Favorite Betta Is Ill :(

[Mauricia]

Tank size: 5.5 gallons
pH: 9
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 0 (just did a large water change)
kH: Dont know but the water is quite hard
gH:
tank temp: 80

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): There is nothing I can see that's wrong with her, I inspected her quite closely. Her color isn't even paler, no spots, fuzz nothing. There is a small tear in her fin that she's had for about a week, it hasn't gotten any worse but I can't tell if it's gotten better. It really doesn't look like fin rot though, just a tear. The reason I'm worried is she doesn't want to eat and is lethargic. Yesterday, she ate two of the four pellets I gave her, and in the past there's been times when she wasn't a big eater so I didn't worry too much. Then I did her water change, larger than usual (like %80) because I'd been on vacation for a week and a half and the bottom of the tank was kind of gross. Afterwards, her fins were clamped, but not horribly. Today when I woke up they're not clamped, but she's just resting on her plant, doesn't want to swim, and seems to be breathing rapidly. She always swims up to greet me but she just looked at me and wouldn't move. I dropped food in front of her face when she came up for air but she still ignored it. I'm really worried because two of my fish have died in the past year for no apparent cause. She's 2 years and one month old.

Volume and Frequency of water changes: 25% weekly

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: just declorinator

Tank inhabitants: just her

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): added a new filter with pantyhose over the intake about 3 weeks ago, but the old filter is still in there.

Exposure to chemicals: maybe from the pantyhose? But I had read lots of people do this

Digital photo (include if possible): no camera, but she looks normal, she's just behaving abnormally.

 

[loraxchick]

does she look bloated at all? is her poo normal? (and not white/stringy/mucousy?). flicking or rubbing in the tank?
just to cover the bases.
good luck
cheers

 

[Mauricia]

No flicking or rubbing, she's really not leaving her plant. I didn't see any abnormal poo, but I've honestly never seen her poo in my life even though I watch her all the time, but there's nothing but brown stuff at the bottom of the tank so I assume that's her poo and it's normal. She's not bloated, but she may need a pea because she hasn't had her pea in 3 weeks because I ran out. I have more now but she won't eat it. But she really doesn't look bloated at all.

 

[Mauricia]

So I was looking through a list of betta diseases and noticed my girl has gill flaps that won't close and her gills are red inside. Her gills have been like this as long as I've had her. I know she's never gotten nitrite/nitrate/ammonia poisoning while in my care but it's possible she did before I got her. Her brother had the same thing and died quite young of no apparent cause. It says on the website that this can have a genetic cause, which is likely since her brother had the same thing, or the breeder might have kept them in bad water conditions. I suppose if this is the problem she's not really sick per say, but I want to make sure this is the only problem and make sure there's nothing that can be done for her.

 

[loraxchick]

if not showing any outright symptoms of anything (other than her hiding in the plant) it is difficult to say treat for this or that. peas arent an essential part of their diet, just keeps things moving along if the fish is prone to constipation due to diet/genetics.
increase the aeration if you are able, or up the filter a bit. if her gills were damaged from ammonia poisoning at some point it is more difficult for the O2 to diffuse thru the membranes.
but i would think this would have always affected her and is not a "sudden" occurrence. hmmm. just keep treating her as normal if there are no other signs of illness. fish can feel under the weather too. thats where we come in with good food and clean water. make note of any changes in behavior/appearance (flicking, bloat, etc.)
she may also just be used to her surroundings and not as ative. ive got a guy like that. but he is a greedy pig still...just lazy.
best of luck.
keep us posted
CHEERS

 

[Mauricia]

Thanks for your suggestions. I'm quite worried because she has had such an extreme and sudden personality change. She hasn't moved from her plant up by the surface of the water all day and seems to be gasping. The tank has good aeration, especially for just one fish. I read on another forum that someone's fish were acting quite similar to my girl, and didn't have any flicking or rubbing, but after they died and she inspected them she saw they had gill flukes. Is this possible? Since I've been gone all week I could have missed the flicking/rubbing stage and it could already be in the lethargy stage.
I'm also really worried because three of my bettas have died in the past few months for no apparent reason. They suddenly got lethargic then they were dead, otherwise appeared perfectly healthy. This seems just like it and I really want to figure out what it is before all my fish die this way. Is it possible some sort of bacterial infection is very slowly spreading through my tanks and killing them? Could it be an internal bacterial infection or something? Is there anything safe I can do that might help? Like add salt or pimafix? I haven't added anything yet.

