# HELP!! White Fuzz on my Betta's Fin



## sholee

Housing 
What size is your tank? 1.8g
What temperature is your tank? 76-78 degrees
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? hikari pellets 3 pellets a day, 6 days a week.
How often do you feed your betta fish? once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once at night.

Maintenance 
How often do you perform a water change? twice a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50% water change mid week and 100% water change at the end of the week.
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? water conditioner

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity: 

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? white cotton like fuzz all over his lower fin
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? lethargic, takes more effort to feed him his pellets... he usually races to the surface whenever he sees me but now he's stayin at the bottom of the tank and I have to get his attention by waving my finger in front of the glass to feed him his food.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? a few days ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? He's on day three of having salt treatments, 1 teaspoon for 1 gallon (only giving him a gallon of water to swim in during this time) and 100% water changes daily.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No, he was tail biting a month or two ago which i thought might have been fin rot but i never saw chunks of his tail on the bottom of them tank so i assumed it was just tail biting and it was healing on its own. 
How old is your fish (approximately)?I'm not sure, I picked him up from petco at the end of Dec. 2011, so i'm assuming he's around 10months old+

I'm on day 3 of the salt treatment for my betta, the white fuzz doesn't seem to be going away and it looks like little pieces of his fins are breaking apart that the white fuzz is surrounding. I'm really worried about my betta!! the first thing i do when i wake up is check on him to make sure he's still alive. :'(






























*PLEASE EXCUSE THE SMALL CUP MY BETTA'S IN, IT WAS ONLY TO TAKE A PICTURE OF HIS FINS.*


----------



## SarahandOscar

It's got to be a fungus of some description???? have you read the sticky on fungus and treatments? I've had no personal experience so maybe wait a few more hours for advice???


----------



## Luimeril

i've never figured out what it was, but my Cup used to get it on his fins if i didn't catch a rip in time. i'd get rid of it with a water change and some Aquarium Salt, premixed with water into a cup and slowly added to his tank water.


----------



## ao

upp that slowly to 3tsps/ gallon (watch for any bad reactions) stabilize the tank temperature at about 75F to slow down the fungus/ bacteria. try to do 100 water changes twice weekly, (or everyday if you can) clean absolutely everything and rinse with hot water when performing water changes. (switching to a bare bottom Qt tank can really help here).

Keep an eye out on the spread of the infection. medicate if no improvements are seen :S

if it gets too close to the body I would get a sharp razor blade and just cut off the infected part :S but that's just how I would handle it. not recommended lolol


----------



## sholee

i am slowly adding more salt to his tank by diluting it in a cup of water first, hopefully this gets rid of that nasty white fuzz on his fin!

*prays*

*crosses fingers*


----------



## Silverfang

sounds like you have him on the right treatment. IF possible lower the water temp to 75, if fungal it will thrive in warmer temps.


----------



## sholee

Good news! a large chunk of the white fuzz fell off his body, taking a few parts of the fin with it but i'm glad its finally off him. Theres still a small amount of fuzz left, but it seems to be detaching as well! I'm so excited. Thanks guys! The water is hovering around 75-76 degrees right now as I don't have a heater that I can preset the temperature to. So I'm just blasting the air conditioner in my room so that the temperature will even out.


----------



## ao

Yay!  hopefullythe fishie will get better soon and regrow and splendid tail!


----------



## Silverfang

oh good, I hate the white fuzzies


----------



## sholee

Hey guys, the 2nd part of the white fuzz has detached itself last night and there were a few microscopic white fuzz on the ends of his fin but when I did his water change tonight, I didn't really see them anymore. What should my next step be? Tonight will be his 6th day in salt water.. I decreased the salt to 2 teaspoon/gal seeing as I don't see white fuzz on his fins anymore. Should I leave him in salt water for longer? 4 days? before I put him back in freshwater?


----------



## Silverfang

I think you would be safe weaning him back to 1tsp/gal for the remaining four days. Hopefully this will be all that's needed to kick the fuzzies in the butt!

I understand how excited you are, my girl lost the biggest chunk of her remaining fuzzies over the weekend... and she'd be fuzz free, if not for a jumping incident. Hope he continues to heal up!


----------



## sholee

aww your poor fish! ive never seen my betta jump since I've bought it, im still paranoid he'll jump out one day. Anyways, I woke up this morning and gosh darn it! i see little white fuzz strings hanging from his fin! they're just thread like but still.. ARGH... i'm going to do 1 teaspoon of salt/gal tonight during his water change. I can't wait for him to heal up!


----------



## ao

sholee said:


> aww your poor fish! ive never seen my betta jump since I've bought it, im still paranoid he'll jump out one day. Anyways, I woke up this morning and gosh darn it! i see little white fuzz strings hanging from his fin! they're just thread like but still.. ARGH... i'm going to do 1 teaspoon of salt/gal tonight during his water change. I can't wait for him to heal up!


are you using stress coat? if its not fuzz balls its just excess slime coat


----------



## sholee

nope, im not using stress coat, should i be using that? I'm just using regular water conditioner.


----------



## ao

it should be fine, Aq salt does pretty much the same thing :/ You wouldn't happento have some IAL in hand would you?


----------



## Aus

You can leave him there for up to ten days. 

BUT. This is exactly how my fish Sid's columnaris started. The fuzzies actually fell off like that with or without salt.. they came and went and came and went.. I was convinced he was cured for a few weeks, then they came back badly, he got super aggressive fin rot overnight and went downhill from there.

