# White stringy stuff in gills



## xgoingdownx (Jan 29, 2010)

I post far too much in this part of the board, but I worry about my little buddy.
Today I noticed he has one little white string of sorts hanging out of his gills. He's not breathing heavy, he's just sort of hanging out around the bottom of the tank, but for him that's pretty normal. His gills don't look pushed out or anything, just that little string is hanging there. I read that it could be columnaris but I didn't really find much of a treatment for that.

I also just noticed that he has one scale that looks whiter than the others. I'm going home this weekend, so I won't be able to watch him on Saturday, but I'll be back by Sunday and if anything has changed I'll update. 

As a side note- is it ok if his dorsal fin curls a little? It's been split a little at the ends for quite some time and the little split pieces curl up a bit. [the bottom of his anal fin does the same thing...]

Again, sorry for asking so many questions, but I can't really find any answers online. :-?


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## kelly528 (Aug 31, 2009)

Look up gill flukes and see if this looks like what you're talking about. Columnaris is white fuzzy patches on the betta's back.

The white scale is no biggie, it's just a loose scale.

The curled dorsal fin is from either hard water or poor water quality. Sometimes it is damage done from the pet store cup or it may be from current conditions. How big is the tank, how often are you cleaning it and how much water do you change?


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## xgoingdownx (Jan 29, 2010)

2.5 gallon, it's filtered, and for a while I was doing 100% water changes once a week. [even though I know that can be stressful, there were too many flakes and gross stuff on the bottom to only change 50-25%; I'm picking up a siphon while I'm at home so I can change to smaller water changes] Should I be cleaning it in any other way? 
Gill flukes may be his problem but I can't find any good pictures of it to be sure. The best I can tell is that his stringy stuff looks like a piece of fuzz hanging there. It's really tiny so I can't get a good picture of it [that and he keeps moving].. No other part of his body seems to be affected by it, either. This fuzzy stuff has occurred before on his body [but not near his gills], usually when I would first wake up and then they would disappear as the day went on.


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## xgoingdownx (Jan 29, 2010)

Ok, the string of who-knows-what has moved to one of his little fins. [those on the sides, I have no idea which ones they are] It's gone from his gills, I really have no idea what this stuff is... it's still not really affecting him in any negative manner that I can tell. I'm watching it for now, but if anyone knows what it is, and how to help it, that would be great!


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## kelly528 (Aug 31, 2009)

Normally I would hold off on meds until the problem is identified...

But honestly I think you should just nuke this thing with some Coppersafe-- the med isn't too rough on the fish and if it's a fluke of some sort or an anchor worm we're seeing this will take care of it. I'm 99% sure it's a parasite so copper should do it in.


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## xgoingdownx (Jan 29, 2010)

I'll have to go look for that... but see, now it's all gone! I swear he gets these weird little things like once every two weeks, lol..


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## kelly528 (Aug 31, 2009)

Treat for external parasites. Don't wait for it to show up again. It's not uncommon for parasites to drop off of their host to reproduce.


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## xgoingdownx (Jan 29, 2010)

Did not know that- thanks for telling me! [now I just have to hope that Wal-Mart or this small pet shop in town has something to treat them...I'm so limited here >.<]


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## xgoingdownx (Jan 29, 2010)

I know for a fact that I can get a hold of some Parasite Clear from Jungle [the pet store has a lot of Jungle products] but I have never seen Coppersafe carried in the stores here.. Had I known before I would've gotten some at PetSmart in Louisville..[the nearest one to me is 20-30 minutes away and I have no idea where it's at in Lexington..]
Will the Parasite Clear do the trick, too? Or should I stick to looking for Coppersafe?
Also, the medications I already own are: Melasafe, Wardley Ick Away, and Jungle Fungus Clear.. not sure if the Icky Away would do anything [even though it says it works on external parasites]


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## kelly528 (Aug 31, 2009)

Parasite clear is for intestinal worms. Look at the ingredients on the Ich-Away... does it list copper-anything?


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## xgoingdownx (Jan 29, 2010)

Sadly it does to- its main ingredients are Malachite Green and Inert Ingredients. Looks like I'll be out shopping for some medicine again! [I'm growing my own fish drug store over here]


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## xgoingdownx (Jan 29, 2010)

Went out and bought Coppersafe [thankfully the local pet place had some! it was behind the counter, so I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get it at first since I couldn't find it] We'll see how well this works


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