Edit: Just caught her in a little cup and she didn't even try to swim off like she usually does. Inspected her carefully with a flashlight. The only other thing I noticed is there is black stuff inside her gills. I know her gills have always appeared a little inflamed, but I'm not sure if this black stuff has always been there. From one angle it looks like it's a little black stick sticking out of the gills. From the other angle it just looks like black coloring. She does have a lot of dark purple edging on her body and fins that appears black if you don't look closely, so maybe this is part of her coloring, maybe it's a problem.

Edit #2: She is now thrashing around her tank like crazy, crashing into things. When she stops she hangs in a vertical position, mouth up, panting. I couldn't do nothing so I gave her antibacterial meds that say they treat bacterial gill infection because I really think she won't make it through the night and have to try something.

Edit#3: She just died. If anyone has ideas on what killed her please tell me. I don't want my other fish to get the same thing and die too.

 

[Mauricia]

I hate to be annoying but I really feel I need to figure out how to treat my other fish since she progressed so rapidly. I use the same cleaning equipment, so should I just treat the other fish now or wait till they show symptoms? I feel like she didn't show symptoms till it was too late. I ordered clout in case its a parasite since no stores around her sell anti parasite meds to be safe. I went to my LFS and they were really unhelpful so any help you guys can give would be nice.

 

[WILDER]

Bless her. R.I.P.
Red gills can be bad water quality, gill flukes, bacterial.

It could of been a bacterial infection.

Signs of gill flukes are.
Pale gills with excess mucas, or red inflamed gills, or bleeding gills.
Opaque body with excess slime.
Flicking and rubbing.
Darting or erratic swimming.
Laboured breathing or gasping at surface of tank.
Swimming in a jerky movement.
Weightless.
Spitting food out.
Red sores or red pin prick marks on fish body.

 

[Mauricia]

Thanks for your reply, I think it must have been gill flukes or bacterial because I've tested her water before changing it for the past two years and there's always been 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite and below 20ppm nitrate. I believe she may have been especially susceptible since she had damaged gill flaps that wouldn't close when I got her.

She had darting and erratic swimming (following an episode she would appear paralyzed and crash to the bottom)
labored breathing and gasping at the surface of the tank
inflamed gills
swimming in a jerky movement
loss of appetite
lethargy
From her symptoms I really can't tell if it would be bacterial or gill flukes.

Which medications should I have on hand if the other fish show symptoms? As I said I ordered clout for flukes, is there a good bacterial med (I live in the US) right now I have tetracycline and a med containing furazolidone and nitrofurazone. I think the stores would have maracyn 1 & 2 so I could pick those up. Should I treat them right away as a preventative measure or wait until they are sick? Should I treat for both a bacterial and flukes? I've read they often co-occur. I suppose give the flukes med then clear that from the tank and give the antibacterial? or the other way around?

 

[WILDER]

It sounds like gills flukes to me. A symtom of flukes is swimming in a jerky movement.
She was showing most of the symtoms of gill flukes.

If you haven't steralised equipement after use treat tanks for gills flukes.
Clout a good med for flukes. Make sure you can use the full dose with the fish you keep.

You have to back up with a bacterial med as flukes cause bacterial infections.
The parasites carrys a masty bacteria in there hooks or suckers which enters the fish blood stream when it pierces the skin.

Maracyn is fine for bacterial infections.
Tetracycline can wipe the beneifical bacteria out in the filter.

 

[WILDER]

Scroll down to flukes.
http/www.swedesdock.com/pondpara.sht

 

[Mauricia]

Ok thank you so much for your input. You're a good person for taking time to help everyone in this forum. I will treat for flukes with the clout then run carbon and treat with maracyn. hopefully all will turn out.

 

[WILDER]

Thanks.
Let me know how you get on if you don't mind.
Good Luck.