# Is my fish sick or just weird???



## clintandtiff (Aug 1, 2011)

My daughter who is 8, used her birthday money to buy an aquarium and betta. She ended up buying 2 females and for the first couple of weeks, things were great. Then the blue betta stopped eating much and about 2 weeks later, she died. Our red betta (the one I am writing about) still seems very active and eats well. No changes in behavior. But a few weeks ago, we noticed that she had a white spot on her head (see pics). We assumed it was a fungus and treated it as such (twice) but the white spot continues to slowly grow. It is smooth and seems to have scales so it doesn't look like the pics I have seen of a fungus. Overall, her color has also faded quite a bit. We started adding aquarium salt about a week ago with our water changes. My daugher is very worried about her fish, but I can't find any ailment that seems to match what is happening with the little thing. Any ideas would be appreciated. Maybe we should have started with goldfish - we are very new to aquariums and raising fish.

Housing 
What size is your tank? 2 gallon
What temperature is your tank? about 72 degrees
Does your tank have a filter? no
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? Yes, but we have turned it off - seems to keep the fish from being able to swim???
Is your tank heated? No
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None - we had a second female betta that quit eating and died about a month ago...

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Top Fin Color Enhancing Betta bits
How often do you feed your betta fish? Twice a day, but we realized she is probably fat so will go to once a day 

Maintenance 
How often do you perform a water change? weekly
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Aquarium salt (we just started adding this about a week ago) and Jungle brand Start Right

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

Ammonia: N/A
Nitrite:N/A
Nitrate:N/A
pH:N/A
Hardness:N/A
Alkalinity: N/A

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? She has a white spot that has started on the top of her head/neck area (do fish have necks - LOL?) It's not fuzzy or cottony - looks like the rest of her scales but without color. Overall, her color is fading too. She was a much darker red when be bought her (only about 2 1/2 months ago)
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Nope, she has lots of energy and eats like a pig
When did you start noticing the symptoms? about 3-4 weeks ago - white spot keeps getting larger despite treatment for a variety of ailments (ich, velvet, fungus)
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Have done 2 rounds of treatment with Jungle brand Lifeguard - no noticable change
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No
How old is your fish (approximately)? Bought her 2 1/2 months ago but who knows how old she is... Got her from PetSmart.


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## betta dude (May 22, 2011)

she has eggs or shes had eggs


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## Silverfang (Mar 25, 2011)

She's definitely a very eggy girl. You might skip feeding her for a day just to see if she starts to go down in size. As for the white patch I'm not sure what it is, is it sort of fluffy, like cotton?

I hope someone with more experience with what looks like an infection can offer advice


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## clintandtiff (Aug 1, 2011)

Please tell me that by "eggy" you don't mean pregnant!!! That's like getting a new dog and having 8 new dogs a few weeks later - LOL! We will cut down on food - she is definitely fatter than the average betta :lol:. The white patch is completely smooth - looks just like the rest of her scales but the color is gone and it is slowly, but noticably expanding in size. I can't find any illnesses that seem to match it but somehow my daughter thinks I am an expert in all things (because she isn't a teenager yet!) so she is sure I can figure this out. I'm still open to the theory that we just have a weird fish!


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## clintandtiff (Aug 1, 2011)

BTW Bettadude - that is a nice fish you have! We figured we better learn to keep an inexpensive one alive before we moved to a fancy one


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## Jirothebetta (Jul 15, 2011)

Is it possible that she is sooo eggy we are seeing the eggs press against her back?


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## clintandtiff (Aug 1, 2011)

Thanks to all of you - I have a new direction to look to explain my gal's...situation and it put my daughter's mind at ease that her Betta may be fine, after all. Will cut back on food and see if that helps. Thanks again! This website is wonderful for those of us learning how to properly parent a Betta. Did lots of research on eggy Bettas - very interesting


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## Silverfang (Mar 25, 2011)

It is possible that she's got the marble gene, and her scales would change colour naturally, but just the look seems a little off to me. Definitely keep a close eye on it.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Bettas are egg layers and don't get pregnant.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

From the picture, to me it looks like the scales are missing. However I have no idea how that would happen...


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

It either looks like she scraped off some scales (due to decor that may have a slight rough/hard side?) or similar to the first pic here (about 1/4 way down page) http://www.bettatalk.com/betta_diseases.htm
Off topic, I'd maybe raise the temp a little? 76-82 is good for them. 

Best wishes to you and your family, human and finned, I'm sure she will be fine.


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## fightergirl2710 (Jun 9, 2011)

I don't want to alarm you but I think that might be the onset of chronic columnaris but I'm not sure since I don't have any experience with it.. I just know the symptoms and such in theory.. Usually the area on the back loses colour and then slowly gets cottony (its called a saddleback).. I got this rom Darkmoon's Diseases and Cures sticky, I hope it helps:

Columnaris
•Symptoms: White spots on mouth, edges of scales and fins, Cottony Growth that eats away at the mouth, Fins rapidly disingrate, starting at the edges
Gray areas around head and gills, As the disease progresses the gray lesions may change in color to yellow/brown/red, Lesions often occur in front of the dorsal causing a “saddleback” appearance, Lethargic, Loss of appetite, Clamped, Gasping for air
•Treatment: There are 2 versions of Columnaris: chronic and acute. Chronic Columnaris can take days to progress while acute can kill within a day. It is contagious so isolate sick fish. If more than one fish shows symptoms then treat the entire tank. Perform daily 100% water change in small tanks or ¾ water change in larger tanks. Make sure to clean the gravel. Treat with Aq.Salt: add 1 tsp/gal Aquarium Salt 3 times, 12 hours apart so that you end up with 3 times the normal concentration. Do NOT raise the temperature as it thrives in temps over 85*F, however, lowering the temperature does not seem to help fight it. Combine salt treatment with Mardel’s Coppersafe, Maracyn I & II, API Erythromycin, OR API Triple Sulfa, combined with Jungle’s Fungus Eliminator (if possible).


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