Bettas Keep Dying?

[mjnisk142]

My mom and I each have 2 bettas. We keep them in a 2.5 gallon tank with a glass divider seperating the fish. About a week ago the oldest of my mom's fish died, and my guess is it was just old. We bought a new one from Petco, next day it was dead. So exchanged for another betta, next day it was dead. The second fish we bought from Petco had a white fungus on it. We exchanged it and bought yet a third betta. Next day, both the new and the old fish were dead, both containing the white fungus. My mom fought with Petco and they made her buy the bettafix and water chlorinater, in which neither of us have used until now. She cleaned the tank and every part of it, along with the rocks and hiding spots we use and started off on a "clean slate" with two new bettas. Things seemed fine until 3 days later (this morning) one betta is dead and the other is barely swimming, but is containing the white fungus. Question is what in the heck is going on? Is our luck purely that bad? Are petco's fish bad, or has something contaminated them? We've been through about 7 fish in 2 weeks, my mom is about to give up. We have never had problems before, I've had one betta for almost 3 years now, and the other is over a year old. She had her bettas for about 1 year. We do not do anything special for the tank, we feed them sparingly every other day, change the water every other week or so, and that's really about it and have yet to have problems until now.

 

[Glod]

The water for fish should always be treated with dechlorinator and (optionally) stress coat when you do a water change. Unless you know for sure your water has no chlorine/chloramine or heavy metals.

Sounds like you've been unlucky as much as anything else to be honest. Are the tanks heated and filtered ? What are your water stats ? Ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate ?

The stress of adjusting to new tank conditions can leave a fish open to opportunistic infection. From the sounds of it the infection spread pretty fast ? Could be a columnaris infection. Where on the body is the fungus ? Can you describe it ? is it wooly ? fuzzy ? grey ? At the mouth ? body ? fins ?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

the thorough clean could be very bad, if you've got a filter and cleaned the media or even cleaned the ornaments etc too much then the good bacteria that keep your tank water healthy could have been killed off.

also yes it could be a bad stockist, sometimes they're just weak, try a different shop next time.

 

[mjnisk142]

the thorough clean could be very bad, if you've got a filter and cleaned the media or even cleaned the ornaments etc too much then the good bacteria that keep your tank water healthy could have been killed off.

also yes it could be a bad stockist, sometimes they're just weak, try a different shop next time.

We currently treat the water, and occasionaly use betafix, but nothing else. We do not use a heater or filter and have never really had a reason to use one. We understand the water needs to be kept warm so we normally put the tank in a warmer part of the house and the water is usually fairly warm. The fungus grew on 4 of the 6 fish. The one that has not died yet currently has the fungus. The fungus is white and fuzzy and moves with the fish in the water, like it were it's fins. The fungus became even worse and spread once the fish actually died. We were out to dinner when the second set of fish died and they must have been in the tank a while dead and the entire fish were white.

Is there anything I could do for the fish that is currently alive but has the fungus? It seems to be struggling tremendously. Anything to put it at ease, should I just flush it?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i'd use pimafix personally but betafix would probably work too.

you need to keep water quality top for him, so water changes every day, keep testing for ammonia, nitrite etc.

if you need to put him out of his misery there's better ways than just flushing him, there's a pinned topic on euthenasia somewhere

 

[catxx]

that sounds like columnaris. a particularly nasty one.
look on bettatalk.com and betta health for more information and how to cure it

DON'T flush him. 1. flushing is cruel, and 2. you run a possible risk of releasing a disease into local waterways.

 

[mjnisk142]

that sounds like columnaris. a particularly nasty one.
look on bettatalk.com and betta health for more information and how to cure it

DON'T flush him. 1. flushing is cruel, and 2. you run a possible risk of releasing a disease into local waterways.

Well then I certainly won't flush him yet then. We've flushed the others after they have died, is there a better way to dispose of them?

What exactly is columnaris besides a fungus?

 

[Glod]

Once the fish is dead, best to dispose of him with household waste in the trash. Or bury him in a quiet spot in the garden if you prefer.

Columnaris can be hard to treat but it can be treated if started soon enough. If you don't have test kits, take a sample of the water to your local pet shop and have them test it. I'm guessing you are in the US, you want to treat with an antibiotic such as Maracyn 1 and 2 or Tetracycline. Drop the tank temperature to under 25C/77F to slow the spread. Add salt at about 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons / 3/4 teaspoon per gallon.

Link to columnaris information

Good luck with treatment.

Glod.

 

[mjnisk142]

thanks for all the help, I think it may be too late for the living betta. He isn't reacting to water movement anymore, but is still gasping for breath occasionally.

What sort of stores would be better than Petco?