Please I need help and I need it now!

[Elisabeth83]

Yeah that does sound like a good idea...how long would you need to soak it for I wonder?

I feed my girls flake and pellets but with frozen stuff they only ever really want to eat frozen brine shrimp or frozen bloodworm though..and I heard that bloodworm really isn't good to be giving to them very often maybe once a week or something? I give it to them more than that so I was thinking of cutting it down.

edit: Yeah I should contact waterlife..I've done that in the past and they have given me precise instructions of how much and how long.

 

[jollysue]

Hmm? yes my new boys do seem to go for the blood worms. They spit the daphnia out and nibble at the shrimp, but they race for the bloodworms.

You could still just use it occasionally or fast them into eating daphnia

I would guess just until the frozen stuff melts. But you could leave it longer.

 

[Elisabeth83]

Yeah I've tried all kinds of frozen foods. I've actually got a freezer drawer full of frozen fish foods that none seem to like I spent a small fortune on them. Yeah soaking them in garlic liquid sounds good..I'll have to try it.

I'm trying to cut down on feeding bloodworm but with so many tanks and 4 boy bettas in their own small bowls/tanks I have a hard time remembering when I fed bloodworm At the moment I probably feed bloodworm 3 times a week.

A guy told me bloodworm arn't actually good for fish that they are actually kind of like the junk food in the fish world. I'm thinking of trying live foods..culturing them myself. I just need to figure out everything I need and how to do it. I heard grindal worms are supposed to be the best.

 

[Bloo]

Have you tried to take a photo of her ? It would be very interesting to see her. It was extremely difficult with mine as she was so very small so the parasites were miniscule.

What I also found very interesting, is that she was in a tank with 2 other femals as well as a couple of catfish. None of the other fish got it (and still haven't) - she was the only affected fish. And she must have been swimming around for a good week with the slightly clamped fins, before I decided she was definitely not getting any better and took a much closer look.

I too have a planted tank but didn't introduce any new plants during the time she was in the tank. And the same plants are still in there. So not sure if indeed your parasites were introduced with the plants, though it seems quite likely.

 

[Elisabeth83]

I just tried taking pictures but bloozoo2 your camera must be a lot better than mine. I can't zoom in that far and get clear pictures

She's the only one with the worms too..seems today there is less than there were yesterday so maybe the Sterazin is working. My girl isn't covered in the worms like your girl was though.

I don't know if it was the plants but I've been having a lot of problems lately not just with my bettas and it all seems to be when I started buying live plants. I have no idea if there is a connection or what

Here's a picture I just took of one of the bettas whos in bad shape. Very torn fins and she just looks awful. What I am worried about too is she seems to have a tumor or somthing on the right side of her face. It's raised up and over the last few months it's been getting darker and darker and now you can see it's almost black.

I wouldn't think there was a connection? I noticed on another one of my females though that she's getting some of these darker patches. I don't know if they are tumors or what. Any ideas?

 

[jollysue]

Oh she's such a pretty girl and so pleading for you to do something.

I hope you get it under control.

I've had more trouble this summer and wondered if the temperature fluctuations have had an adverse effect--put more stress on the tanks, especially the smaller ones.

 

[Booboo puppy]

I would be suspicious of the plants. I hope you can figure it out and that your fish gets to feeling better soon. We've had huge temperature fluctuations here too. I don't heat the tanks, so they are at the mercy of the house temp. They don't get below 72°, but some days I'm sure they were much warmer because the temp in the house was up to 80°.

 

[wuvmybetta]

The garlic ..I can try at the natural health food store here..see if they have any. If I can get the liquid drops what is the dosage for using it in aquariums?

It's usually a drop to soak food or 5 drops per 10 gllons directly in the tank. I highly recommend it. As a matter of fact I think I'm going to write up a pin on garlic and it's healing properties when I get some free time.

They must have come in with your live plants. You're typically supposed to soak them in a solution of potassium permanganate. This will kill everything on them so you can start fresh.


As for the tumours...this reminds me of what I have seen on gouramis way too many times. It starts as a bump-turns into a sore and eventually worms pop out of it. I'll try to search around and remember what I eventually diagnosed it as. I'm not saying this is what she has though, so don't freak out.

