Losing Another Fish

[attibones]

I can't figure out why I've been losing fish lately. I lost two due to aggression, but I've got two female bettas left, both who keep happy company with each other, and my older girl, Hecate, appears to be dying. I pulled out one more dead female betta today. Her eyes were covered in what appeared to be fuzz but it was only on her eyes. Some scales were mount off, but I don't know how long shed been dead.

Now Hecate is losing the last of her red (she's a red and white marble) and she is lying at the bottom of the tank and breathing heavily. I've just tested the water to see what the results are, but it needs to sit a bit more. The red stuff in a gill (I don't know what it is called, the actual gill, not the full covering) seems to be sticking out (maybe it's her beard? I dunno. I have never seen her show a beard). Before she came to rest on the substrate, she was swimming erratically along the back wall of the tank. Then I dropped the glass hood in the tank while trying to get out the dead fish, but she had moved to the side of the tank where I had caught the hood, not the part that fell into the water.

This is a twenty gallon long. Residents in the last two weeks included five female bettas who got along well with each other and a "female" who actually happene to be a juvenile male with something like an ovipositor. Two nerite snails. Densely planted. Heat at 83 Fahrenheit.

I lost two due to the male's aggression. Then I moved the male out, leaving three females. Found one dead and one dying today. The remaining female is completely healthy looking except for the stress lies which I assumed are from having the male in the tank.

I shall try to get a pic of Hecate but she's in a difficult spot.
Just checked test results: ammonia may be .25 (it's hard to tell), nitrite definitely 0. Out of nitrate testing liquid. Last water change was Monday. About to do another today. I do 50% twice a week.

 

[WILDER]

Poor things 

 
The red gills sounds like bad water quality. So I would preform an immediate water change.
Do you mean red stuff on the gills or they just look sore and inflamed?
Any white fluffy cotton wool patches on body of fish?
Any white edging around scales?
Do the scales look  like there melting away?
Any bleached out patches on body or face?
Any trialing cotton wool strands on fins, mouth?
Any signs of flicking and rubbing?

How long has the tank been set up please?

 

[attibones]

It's not an issue of water quality. Tests are good. I completed fishless cycle in September. I'm refilling tank with fresh water now. Took fifty out. Treated the tank with Prime, started refilling. I don't touch my filter pads (I've got one cycled filter and a new one I'm trying to cycle up alongside this one for emergencies or for a higher bio-load tank). I've done this before. I understand all about cycling.

Looks like the actual gill tissue. The dying one looks really pale. Usually the white parts of her are bright white with a tinge of pink, now they are totally washed out. The red spots on her are dull brown now, not vibrant red.

No wooly patches on the deceased fish or this one or one the apparently healthy one.

Fins are torn up, but I think it has to do with the male I pulled out of there.

No flicking or rubbing. The healthy one keeps following me around while I do the Friday water change. The dying one was just swimming quickly back and forth along the wall. She looked like she was trying to escape from something which isn't like her. Usually she comes up and bumps my hands while I work or she'll beg for food.

 

[WILDER]

Was the fungus on the eye before death or after?

As long as ammonia is 0 that's fine.
 
I would isolate the sick fish and use an antibiotic. Increase aeration. It sounds more bacterial at the present.
Once fish start to dart around tank and turn upside down ti can be a sign the
fish is dying.

 

[attibones]

I didn't see the fungus or fuzz or anything last night when I turned the lights out.



Above is a picture of the sick fish. In that tank I've got two filters and a large airstone. Oxygen level is pretty high already. I don't have a QT tank at the moment. The male is in there.
Maybe an infected injury from the male? I can't see, apart from the fin damage, any wounds. Could be something I just can't see well.

 

[WILDER]

Poor thing he looks in bad shape.
With losing a lot of fish I would go in with antibiotic but it will wipe the good bacteria colony out
in your filter.
There plenty of antibiotics you can get hold of in the US. I would get antibiotic that treats gram
negative bacteria, gram positive bacteria.
 
Do you know any fish keepers who could give you a mature filter sponge after the medication course
has finished?
Fungus can grow on the fish eyes after death.

 

[attibones]

No. I'm the only fish person I know. I can move the cycled filter to the puffer tank temporarily and just let the newish one run this tank while I get some meds in her. I worked hard for that colony, yo. I'll see what I can't find on the cheap. I'm low on funds until tomorrow. I don't think she's even going to make it until tomorrow, honestly.

She's doing this weird sort of rocking motion now. It's like every time she takes a gulp of air it moves her up and down. I just noticed she has a red stripe coming off the center of her caudal fin. Then there's a red spot on the caudal. That wasn't there last week. You can see it in the picture.

 

[WILDER]

It doesn't  look good for the sick fish I agree.
If you have a bad bacteria infection in a tank the bacteria in the filter wants wiping out anyway.
 
Red streaking, or patches, bleeding beneath the skin is septicemia, . Also red spots can be. Just make sure there no signs of fish flicking and rubbing on objects in the tank.

 

[attibones]

I don't see any movements like that.

According to this website http/www.fish-disease.net/diseases/septicemia.php, tetracycline is a good medicine for septicemia, which seems to fit her symptoms. Her breathing has drastically reduced now. I'm about to head to the LFS. I'll be surprised if she's still alive when I come back.

 

[WILDER]

Bless her. It's so sad to see fish really poorly. Breaks your heart.
 
Tetracycline is a very good antibiotic.
 
Do you mind keeping the thread updated to see how she gets on.
 
Good Luck.

 

[attibones]

I've got far less money on me than I had anticipated so I can't get anything for her. I just finished some dishes and now I can't find her. She must be well enough to still swim some because she isn't by the wood piece anymore.

 

[WILDER]

Melafix won't be any good on what your fish are fighting. As it only an external antiseptic medication.
You need to use antibiotics. But I think this might be  to late for the really sick fish.
For now plenty of water changes.

 

[attibones]

Yeah, I wasn't planning on using Melafix. I don't trust it, especially not with my bettas (not sure even how you got to that?). It took me awhile to do clean my kitchen, at some point she moved, now she's lying on her side in the front middle of the tank.

I'll do another water change tomorrow, maybe not fifty percent, perhaps thirty, see what happens. I'm really concerned that I'll lose the other one too (even though she is showing no symptoms). If I lose her, I'll probably end up changing my filter media and seeing if starting over gives me better luck.

 

[WILDER]

Quite a lot fish keepers think melafix is a wonder cure. I don't rate it. It's only affective on external injures
Not all fish tolerate it either.
If the fish are still eating you could try antibiotic medicated food. But not sure on the price.

 

[attibones]

Hecate hasn't taken food for a few days. Last time I know she ate was probably Tuesday or Wednesday. I didn't worry about it because not all of the girls want to eat every day. Usually they do because bettas are little pigs, but sometimes they don't hear the dinner bell, so to speak.