# Does my betta have internal parasites?



## Tiger Oak (Apr 29, 2012)

Hi everyone, 

I hope someone can tell me what is going on with my betta! I have a new HM male that I recently imported from Thailand. I received him on June 20th, and unfortunately, he arrived with fin rot. I'm pretty sure the fin rot started as a result of ammonia burns from the shipping process. The fin rot progressed pretty aggressively, despite me housing my boy in a cycled tank with pristine water conditions, so I moved him to a hospital tank and began treating him with a combo of Maracyn and Maracyn 2. He's on his 14th day of treatment, and it seems like the two medications have arrested the fin rot. Happily, there appears to be new growth on his caudal fin, but now I am worried about another issue. About a week ago, I noticed that his stools had turned from a healthy brown color to a pale yellowish-white color. Then, in addition to the pale stools, I started seeing white stringy things in the tank. I am attaching the best picture that I can take of this stuff to show you what I am talking about. The tan round thing in the upper right-hand portion of the picture is what his feces currently looks like, and the remaining white stringy things are what I suspect are worms. He produced all of this "stuff" within a 12 hour period of time. Has anyone seen anything like this before? If these are indeed internal parasites, what should I use to treat him? I really love this little fish, and I desperately want him to be healthy! 




What size is your tank? 2 gallon hospital tank
What temperature is your tank? 80 degrees
Does your tank have a filter? No
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? Yes--25 watt heater
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? NLS Small Fish Formula Pellets, and a variety of Hikari Frozen Food (Mysis Shrimp, Krill, Tubifex Worms, Spirolina Brine Shrimp, Bloodworms, regular Brine Shrimp, and Daphnia). I only feed Hikari frozen food because it is triple-sterilized to be bacteria and parasite free.
How often do you feed your betta fish? 3 pre-soaked pellets in the morning, one of the above frozen foods at night

Maintenance 
How often do you perform a water change? Every day
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 100%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Tetra Aquasafe Plus, Tetra Ammonia Safe, Maracyn and Maracyn 2

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? No, since I am doing daily 100% water changes

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

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Color is paler than normal
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? No change in behavior
When did you start noticing the symptoms? One week ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Currently treating for fin rot--no treatment for parasites yet
Does your fish have any history of being ill? Yes--severe fin rot
How old is your fish (approximately)? 5-6 months


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## TheCrabbyTabby (Jul 7, 2012)

Okay. The white stringy stuff is usually indicative of parasites. Is his stomach bulging? If so then its definitely yes. 

The course of treatment if usually one teaspoon of aquarium/rock/Epsom salt per gallon of water and possibly a course of Jungle Fungus Clear. It has anti parasitic medications in it that will clear out the parasites. 

Keep in mind that you'll need to do the full treatment to have it be the most effective.

Also, a picture of the betta would be most helpful.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

Internal parasites are best treated by at least a week of 1tsp of epsom salt (aq salt only heals externally and I've never heard the rock salt method). If he gets worse you can bump up the epsom salt to MAX 3tsp per gallon. You can also only treat for 10 days with salts.


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## Tiger Oak (Apr 29, 2012)

Here are some photographs of him. As you can see, he does have a bit of bulginess on his left side, back near his swim bladder (which I'm hoping shows up in these photographs). I thought their stomachs and intestines were located more towards the front of the fish though? I am not sure if this bulginess is related to the odd feces or not, but he is not showing any signs of SBD, so I really don't know! :-? Hope these pictures help!


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## Tiger Oak (Apr 29, 2012)

Here is the picture of what he looked like when I bought him (this is the picture of him from the breeder). I am posting this to show the difference from the way he looks now. It breaks my heart that he has lost his beautiful fins from fin rot and now possibly has worms!  If anyone has any ideas on what I can do to help him get back to his former condition, please feel free to chime in! Also, regarding the use of epsom salt, do I use as a bath, or do I keep him in it continually? While he is in his hospital tank, I still plan to do daily 100% water changes, as I don't want him to have to deal with even the slightest bit of ammonia.


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## Aus (Feb 3, 2012)

I had a VT with this exact same issue.

Yup, that's parasites. The white stuff is empty poo 'casing'. 

He needs to be dewormed, he'll have trouble healing while he's still wormy. Finish this Maracyn course, then wait a week, just clean water. De-worm him (I'd use a medication, but it's up to you, Epsom or that, I have not used Epsom for it, so can't advise there). Wait a week, clean water and maybe.. EDIT: Treat the finrot with AQ salt (sorry, I had said antibiotic but that's a lot of meds already for a little fish.. try salt. If that doesn't help, antibiotic). Though you may see him improve with just pristine water once the worms are gone and his health picks up generally.

I'd let the breeder know he arrived with parasites, if he's had no contact with other fish or shared tank water since he got home. 

