purple_drazi
Fishaholic
This is a long post but please read it carefully & bear w/ me as I've had 3 betta's die in the last week and I'd like to try and figure out what's causing it before I lose my last boy.
This all started when I bought a new heated, unfiltered, 5.5 gal for my two girls who had been in separate unheated 2 gal. bowls. I put a divider down the middle (because one is extremely agro and would beat up the other if I left them together). As soon as I put them in the two girls started flaring at each other and charging the divider. I've had two boys in exactly the same set-up since the spring w/ no problems (water changed 100% weekly) though so I figured they'd get used to it.
The next morning one of the girls looked as though she had torn her mouth on the divider. She looked fine otherwise though so I medicated the tank with tetracycline to keep any infection down and thought that she'd heal. By the next morning the tank water was cloudy and Girl #1 looked bad. The wound on her mouth looked worse and she now had a huge lighter patch on her side.
I separated the girls putting Girl #1 in a bowl of tetracycline medicated water. Girl #2 I put in another bowl but I didn't medicate her because she looked fine. (Mistake, I know now, but I didn't know then so please don't shout at me.)
By the next morning Girl #1 was in such bad shape (it was truly disgusting and I'm not going to describe it other than to say that her body was being eaten away) that I put her out of her misery. Girl #2 was now showing symptoms, her body looked as if it had been painted a lighter colour in 3 broad stripes from dorsal fin to anal fin. There was no fuzzyness and nothing else to see other than the lighter patches. The tetracycline hadn't worked for Girl #1 so I when changed the water in Girl #2's bowl I used a combination of Maracyn & Maracyn-Two. These two antibiotics are supposed to work on dropsy, septicemia, popeye, fin & tail rot and body fungus. They didn't work. Within 24 hours Girl #2 was dead.
I disinfected everything (tank, bowls, hose, heater etc.) by soaking it in bleach, rinsed it well and put it away.
That was last week. I still had the 2 boys sharing (with a divider down the middle) their tank and everything was fine. This week I changed their water Monday like I normally do. I worked a 12 hour shift on Tuesday and got home late so I didn't check their tank then. Wednesday morning I checked the boys and Boy #1's tail was looking ragged. They've both got really, really long tails so I thought that perhaps he'd blown his tail. I had no reason to connect it with the infection that the girls had had last week but I thought I'd better keep an eye on him. By lunchtime it was noticeably worse.
I pulled both boys out of the tank and put each of them in separate 2 gal bowls medicated with Maracyn & Maracyn-Two. I disinfected their old tank and everything in it with bleach and washed my hands with Dettol (a hospital disinfectant) after handling it. Boy #1 seemed to perk up in the afternoon but was developing the same light patches on his side as the girls had had. By this morning he was dead. Boy #2 is still in his own bowl of medicated water and I plan on following through on the recommended 5 day antibiotic treatment just in case even though he looks fine.
It seems like there is a massive bacterial attack killing these fish within 24 hours of noticable symptoms but I don't know where it's coming from and I can't figure out how to treat it. The only common element between the two tanks is the hose that I used to syphon the water but I had soaked it in a bleach solution and rinsed it really well after I used it. In addition, I used the hose to do a water change on another tank, a 12 gal w/ plants, shrimp, guppys & neons and there have been no problems there.
Tetracycline and the Maracyns can't fight this thing. I picked up another med, NeoPlex (neomycin sulfate) but didn't get the chance to try it.
What the h*ll is going on here? Any ideas if Boy #2 starts showing symptoms?
This all started when I bought a new heated, unfiltered, 5.5 gal for my two girls who had been in separate unheated 2 gal. bowls. I put a divider down the middle (because one is extremely agro and would beat up the other if I left them together). As soon as I put them in the two girls started flaring at each other and charging the divider. I've had two boys in exactly the same set-up since the spring w/ no problems (water changed 100% weekly) though so I figured they'd get used to it.
The next morning one of the girls looked as though she had torn her mouth on the divider. She looked fine otherwise though so I medicated the tank with tetracycline to keep any infection down and thought that she'd heal. By the next morning the tank water was cloudy and Girl #1 looked bad. The wound on her mouth looked worse and she now had a huge lighter patch on her side.
I separated the girls putting Girl #1 in a bowl of tetracycline medicated water. Girl #2 I put in another bowl but I didn't medicate her because she looked fine. (Mistake, I know now, but I didn't know then so please don't shout at me.)
By the next morning Girl #1 was in such bad shape (it was truly disgusting and I'm not going to describe it other than to say that her body was being eaten away) that I put her out of her misery. Girl #2 was now showing symptoms, her body looked as if it had been painted a lighter colour in 3 broad stripes from dorsal fin to anal fin. There was no fuzzyness and nothing else to see other than the lighter patches. The tetracycline hadn't worked for Girl #1 so I when changed the water in Girl #2's bowl I used a combination of Maracyn & Maracyn-Two. These two antibiotics are supposed to work on dropsy, septicemia, popeye, fin & tail rot and body fungus. They didn't work. Within 24 hours Girl #2 was dead.
I disinfected everything (tank, bowls, hose, heater etc.) by soaking it in bleach, rinsed it well and put it away.
That was last week. I still had the 2 boys sharing (with a divider down the middle) their tank and everything was fine. This week I changed their water Monday like I normally do. I worked a 12 hour shift on Tuesday and got home late so I didn't check their tank then. Wednesday morning I checked the boys and Boy #1's tail was looking ragged. They've both got really, really long tails so I thought that perhaps he'd blown his tail. I had no reason to connect it with the infection that the girls had had last week but I thought I'd better keep an eye on him. By lunchtime it was noticeably worse.
I pulled both boys out of the tank and put each of them in separate 2 gal bowls medicated with Maracyn & Maracyn-Two. I disinfected their old tank and everything in it with bleach and washed my hands with Dettol (a hospital disinfectant) after handling it. Boy #1 seemed to perk up in the afternoon but was developing the same light patches on his side as the girls had had. By this morning he was dead. Boy #2 is still in his own bowl of medicated water and I plan on following through on the recommended 5 day antibiotic treatment just in case even though he looks fine.
It seems like there is a massive bacterial attack killing these fish within 24 hours of noticable symptoms but I don't know where it's coming from and I can't figure out how to treat it. The only common element between the two tanks is the hose that I used to syphon the water but I had soaked it in a bleach solution and rinsed it really well after I used it. In addition, I used the hose to do a water change on another tank, a 12 gal w/ plants, shrimp, guppys & neons and there have been no problems there.
Tetracycline and the Maracyns can't fight this thing. I picked up another med, NeoPlex (neomycin sulfate) but didn't get the chance to try it.
What the h*ll is going on here? Any ideas if Boy #2 starts showing symptoms?
/freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/columnaris.htm
