems sending out females, they may at times not turn up but this is due to stocking levels rather than something wrong with them, ive never had a problem with my females that do come in except the odd male deciding he wanted to be a transvestite betta .

at the end of the day, whats to say that the virus wasnt in the lfs in the first place and the females from these shops that die were in perfect health when the entered the UK and contracted it from the shop.

 

[blue_betta]

thing is though, although my males are now seperate from the girls, all bar one has been housed in the female tank (in a breeding trap or suchlike) for short periods and none have ever shown any symptoms or had any deaths.

their poo seems to be normal and they have healthy appatites.

modaz, all my local places are the same, they have either stopped getting in females alltogether coz they loose them or they all come in as females but are mostely pk males. but all the rest of the fish (including male betta) they get in form their suppliers are fine.

its all very strange.

 

[modaz]

is defo a strange one

 

[Colin_T]

maybe they are picking up TB from the suppliers and it is taking a few months before it does any damage to the fish. They could be catching it from food they are fed at the shop, the importers, or in Asia before they are shipped out.

 

[blue_betta]

maybe they are picking up TB from the suppliers and it is taking a few months before it does any damage to the fish. They could be catching it from food they are fed at the shop, the importers, or in Asia before they are shipped out.

hmm, but then why are the males not affected? or any other fish? =/

 

[Colin_T]

males and females are kept seperate

 

[newfishy]

I think he said that males and females have been housed in the same water, but seperated, that why he is so confused as to why no male pickes it up, even when having shared tank space.

 

[Colin_T]

the females will be housed together at the suppliers but the males will be seperated. If the females are catching it at the suppliers then there will be time for the disease to develop in them before they are housed with males at your house. This means the females would develop symptoms and die well before the males show any signs of the disease.
Your best bet is to take a sick fish to a fish vet and have it autopsied.