Betta darting around; I'm concerned

[beccarain]

Hi everyone; I'm a newbie who has done hours, no days, of research since receiving my betta as an unexpected gift two months ago.

A few days ago, Boomer had a whitish speck on his tail; it’s gone but now he has a small whitish bump under his mouth. Today he started darting more often than normal; he’ll be swimming along then dart, like he’s having a spasm. Also today noticed his bottom fin is a bit shredded with some small holes (does not appear to be rotting though). It’s possible water intake caught him but perhaps it’s from brushing against his cave ornament. He does appear to be brushing against plants more often than usual.

Here are my stats:

NitrAte: 20
NitrIte: 0
Hardness GH: 150-300
Alkalinity KH: 120-180
PH: 7.8
Temp: 80-82
5 gal tank set up: 9 July 2005, Cycled 20 August
Water: treat combo tap/RO from lfs w/Aquasafe
Lighting: T5 8W fluorescent (on about 12 hours/day)
About 1” gravel

Weekly: vacuum surface of gravel, change out about 1g of water (20%)

Daily Feed: 4-6 hikari or similar pellets or 2-3 freeze-dried bloodworms, part of a pea once per week (little to no waste) top off water from evaporation

At the time cycled, had outbreak of planaria. I reduced feedings to current feeding schedule (I had been feeding 2x per day) and the little critters died off.

Brown algae (diatoms) also appeared around the time tank cycled; started out yellowy looking and I thought it might be the beneficial bacteria. Gradually turned to darker rust color, in clusters, more of it, and seems to be visible only on surfaces receiving direct light (none visible on the backside of a light colored gray and white decoration), including front surface of tank.

A week ago added anacharis, moneywort, and mondo grass; also added some laterite into gravel (even though I rinsed the laterite water had reddish cloud for about a day). Now have some short hairy looking, white algae at the base of some of the anacharis.

1) What can I do to help Boomer? I’ve read about raising water temp and adding aquarium salt if it’s ich . . .
2) Should I be concerned about the brown algae/diatoms since it appeared a month ago?
3) Should I be concerned about the hair-like algae on the plants?

Thank you in advance for your help; I adore this little guy and I really want to help him.

 

[black angel]

Did he start looking unwell after you added the plants? If so then theres a chance a parasite was introduced.

 

[beccarain]

Hi black angel,

He didn't look like he was sick . . . The spot on his tail might have been there before I added the plants. I kept an eye on the spot on his tail in case it was ich, I was expecting to see more than one spot if it was ich. His behavior looked fine to me though.

It was one week after adding the plants that the "darting" started. It's possible something was introduced with the new plants . . . When I got them home I rinsed well (or so I thought) with water from previous water change. I'm afraid of doing a chlorine treatment because of what any residual chlorine could do to the fish. I expected to maybe introduce a snail or two but not something more serious than that! In fact, there was one small black snail that appeared on the glass the next morning but I think the snail may have become a snack. I saw a slightly larger snail last night but it was a bit bigger so I'm not sure it's the same one.

I scraped the glass, took out his cave and cleaned it off with old tank water, vacuumed surface of gravel and did a 20% water change on Saturday.

Any thoughts?

Does it sound like he has a parasite??

 

[black angel]

Does he swim like hes been bitten?
What type of filter do you have? I think if he was my fish i would treat him for parasites just in case. Try something like sterazin.

 

[beccarain]

I'm not sure what you mean by swimming like he's been bitten . . . he has no tank makes except a snail that apparently hitched a ride on the plants. His behavior is . . . he'll be swimming slowly, or just staying put, like on top of one of his plants, then all of the sudden he darts, like he's having a spasm that lasts for a couple of seconds. Then it just stops, and he's back to normal. This happens intermittently.

My tank is like an Eclipse, with the mechanical/carbon filter unit at the back; water goes from the intake thru the mechanical filter, to the biowheel which lets the water out at the surface. The intake basket is toward the bottom of his tank and for some reason he likes to swim between it and the back of his tank.

This morning I did a 50% water change, added 1/2 T aquarium salt and started the process of raising the water temp to 86. I'd read that this could help if it's a parasite infection and seems less drastic than adding chemicals. I will be home in a few more hours and I'm hoping to find he's improved.

Your thoughts? Thanks again btw

 

[black angel]

You described what i meant with being bitten. He will go nuts for a second or two then go back to normal.
As far as salt is concerned, anything less than .3% will not kill parasites.
Add 1 level teaspoon per gallon to get to .1%, then the same again 12 hours later and again 12 hours later to get to .3%
A lot of people panic that you shouldnt salt bettas to this level but if you arent happy doing that then you will need to get the meds instead.