Betta Isn't Well

[Cammy]

Hi guys,

If you haven't seen my other posts I currently have an established 2ft tank while my 4ft is being setup.

I bought the 2ft as it was thinking an established tank would be easy'ish to manage while prepping the 4ft.

My Betta has the 'cotton wool like substance' on parts of its body. I have removed it from the tank. All other fish have no symptoms or obvious signs of stress.

I went to give them their midday feed and couldn't find the Betta at all. I lifted a cave and found it in there. It was struggling to move and was staying right at the surface, then I noticed the 'cotton wool'.

From what I can find it is a fungus requiring anti-fungus and would benefit from a salt bath. Right now I don't have any anti-fungus but I do have salt.

What do you recommend?

6 live plants were added about 36-48hours.

No obvious issue with water parameters.

Thanks guys,

Cam

 

[Cammy]

He's really not doing well.

The 'cotton wool' is on his left side and he is just staying at the surface using only one fin to stay up there. I had to place him back in the tank but the Gourami decided to have a nip at his fins so he is now back out.

I'll need to try and get him some meds but it's not looking good.

Cam

 

[-SPB-]

Cotton Wool growths are columnaris. http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/hdcolumn.htm

Where abouts are you from, if your in the UK, the best treatment is Myxazin by waterlife. and Pimafix put in the tank together.

Water temp needs to be at 24 if possible and needs to be stable.

 

[Cammy]

Cotton Wool growths are columnaris. [URL="http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/hdcolumn.htm"]http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/hdcolumn.htm[/URL]

Where abouts are you from, if your in the UK, the best treatment is Myxazin by waterlife. and Pimafix put in the tank together.

Water temp needs to be at 24 if possible and needs to be stable.

Hi,

Thanks for the link. That looks about right.

I've managed to get out and get some fish disease stuff. I have had to remove him from the tank as his motionless state is allowing a couple of other fish to give his fins a nibble

He is now in a container on his own. I put only a few drops of the 'disease treatment' in. The tank is at a stable 26/78 degrees. Obviously his container will cool down though. All I can do is keep swapping the cooling down water with 'fresh' tank water.

He showed no signs/symptoms at all and this seems to have happened overnight. There has been no aggression between him and the other fish. I've no idea what caused this. Hopefully he will show signs of improvement.

How long does the treatment take to show improvement? He does look really poorly but is obviously fighting hard, hope he makes it!

Thanks again,

Cam

 

[-SPB-]

What disease treatment did you get.

When your swapping the cooling water, is this lowering the temp and keeping it there, or is the temperature going up and down. If the temp is going up and down, the best thing would be to leave it as you need the temperature as stable as possible. Let the temp lower on it's own.

Not sure how long the treatment would take to have an effect, would depend on loads of things, tank temp, how long the fish has been ill.

 

[Cammy]

What disease treatment did you get.

When your swapping the cooling water, is this lowering the temp and keeping it there, or is the temperature going up and down. If the temp is going up and down, the best thing would be to leave it as you need the temperature as stable as possible. Let the temp lower on it's own.

Not sure how long the treatment would take to have an effect, would depend on loads of things, tank temp, how long the fish has been ill.

I got a disease treatment from Pets At Home. I'll need to check the bottle again but it was specifically for fungus.

Sadly though, the Betta didn't make it. He looked terrible in the end - if you looked at him from the right angle you could clearly see wee strands everywhere, like a very fine fur. There were no initial symptoms of this. He was swimming around and eating fine. Today I turned the lights on, had a look around (couldn't see him) fed the fish and waited for him. After feeding I lifted up a rock/cave ornament and there he was, pretty motionless. From then on he stayed motionless at the surface breathing the air. The Gourami was nibbling his tail fin, hence the need to take him out. I then treated him as soon as I could but a couple of hours later and he was gone.

His fins didn't look in great shape, paler and thinner than usual but I was very surprised by the sudden covering of the fungus.

I've checked all the other fish and there are no changes to them at all.

From what I've found this is due to the lowering of the immune system caused by stress, fighting, losing mucus (is it? slimy coating) from rubbing something sharp. He didn't attack any other fish and no fish attacked him. I didn't see any signs of stress and I find the rubbing against something sharp quite unlikely. The only other thing could have been from the addition of 6 live plants...but how?

I'll be keeping a close eye on the other fish as much as possible.

Thanks,

Cam

 

[-SPB-]

Sorry for the Loss R.I.P.

Even though columnaris is a fungus, the fungus treatment from pets @ home may not work (i'm guessing it's Interpet No 8 Anti Fungus and Fintrot), it's actually a bacterial infection. So Interpet No 8 may not actually do anything. Maybe for future reference, if you get this (fingers crossed you won't), try and get Myxazin and Pimafix, as this is the best treatment for it. I think Pets@Home stock Pimafix, but they don't stock Myxazin as it's by waterlife, so you may need to get it online. If you can't get Myxazin at all, you can try Interpet No 9 Anti Internal Bacteria.

 

[Jlink17]

I am the end of battling Columnaris and I wanted to tell you that it is not a fungus at all. It is a gram negative bacterial infection. I am using Furan-2 and Kanaflex and it is knocking it out fast. If you do research on columnaris you will see that fungus meds don't work on it because it is a bacterial disease and not fungus at all. It was labeled as mouth fungus because of its appearance although there is no fungus in it at all. Keep a very close eye on your tank that the betta was in because if it was columnaris your other fish may get it. It is highly contagious and can kill in a mere 24 hours in some cases. Good Luck!

 

[Cammy]

Thanks for the heads up guys, I'm new to all this so was picking things up from my internet searching.

I'll get stocked up with what you recommend.

Thanks again, and yes, lots of keeping an eye on all fish.

One more thing, I got that fish 'tonic' from Pets At Home, didn't sound that good to me but it did say it revitalises lethargic fish and keeps diseases at bay (can't remember which ones).

Should I put some of that in the tank as a precaution, or perhaps some of the disease treatment I got? I treated the Betta outside of the tank so the tank is as it was when found it 24 hours ago with the Betta not well.

Thanks,

Cam