# Sick Betta Question



## AussieChris (May 24, 2011)

Hi All

Noticed a few days ago my betta wasnt as happy as he always is so i had a quick look.

Noticed he had some cotton wool type fungus on the side of his body, i changed the water added some 'Aquamaster' Fungus care to the water aswell as some salt, the fungus disappeared but i then noticed he has a chunk of skin/flesh missing from where the cotton wool type fungus was.

Today i noticed the 'cotton wool' looks like it is coming back again and i dont know what else i can do.

Any idea's would be appreciated, i live in a small country town in Australia so there is only one pet store about 30 minutes drive.

I should point out he is still eating, lives in a 21 litre tank and water temp is around 25/27 oC

Regards

Chris


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## SillyCone (May 7, 2011)

Hello Chris, I will ask you to do 2 things for me before I can help you.

Can you please take a photo of him for us? Also, try to answer the most as you can these questions:

Housing 
What size is your tank?
What temperature is your tank?
Does your tank have a filter?
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?
Is your tank heated?
What tank mates does your betta fish live with?

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?
How often do you feed your betta fish?

Maintenance 
How often do you perform a water change?
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?

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?
How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
When did you start noticing the symptoms?
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
Does your fish have any history of being ill?
How old is your fish (approximately)?



Also welcome to the forum.


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## AussieChris (May 24, 2011)

Thanks for the reply, will see if i can answer as much as i can.

_Housing 
What size is your tank? *approx 21 litres*
What temperature is your tank? *Currently 25 oC*
Does your tank have a filter? *Yes foam insert type*
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? *2 x Neon Tetra (get along well)
*
Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? *Tropical flakes and Betta pellets.*
How often do you feed your betta fish? *Once at night.*

Maintenance 
How often do you perform a water change? *Once every 2 weeks.*
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? *1/3*
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? *De-chlorinator/ammonia drops.*

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? *Cotton wool type fungus on skin, chunk missing his side, seems to be getting bigger.*

How has your betta fish's behavior changed? *Lethargic, at the surfuce alot.*

When did you start noticing the symptoms? *3/4 days ago

* Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? *Fungus drops, salt, raising temp.

* Does your fish have any history of being ill? *Never

* How old is your fish (approximately)?_ *approx 1 to 1 1/2 years old.*


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## SillyCone (May 7, 2011)

Ok, your tank is about 6G, try moving him to something smaller.

It's possible that he is suffering from ammonia burn + illness due to poor water quality, we can know it for sure with a photo, but this is what I would do; actually is more or less a copy paste from another thread... XD

Go to a pharmacy and buy Epsom Salt (Magnesium Sulphate) they don't sell those at pet-shops.

Do a 2tsp/G in a small aquarium/tank, if you can try a 1G or 2G tank.

Do 100% daily water change.

Continue the treatment for 7-10days,

Keep us posted and good luck with your fish =]


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## AussieChris (May 24, 2011)

Thanks for the fast reply.

I have also added a picture i just took, sorry for the bad quality.

Only thing i could find was a large jar, should i be putting some gravel from the other tank into the large jar aswell??

Also you were right, i tested the ammonia, it is rather high.

Guessing each day of changing the water i add the usual dechlorinator/Ammonia drops to the water im changing because i used the tap water but even the new water after testing has ammonia.

Thankyou again for your advice.


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## SillyCone (May 7, 2011)

putting gravel on the jar is fine really, that will make your betta slightly calmer, and yes, it does look like ammonia burn, do the treatment and it might get your betta back in business in no time.

And the epsom salt will treat for bacterial and fungal problems as well, so yeah =]


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## AussieChris (May 24, 2011)

Thankyou again mate,

Will keep you posted and will get some Epsom salts this morning.


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## SillyCone (May 7, 2011)

you're welcome, glad to help 

Keep us updated!


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## Punki (Apr 30, 2011)

Off topic but that burn/fungus isnt slowing him down much, what impressive bubblenests!!! o.o
Good luck with the treatment


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## AussieChris (May 24, 2011)

Punki said:


> Off topic but that burn/fungus isnt slowing him down much, what impressive bubblenests!!! o.o
> Good luck with the treatment


He is a fighter thats for sure, loves building his bubble nests


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## DarkMoon17 (Apr 16, 2011)

In my experience ammonia burn is usually black so this isn't ammonia burn but he is likely suffering from poor water conditions... You need to increase water changes and treat him for the open wound left by the fungus. Is the QT heated? If not, place it in the tank to keep it warm. Perform daily 100% water changes.

I would use Aquarium Salt, not Epsom salt to treat this... Epsom is for bloating, not treating funguses or open wounds. Treat him with Aquarium salt 1tsp/gal. 

In the main tank you should be doing weekly 50% water changes at the very least. Preferably more. You should not need to add ammonia drops. Just keep the water clean and there won't be any ammonia.


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## AussieChris (May 24, 2011)

Hi Dark just noticed your post today, sorry i didnt reply.

I treated him with the epsom salts for 7 days, his wound seems to of healed alot but there is another problem now.

He seems to be swimming funny, no damage to his fins but what happens is he spends alot of time at the bottom of the tank underneath some wood and when he does surface he swims vertical (head at the top tail at the bottom) or should say when he is sitting still floating on the surface he is vertical.

I have put him back in the main tank he still seems to be eating, i have checked the ammonia levels and they seem to be betweeen either zero or maybe 0.25

Only thing i can think of is that he is reaching that sad age of around 2 years old and its old age.

Maybe its something simple to fix i dont know


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## DarkMoon17 (Apr 16, 2011)

It's very good to hear that that healed up. 

It sounds like a bit of lethargy. It could be age related... but 2 isn't "that" old. Think of him as middle-aged. 
What temperature are you keeping him at?
What is your water change schedule now?
What are you feeding him?


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## AussieChris (May 24, 2011)

DarkMoon17 said:


> It's very good to hear that that healed up.
> 
> It sounds like a bit of lethargy. It could be age related... but 2 isn't "that" old. Think of him as middle-aged.
> What temperature are you keeping him at?
> ...


Hi again Dark,

Temperature is around 23-24oC
Water change will now be 40% weekly
Checked the ammonia again today and its its pretty much zero
Also checked the pH which is around 7.0-7.2
I feed him betta pellets and a small amount of tropical flakes

I should also say that if he sits at the bottom of the tank his front half seems to want to lift up, he also used to just casually swim to the surface to get some oxygen but he now darts up to the surface like a bullet.


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