 

[jollysue]

Actually, wuv, I was reading the dosage off the Garlic Xtreme package. Up to 2 drops to soak food per feeding in 1 tsp food and one drop per 10 gal directly to water. That's the Kent's Garlic Xtreme for marine and fresh fish.

Yeah my tanks are in the proper range, booboo; it's just the air conditioner going off and on causes the tanks to fluctuate, when it gets really hot outside--and it has been really hot outside--105+ for weeks at a time. But that's Fresno!

My big tank is fine, but the Eclipse 12 quarantine had trouble in the middle of the heat wave. Still the neons brought columnaris with them. I saw their mates Friday at the lfs and they looked to me like they were showing it--blanched white, the red all cloudy. I told the lfs staff. He looked like he would check it out.

I've never heard of soaking plants. What is that stuff, wuv? What brands/med/whatever is it in?

 

[wuvmybetta]

Actually, wuv, I was reading the dosage off the Garlic Xtreme package. Up to 2 drops to soak food per feeding in 1 tsp food and one drop per 10 gal directly to water. That's the Kent's Garlic Xtreme for marine and fresh fish.

Thank you! I couldn't remember exactly what it was. A friend of mine brings mine to me from her shop so I never even see the packages She just fills up a tube from the stores huge bottle.

 

[jollysue]

I had to pay $20.00 (USD) for a 1 oz bottle at my lfs, when I was trying to save my new little neons and otos. It's $10 at FostersandSmith , It might have been cheaper at petco or petsmart, but I wasn't in a shopping mood and couldn't remember what cost I'd seen it before. The directions are actually spread out in 4 tiny print paragraphs on a dark background (squint) and not really clear. It does say that it is a strong attractant and can confuse the fish if too much is added.

Now what is this potassium permanganate?

 

[wuvmybetta]

oops, sorry I didn't even see you ask about that. I have a head cold and I'm a real space cadet this week

You can find it at a plumbing supply is what I've been told. It kills any and everything on the plants.

Potassium permanganate - soak for 10 to 20 minutes in a 15 ppm solution (ppm = milligrams per liter; 15 ppm = about 0.4 Tablespoons per gallon water) or for a day in a 5-10 ppm solution.

 

[jollysue]

Thanks wuv

 

[Elisabeth83]

As for the tumours...this reminds me of what I have seen on gouramis way too many times. It starts as a bump-turns into a sore and eventually worms pop out of it. I'll try to search around and remember what I eventually diagnosed it as. I'm not saying this is what she has though, so don't freak out.

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Oh gosh! that sounds sick My female in the pic has had this weird growth thing on her face almost since I day I got her. I actually noticed it a few months after I got her. I just would like to know if it's contagious or if she's fine living with the other girls. I know in the pic it doesn't look too bad but up close it's freaky. Maybe she's trying to be The Phantom of the Opera? No but seriously it's like a odd growth. It doesn't stick out far ..just kind of like a scab does. It doesn't appear to be a wound. It is spreading across her face though and getting darker so it's worrying me a bit

I'll be going to the Mall tomorrow so I will check in the health food store and see if they have the garlic drops.

The Potassium permanganate I'll have to ask my boyfriend about..I have no clue where you'd get it here in Sweden. Is there anything else you can use to clean the plants? I should of known to be more careful with the plants. I just thought rinising them would be good enough I think Waterlife myxazin is used to steralize things like nets or whatever..maybe you could use it on plants too?

My girls act pretty normal even with the fin rot (if it's fin rot and not from the parasites) and the weird worms. I just hope I am using the right medication and caught it in time. I'm so tired of dealing with this crap..it's wearing me out. Lately I've been seriously thinking about taking down a lot of my tanks. I don't want all the problems I have been having to defeat me though. I really want to figure out what is going on and to not have it happen again. I think if I didn't have this forum I would of gave up by now

 

[jollysue]

Elisabeth, I have responded --this is the 3rd time. The last two have disappeared on me. I think I got distracted and closed them out by mistake.

Don't give up . You will be rewarded with success if you stick with it long enough. Not to mention the lovely fish.

I didn't imagine it would be so much work or expensive when I took the little feeder fish home in zip lock bags.

But I keep buying fish and tanks How's that for ironic.

How are your pygmy gouramis? Did you ever find any little arrows in the sparkling tummies?


I gotta go now but hang in there girly girl