# White Fuz on Fins?



## SmokeNLark (Jul 22, 2010)

Monday morning I awoke to find Chronos with a good chunk of his tail and anal fin gone. Parts of it around the edges had a fluffy white fuzz on them and a few pieces of fin were in the process of falling off. I didn't notice anything abnormal except that he was hiding the night before. Does this sound like finrot or a fungus? I know he's not a tail biter, he had gorgeous fins before this happened. I was surprised at how fast it came on. i have him in a 1 gallon hospital tank with aq salt now. the fuzz is gone (mostly fell off when i took him out of the tank) and its stopped rotting away. i wish i could have gotten a picture of it, but i found him like this right before class, and we had a final. i just had enough time to get him set up in the hospital tank.


Now for the basics-

Housing 
What size is your tank?
10 Gallon

What temperature is your tank?
78 F

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?
1 dalmation molly
1 blue platy
2 neon tetra
1 blue mystery snail
2 ghost shrimp
(I know mollys are ideal tankmates, but they get along just fine. and I know neons should be in groups of 6 or more, but I've bought a few groups of them and they keep dying with 1 or 2 left over. I am working on getting a larger group.)

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?
1 pellet 2x a day, plus he gets some of the flakes the rest of the fish get.

How often do you feed your betta fish?
2x 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?
20%

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?
yes, but it was a while ago, if need be, i can do it again

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

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
Lost a lot of his anal and caudal fin, white fuz

How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
hiding more

When did you start noticing the symptoms?
sunday night he was hiding, monday morning i saw the fins and fuzz

Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
immediatly removed him and put him in a 1 gallon hospital tank. 100% change daily. adding prime and 1/2 teaspoon AQ salt.

Does your fish have any history of being ill?
no, first time with any trouble

How old is your fish (approximately)? 
i got him the beginning of the summer, so maybe a year old.




Basically i just want to know what you think it is. and any tips on treating would be great.


----------



## Adastra (Jun 18, 2010)

As far as the fin damage goes, since it happened so quickly it is impossible for fungus or bacteria to be the only culprit. The betta was either attacked, which is very possible considering your questionable stocking choices; or it became stressed to the point that he mutilated his own fins, which is not at all uncommon with bettas. 

You should definitely test your water since your aquarium is so highly stocked and other fish have died previously. 

As for the white fuzz, it could be one of three things, one being excess slime coat. If it were excess slime coat, it would be sort of clear and more stringy than fuzzy, so that is the least likely. Another is saprolegnia--saprolegnia is one of the rare true fungi that attack aquatic animals, however, it only goes for fish that are quite weak and compromised by stress or disease and usually affects extremities like the fins. It is very fluffy and can be white or gray. This is a strong possibility, because the fish is in a stressful environment and experienced physical trauma to an extremity. The last possibility is a bacteria--bacterial infections are much stronger and nastier than fungi, and are more common. If your fish has a bacterial infection, it will progress quickly and the fish will experience dramatic behavioral changes. It is a bit less fluffy than fungi, but can be fuzzy or gray to white. 

I recommend googling pictures of the different conditions I listed and see which one looks most like what your fish has. Posting a clear picture of the affected areas would also be helpful if you can manage it.

As for your future plans for this tank--you can't have a school of tetras AND mollies AND platies. Your tank is about 85% stocked now, so you won't have enough room for a full tetra school. If you want neons, you should rehome the molly and platy--given that these two fish aren't particularly well-suited to living with bettas, it would be the better option.


----------

