AboutAmber Worman Expertise I specialize in Gouramis, Black Moors, Fantail goldfish, and Bettas. I can answer questions about fish behavior, tank mates, diseases, and living conditions. I do not have much experience with breeding these types of fish, however.
Experience Fish are my passion - I have raised these types of fish for as long as I can remember. I am a college student at Purdue University where I have a major in Biology and a position as a lab technician in a fish laboratory.
I've had a betta for 2 years. Unfortunately, I didn't know much about them until recently when he fell ill.
On Fri 6/29 I noticed that he looked very bad (no color, breathing very heavily, and sitting vertically at the bottom) and that his water suddenly looked like it had a film on top (1 gal bowl). I put him in his temporary changing bowl while I'll did a complete water change. At the time I wasn't adding anything other than water conditioner to the water. I moved him back to his gal tank expecting him to expire over night. He amazingly made it throught the night. I then called a local aquarium store. On 6/30, I began adding 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of BettaFix Remedy daily as well as changing the water every 1-2 days after reading various suggestions.
After the first day his color came back and he has come around a *slight* bit. Still, his ventral fins are nearly non-existent except for some thin strands and his dorsal fin seems much shorter. Unfortunately, these are just things I didn't pay too much attention to until he became ill (and I do feel badly). He also sits vertically at the bottom and still seems to be breathing heavily. He eats but not as excitedly as he once did and earlier in the week he seemed to have a hard time swallowing the food pellets. While in his temporary tank this evening, I noticed many floating stringy, *fuzzy* things floating in the water. His water temp is about 76F. I don't see enough improvement during this first week to convince me that I'm doing the right things for his condition.
I've been working on the idea of fin rot but I'm not sure if that's all that's going on which makes it difficult to look up possible remedies. If you recommend something different, please let me know if I should continue the current treatment or totally replace it with another.
I appreciate your time and expertise. Finny's a lovely pet and we want him to live a long and healthy life.
Tracey
Answer Hello Tracey-
This is a tricky situation. It sounds like your little guy may be suffering from a combination of both fin rot and columnaris. White stringy "things" are the first sign of columnaris, and it can be tricky to cure. Here's what I would do:
1.) Lower his water temperature ever so slightly. Keep it around 74 F. Anything hotter will allow the columnaris to multiply and infest your betta's body and gills.
2.) Continue with the salt and Melafix dosage. Only add salt after a water change, however.
3.) Change his water every day, or every other day. Clean water is the key to wiping out columnaris.
4.) If you're willing to spend the money, invest in some Maracyn. It's pretty expensive, though; a cheaper alternative would be a medicine called "QuickCure." Both can be found at PetsMart.
5.) Only feed him if he will eat the pellets. Uneaten food will rot and will make him sicker.
I hope this helps, good luck with your little guy.
-Amber Worman
