Betta Exuding Inky Film

[Andie]

It has to be the most bizarre thing I've ever seen- twice in the past week my male plakat has jumped during water changing (fortunately both times he managed to avoid the ground) but both times when I went to pick him up and put him in his bowl, he left a black, liquid film behind on my fingers. It looks just like watery ink. I'm currently treating him for ich (I wasn't treating him the first time he jumped, only the second) but I really want to know asap what the black stuff could be and if it's something I should be treating for too.

 

[WILDER]

Check water quality as it could be a parasite, not
the write of this information.
Jumping- This behavior might suggest the fish is suffering from parasites, or even poor water conditions. When the pH is dropping fish will jump because the water is irritating to their skin. So the first thing is to check the water conditions. If they check out fine than you would want to consider parasites. Flukes especially can cause jumping. So always establish water conditions and then treat for parasites. Salt is a good tool to use as well.

 

[Andie]

Thank you for your reply. It's actually not the act of jumping that's worrying me, since many if not most bettas are jumpers by nature. I accept the risk of jumping as pretty much an inevitability, and just cover the tanks at all times. It's really only during water changes when I run the risk of leapers(!)

It's the black film that's worrying me- I've never had black liquid left on my fingers after touching any of my fish, and I don't know what's causing it. If it's either a result or part of what's making him sick (as I mentioned, I'm treating him for ich right now with aquarium salt and aquarisol) then I really hope to find out what it is so I can tackle it along with the ich.

 

[WILDER]

I do no what you mean sometimes when i removed a fish there is black water weird, but i can't explain it, what colour is the fish.

 

[Andie]

Nero's a copper gold PK. As you can see in the attached pic he has quite a substantial black mask, so I wouldn't necessarily ntoice anything - erm - oozing from him, you know?

ETA: The pic, obv, was taken before he got sick!

 

[WILDER]

It could be the itch med, like dye coming out of his skin if you no what i mean when you touch him

 

[Andie]

The Aquarisol is really a light, clear, pale blue, not dark . . . in any case the first time he jumped, he wasn't being medicated. I'm not even using BWE atm, so it can't be the dark from that, either . . .

Part of me has been toying with the idea of dampening a paper towel and laying him on it for a second to see if he'll stain that as well. Then maybe I could take it over to the vet college on campus and promise somebody my firstborn in exchange for a lab test on it, but I really don't want to stress him out while he's sick like this. Maybe if he recovers more in a few days I could try that . . .

 

[WILDER]

I would suggest a skin scrape if you can get one done. so they can examine it under a microscope, good luck.