Man, My Bettas Are Dropping

[katie1984]

What does epson salt do?

 

[liz2]

Katie..epsom salts makes them go to the toilet

 

[jollysue]

I'm sorry, Adam, where did you get your information on fish TB? Fish TB is a contagious desease. It can even be caught by humans from the tank.

Aquarium salt also helps prevent and cure fungus and parasites. It also reduces nitrite in a tank that is cycling. (I don't know if Epsom Salt is the same?)

Give me a minute and I'll put up some links.

fish deseases and care

Betta deseases

There are many other and probably better sites. Google.

 

[TammyLiz]

A frequent change in water conditions is what causes TB. Like if you dont clean your tank for 2 months and then totally take it down then that is what will cause TB. So the Clean water is what does it. Like going from Dirty water straight to crystal clean water. I would keep all of the fish with the same symptoms in the same tank. If most of your fish are sick then use your 55 gallon tank for a hospital tank. The best way to treat any illness is to use salt that does not contain Iodide and raise the temperature to 82-83 degrees F.

That can't be right. I keep my tanks clean. Sometimes I go two weeks without a water change, but two months? Its sad that anybody would ever do that. No, I don't have enough sick fish to fill the 55! Only one now, I lost one a while back (sometime in the early summer), one a few weeks ago, and two last week. This is from two tanks, with the current total number of healthy fish at 22. But all have been exposed to whatever killed the four that have died. There was actually one even before those four, that lost weight and died soon after I bought him in February, and it may have been that one that introduced it. Anyways, I don't think salt is really going to do it. For one, I don't think salt would kick TB, and two, I have live plants, loaches and gouramis, none of which appreciate salt. 82-83 would be too hot for my barbs especially. Not a good idea.

Can anyone else confirm the original statement that prompted my reply (deaths due to dropsy can be TB related)? Because if not, I could be dealing with parasites in the ones that are losing weight, and maybe some unknown for the dropsy? I know that bettas often go a few at the same time, I've heard that story a lot, but is it TB?

 

[afireinside]

Thanks everyone, but whatever it was, it has stopped, no dying nothing.

But it did kill off some of my favorite bettas, and now I have to get some new ones, but not before I moniter the tanks to see if anything else goes wrong.

 

[jollysue]

TammyLiz:

DISEASE: TUBERCULOSIS
uGENERAL INFO:

This is probably the deadliest of fish diseases, yet most people have never heard of it or know little to nothing about it. It can mimic a large variety of other diseases, making it hard to diagnosis. Only an autopsy can confirm mycobacteriosis. This is a slow blooming disease that may take up to 6 months to affect fish. Ultimately, the bacteria will attack the internal organs, especially liver and kidneys and cause organ failure (followed by sudden death). This is the only fish disease known to be contagious to man. The good news is, unless you have a very infected tank and stick your hands in there and have a big cut or a weak immune system, you will probably never catch it from sick fish. And even if you did, it will not kill you, mostly give you a nasty skin infection which may take a long time to heal. The bug does not like people much (it is a temperature thing), and seems to remain on the skin surface only. Also, just so you don't become all paranoid now, I must add that there has been VERY FEW documented cases of fish TB infecting people. And in most cases, as I said, the people either had a deep cut or immune system deficiency. The only reason I am mentioning all this is so you are aware of it. Don't worry, Mr. Betta is not out to get ya! LOL. Fish tuberculosis can be resident in water but has also been linked to live foods (researchers found cases of live foods infected by tuberculosis etc...), and is mainly passed by injection (eating contaminated live food, or eating a dead fish that was a carrier, etc...) Now you can understand the importance of staying away from fish stores where you can see a lot of dead fish! Pick your fish suppliers very carefully and favor a store or breeder that has high hygiene standards in their fish rooms or stores. As for me, as an added precaution, I have decided to not feed any live foods to my bettas (live worms etc), just to be on the safe side. ( However, microworms, vinegar eel as well as any home hatched brine shrimp are 100% safe and mycobacteriosis free ) ).

uSYMPTOMS:
Affected fish will start deteriorating for no apparent reasons, losing weight (or not), showing deformities (or not), having raised scales (or not), fin and body rot (or not), gray lesions (or not), red patches inside the belly (or not). Sometimes they will seem fine one day and be oh so very DEAD the next. The one thing all the bettas affected by this terrible diseases have in common is that they will all (as in every single last one of them) die. So if you suddenly find a large number of dead fish in your tanks, and more die each day, there is a strong possibility you might be at war with fish tuberculosis (careful though, other bacterial infections can also have similar dramatic death rates).

uTREATMENT:
I am sorry to break the news to you but you will NOT win that war because there is NO cure. Furthermore you will probably have to throw away all bowl, tank and fish gear because regular bleach does not kill this nasty bug. My advice? Stay away from live food and from sickly looking pet store bettas and as I said select your fish suppliers carefully. Oh, and do a lot of praying .

This is copied directly from Betta Talk, and some things are opinions of the author.

In the case of some deseases, tank temperatures are raised or lowered depending.

Adam, different deseases are treated differently. It is important to make an accurate diagnosis. One size does NOT fit all. For some deseases temps are lowered and for some raised.

Sorry for hijacking AFI