# White stuff on tail



## oshite (Sep 14, 2011)

*Housing *
*What size is your tank? * 20 gal
*What temperature is your tank?* 80 +/- 1 degree
*Does your tank have a filter?* Yes, Aquaclear 30 gal
*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?* 8 black/orange platys

*Food*
*What type of food do you feed your betta fish?* Hikari Betta Bio-Gold or TetraMin Tropical Flakes (he prefers to steal the flakes from the platys)
*How often do you feed your betta fish?* Twice a day

*Maintenance *
*How often do you perform a water change?* Once a week
*What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?* 25%ish
*What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?* Seachem Prime

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

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
pH: 7.0
Hardness: 75ppm
Alkalinity: 180ppm

*Symptoms and Treatment*
*How has your betta fish's appearance changed?* Fuzzy white stuff growing on two tail tips
*How has your betta fish's behavior changed?* Appears to be stressed (lurking, occasional bout of tail clamping) after I gave him a salt bath.
*When did you start noticing the symptoms?* 24 hours ago
*Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?* Two salt baths in the last 24 hours
*Does your fish have any history of being ill?* N/A, as I bought him less than two weeks ago.
*How old is your fish (approximately)?* N/A

Hello! Blackbeard aka Mr. Fish is my first betta, so I've been extremely nervous about his well-being. He previously shared his tank with a herd of Zebra Danios that beat him up, but gets along swimmingly with his current platy tankmates.

I did a water change on Saturday and noticed that two of his crowntail tips had fuzzy white stuff growing on them on Sunday night. I gave him a salt bath on Sunday and another dip today. The salt bath is in a heated container with about 1 teaspoon of aquarium salt per gallon of water.

His tankmates are new, but they came from the same tank that I took my initial bacteria goop (scientific term for me raiding my friend's tank) from. Water quality has been fine and hasn't spiked at all. I mostly have plastic plants in the tank, but I do have a couple of marimo, java moss, and Amazon Swords from my LFS.

He appeared to be ok (aside from the fuzz) on Sunday and earlier today, but has definitely slowed down in the last few hours. He's currently sticking to hanging around the top of the tank and in the java moss.

I'm unable to take decent photos of him as he hates the camera with a fishy passion, but I can try again tomorrow. The fuzz has grown further up his fin since yesterday. There is no other discoloration or fuzziness on the rest of his body, but I'd like some advice on how to head off whatever this is before it gets worse.

Tank setup


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## youlovegnats (Feb 23, 2011)

Is your tank not cycled or did you just not check for nitrate/nitrite? In a 20 gal. with Platys you need to have a cycled tank. 

In the pic, the clear tips just look like fin-growth to me. The fuzzy part *might* be something to worry about though. You can try an AQ salt bath- 1tsp per 1 gal. with 100% daily water change for up to 10 days while re-adding salt. It's easier to do the treatment in a small container (1-2 gals). 

Good luck!


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## oshite (Sep 14, 2011)

Oop, forgot to mention that my tank is cycled. I kickstarted it with media and a filter sponge from my friend's established tank and cycled it for a month just to be safe.

It isn't the fin growth I'm worried about, but the fuzzy stuff. It looks much worse than the photo shows, but again I'm having a hard time getting him to sit still for the camera.

Thanks for the advice! I wasn't sure if I should continue the salt baths or pick up some sort of medication.


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