Betta Disease Question

[dearfromxxx]

Hi everyone.
I found your site from a Google search on Betta diseases and conditions.
I skimmed and saw how great of community there is here and wanted to see if you guys might be able to help.

As a backstory:
I'm leaving for college in a few days. Fish are the only pets we can have in our dorms.
Bettas, from what I've read, are easy to care for and great first-time pets.
So, in short, I've never had a fish of any kind before; I'm a complete noob when it comes to caring for them.

Me and my sister both got Bettas not even 4 days ago from PetCo.
Hers was named Hemingway. Mine is Dickens.

Dickens seems to be doing just fine. He's my little buddy, lol.
I read recently that their water should be kept a bit warmer since they come from tropical climates, so I'm definitely going to look into heated tanks and such.
I mean, the water now isn't ice cold. Probably about 60 degrees.
I keep him in a PetCo-bought tank, seen here.


Hemingway, on the other hand, was not doing well at all.
He's the one I have questions about, actually.

He was doing perfect the first day.
Energetic and everything.

Well, next day, he got this strange white hood over his right eye.
It was worse the day after; like the white seemed to spread over his "nose", right above his jaw.
As of last night, his right eye was completely gone.
Today, not only was his eye gone, but also the section of his face about his jaw.


I know this will seem gross and I'm sorry, but it looks like whatever he had ate his skin away.
It got to the point where I could see everything: his jaw moving up and down as he got air, the place where his eye used to be, even a little hole opening and closing as he breathed.
I was heartbroken for him.

I tried to comfort my sister by telling her Hemingway probably didn't know what was going on, though I don't know if this is true at all.
I mean, he still swam around and responded to our voices and such.
He didn't sit lethargically at the bottom of his tank or lay on his side or anything.

But unfortunately Hemingway passed away.
He was alive when I was starting to type this. He passed as I looked for the words to explain his condition.

I didn't think there was a chance for him.
I only wanted to try and explain to my sister what happened to her fish.

I actually came across this site when I was looking up info on Betta fungus. After some research tonight, this is the closest thing to what was wrong with him.
(If I had known about fungus when Hemingway first started getting sick, I would have bought his meds in a heartbeat; I just didn't know. )
My mom thought he had Ich, but reading about the symptoms (such as it seeming like the fish is dusted in salt), it doesn't seem that way.

The only trouble is, when I read about fungus, it doesn't seem like it would be that either.
Like everything I see says that it's more "spotty" and effects the whole body. Hemingway only had it on his eye and, as stated, it started out as a "hood" or film almost.

Was it just a severe fungus or was there something much much worse wrong with this poor fish?

If it helps, Hemmingway was kept in a large glass bowl we had in the house, exactly like this one.
I don't want to go ask my sister right now, as she is still upset over her loss, but I think she fed him freeze dried bloodworms. These to be exact It's the same "dispenser", which leads to my assumption.
(I feed Dickens Hikari's Betta Bio-Gold. Is this okay?)
My sister was going to buy him a "real" tank then next time we went into town; she didn't have enough money on our first trip.

Wow.
Sorry about the wordiness of this post.
I just really want to know what happened to poor Hemingway.

 

[-germ-]

A guess (pretty much) but i'd go for vibriosis.

Sorry for your sisters loss.....



ps; Nice choice in names.

 

[bubblesburst80]

sorry for your loss

it may be a bit late but atleast now you know how to care for your fish and will be able to do the same for any more you or your sister have

xXx

 

[garethusa]

i'm so sorry for hemingway.......and your sis.

maybe you both could share dickens.

 

[girl4God81]

poor little things! so sorry for your loss!!

if you decide to keep another betta in the future please don't hesitate to come here for advice. it's best to keep a heater (as you already said) and an undergravel filter is never a good idea (in my opinion) because bettas don't like a lot of movement on their water. there are tons of little details that betta obsessed people can toss your way if you are ever interested. water conditioner and all that. bloodworms aren't great for a daily meal but only as a treat, betta pellets/flakes are better. water temp should be between 72-82 degrees. anyway, if you are curious about getting another little one, let us know!

 

[dearfromxxx]

Thanks for replying everyone.
I'm definitely going to hang around these forums.
You guys are all so awesome

I plan on getting a better tank for Dickens this week, probably this one.

As a sidenote, he keeps puffing up at his reflection and I don't know whether to worry or just leave him be, since he doesn't seem to do much besides that, haha.

 

[mommyof2bettas]

Sorry for your sister's fish
I don't what happened to it... but I know you should use a filter for yours because they like temps between 74F-82F.
And, that puffing up is called flaring, perfectly normal

 

[dearfromxxx]

Sorry for your sister's fish
I don't what happened to it... but I know you should use a filter for yours because they like temps between 74F-82F.
And, that puffing up is called flaring, perfectly normal

oh cool, I was getting worried about him, lol.

He's just so cute when he does it, I didn't want to think it was anything to be concerned about.

 

[-germ-]

Did you look up vibriosis and see if this seemed synonomous with your Bettas illness?

 

[dearfromxxx]

Did you look up vibriosis and see if this seemed synonomous with your Bettas illness?

It was kind of like what Hemingway had.
Everything I read says that vibriosis kind of looks like open sores though, red and such, where his skin was suddenly just gone, no bleeding or anything; white and clean looking, but gone.
I'm guessing whatever it was reached his brain and just killed him, or just made it too difficult to breathe. Poor baby.

 

[SouthernCross]

Definitely get him the bigger tank - its still only one gallon, which is what most people on this board would recommend as the ABSOLUTE minimum as a permanent betta home. If you can go bigger, try to! Also, bigger tanks you can get a heater in. Some have built in filters as well, though you might need to do a little DIY to modify the current, it can be done.

That thing you've got him in now is horrendously tiny. I've seen those things in shops in Australia - I don't even want to know how much (or how little I should say) water they hold. I can't believe its promoted as being able to keep two in...

But props to you for researching how to best care for your new pet. Good luck!

 

[l.michelle]

I am sorry to hear about your sister's fish, sometimes getting bettas from the pet store, you get ones that have diseases and whatnot. It happens sometimes.

I reallllly like the look of the first tank you posted!! a couple questions though, how many gallons is it, does it have a filter and a cover?

I really like it

I think that the second tank you posted looks nice too, but you may want to get something a bit bigger than 1 gallon, maybe a 2 or 2.5 gallon, I have a couple 2.5 gallon tanks at home and my bettas seem quite happy.

You may want to look into getting a heater soon, because the winter months are coming up, and the water temperature can drop drastically during that time.