Not saying this -will- happen to your fish.. but if his fins start fraying badly after this salt treatment, get him medication for columnaris. It doesn't always show as white fuzz on skin or fins. In Sid's case it became fin rot that wouldn't cure and then cottonmouth disease. He was sickly when I got him, though.. if your betta is healthy to begin with, he might not progress to that state. 

The thing about that disease is that it thrives in high temps... so keeping the temp above 74 or so is encouraging it to grow.. (sorry, I see you do have cooler temps - this is a good thing right now.. when he recovers fully and stays healthy, think about getting him a bigger tank & heater.. being cold = lower immune system.. )

Not trying to panic you - just see how he goes, he will probably be okay. But to be safe, do some research on columnaris treatment and perhaps make sure you can get the right medication for it easily, if your fish has a/ any recurrence of these fuzzies after the salt treatment or b/ sudden, hard to shift fin rot, mouth hanging open all the time like something's stuck in, white fuzz on his head or body.

It's an aggressive condition and treatment needs to be prompt to work, so it's best to be prepared. I learned that the hard way. :\

ETA: It isn't slime coat if it's taking portions of fin off with it...


----------



## sholee

aokashi said:


> it should be fine, Aq salt does pretty much the same thing :/ You wouldn't happento have some IAL in hand would you?


Ahh what is IAL? 



Aus said:


> You can leave him there for up to ten days.
> 
> BUT. This is exactly how my fish Sid's columnaris started. The fuzzies actually fell off like that with or without salt.. they came and went and came and went.. I was convinced he was cured for a few weeks, then they came back badly, he got super aggressive fin rot overnight and went downhill from there.
> 
> Not saying this -will- happen to your fish.. but if his fins start fraying badly after this salt treatment, get him medication for columnaris. It doesn't always show as white fuzz on skin or fins. In Sid's case it became fin rot that wouldn't cure and then cottonmouth disease. He was sickly when I got him, though.. if your betta is healthy to begin with, he might not progress to that state.
> 
> The thing about that disease is that it thrives in high temps... so keeping the temp above 74 or so is encouraging it to grow.. if those fuzzies come back at all - drop your temp a bit and start thinking about stronger medication.
> 
> Not trying to panic you - just see how he goes, he will probably be okay. But to be safe, do some research on columnaris treatment and perhaps make sure you can get the right medication for it easily, if your fish has a/ any recurrence of these fuzzies after the salt treatment or b/ sudden, hard to shift fin rot, mouth hanging open all the time like something's stuck in, white fuzz on his head or body.
> 
> It's an aggressive condition and treatment needs to be prompt to work, so it's best to be prepared. I learned that the hard way. :\
> 
> ETA: It isn't slime coat if it's taking portions of fin off with it...


Well I noticed the fuzz when it was still tiny and i thought maybe they'll go away on its own but the white fuzz just kept growing and i got super worried hence this topic. I got my betta in Dec of 2011 and he's always been very healthy and active. I've always done water changes 2x a week, 50% on wednesday and 100% on sundays so the evil white fuzz really caught me off guard. I have no idea what went wrong but I'm assuming it might be because he was tail biting last month and his fins got infected? 

Oh man I'm really hoping my betta will be okay after this! Your post sounds crazy! I'm even cycling a new 5.5g home for my betta right now, it'll be a waste if he just keeps getting sick :'(

So even after the salt treatment, i should keep the temperature at 74-75 degrees? Will this make him lethargic?


----------



## ao

Indian Almond leaf


----------



## Aus

> I've always done water changes 2x a week, 50% on wednesday and 100% on sundays


.. we have the same water change schedule :-D



> I have no idea what went wrong but I'm assuming it might be because he was tail biting last month and his fins got infected?


Very probably it's a mild fungal outbreak only. If you've added any new live plants, handled other fish, put in a 2nd hand decoration..then perhaps be a bit vigilant. If not, then .. assume the best, unless he doesn't heal with salt.



> Oh man I'm really hoping my betta will be okay after this! Your post sounds crazy!


For now please do assume it's a simple fungal infection that may be cured with salt. But be aware that it might be a sign of something worse, too, though it probably isn't. 

Here's a great article by RandomWiktor on the disease and treatment: http://www.ultimatebettas.com/index.php?showtopic=917

Sid didn't have the saddleback or skin lesions. He had it internally, and in his mouth which was swollen and full of gunk. But before that, his fins kept disappearing in fuzzy chunks (dropping off..) until they looked awful.. and he was super lethargic.



> So even after the salt treatment, i should keep the temperature at 74-75 degrees? Will this make him lethargic?


Maybe a day or so after. Watch his fins. If there's no more fuzzies or missing chunks, _slowly _warm him up. If they return in a few days to a week and he's still losing fuzzy chunks of fin and is very lethargic even in warm water, _slowly_ turn it back down again and treat him with some appropriate antibiotics. 

I hate to sound like a panic merchant, but if I'd treated Sid sooner when it became clear that his fuzzies were not responding to salt, he might have survived.


----------



## sholee

Heres an update on my betta, it's Day 8 of his salt treatment, so 2 more days left and he's looking great! No more white fuzzies, he's being active again and eating like a pig. I'm hoping this is good news and he wont relapse or have anything worse after I get him off of the salt treatment. 










my betta and I thank you guys for all your help!


----------



## ao

Why hello there fabulous


----------