The bulge is the swim bladder. My wormy guy's stuck out like that too. It's normal to be able to see it on some slender bettas, but his looked abnormally large as he was thin from the worms.

Once your guy is dewormed, you could feed lots of live food, nothing too rich. Maybe mosquito larvae a while to get his weight and health back up there. 





> The course of treatment if usually one teaspoon of aquarium/rock/Epsom salt per gallon of water and possibly a course of Jungle Fungus Clear. It has anti parasitic medications in it that will clear out the parasites.


CrabbyTabby, just so you know? AQ salt and Epsom aren't the same thing. Treating swelling with AQ salt can make it worse.


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## Tiger Oak (Apr 29, 2012)

Ugggh........I was afraid they were worms.  Poor little fish--he's had such a rough time of it! OK, so with that in mind, what would be the best dewormer for him? Here are some that I have found on the Internet so far:

http://www.apifishcare.com/Products/Product.aspx?ProductID=62

http://www.tetra-fish.com/sites/tetrafish/catalog/Detail.aspx?id=4246

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=12098

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=12098

Has anyone had success with these, or can someone recommend something else that works well?


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## Aus (Feb 3, 2012)

Sorry, can't help there... though API products are supposed to be quite good. 

If you don't get recommendations here, you could try googling each brand like: "Does X brand work for parasites?" and read several of the forum threads that come up. This is how I research a lot of stuff, reading different opinions/experiences on something. Generally, I find that very useful.


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## Tiger Oak (Apr 29, 2012)

OK, so I went to the local pet store today and purchased Tetra Parasite Guard, which says that it removes both external and internal parasites. It contains the ingredients Praziquantel, Diflubenzuron, Metrnidazole, and Acriflavine. I had no clue what any of those were, so I Googled them, and found out that they are basically a combination of anti-parasitics and antibiotics (to deal with any secondary infections that might arise as a result of the parasites). Wish me luck with this, and I'll keep everyone posted as I treat him!

Regarding the use of Epsom Salt, I am still not sure how to use it? :-? Do I give him a bath in it, or do I just add it to his hospital tank along with the anti-parasitic medicine? If I use it as a bath, how long do I leave him in it? This is all so confusing!


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## Aus (Feb 3, 2012)

Dissolve 1 teaspoon per gallon of epsom in the tank. It'll help him expel the dead worms. 

Good luck. I know medicating is kind of scary. Just follow the directions carefully, and you'll be fine.

Do please let us know how he goes!


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

just add ti to your tank like you would any medication. The "bathing" technique doesn't really work with epsom salts. It needs more than a handfull of minutes to set in and get to work


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## Tiger Oak (Apr 29, 2012)

OK, here is an update on my fish, "Rolo." Four days ago, I started him on Tetra Parasite Guard (mixed into his tank water in the recommended dose). Along with the usual water conditioners (Tetra Aqua Safe Plus and Tetra Ammonia Safe), I added 1 tsp. per gallon of Epsom salt to his water. I slowly acclimated him to this new water, and he tolerated it quite well. 

During this new course of treatment, he's been acting normally, and his appetite is fine, but now I am worried because he hasn't had any kind of bowel movement for four days! No fish feces, no worm feces, no worms, NOTHING! So he went from having 2-3 bowel movements and passing approximately a dozen worm feces per day, to not passing a single thing.

I know the epsom salt is supposed to help him expel the dead worms, but how long should that take? Should I bump up the dosage on the epsom salt to see if that helps him pass the worms and have a bowel movement? I fed him frozen daphnia tonight as I know it is a laxative, but should I continue feeding daphnia, or should I fast him for a day to give his system a rest? I know he needs nutrition to heal, but I am so afraid of causing bloat if he is all stopped up with dead worms! :blueworry:


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## Aus (Feb 3, 2012)

Bettas can go for quite a long time without food, even a couple of days fasting won't hurt him at all. Might make him cross at you, though. If you've given him daphnia and he's in epsom, I'd not do anything else but .. wait for him to poop.

You can make it up to him after he's passed whatever's in there, with nutritious meals and snacks.


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## Tiger Oak (Apr 29, 2012)

Yay! Success at last! Rolo finally had a bowel movement last night! It was about twice the size of his normal bowel movements, and brown in color. I unfortunately did not get a picture of it, but I'm hoping that it contained the parasites. He seems much happier today, and there hasn't been any more white stringy feces. I'm going to keep him in the hospital tank for several more days so I can continue monitoring him, but I feel optimistic that he's on his way to recovery!


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

good! the poop sounds normal so thats good. just don't keep him in the salt for over 10 days.


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## Tiger Oak (Apr 29, 2012)

I actually gave him a 100% water change after I found the bowel movement, so now he is in conditioned water with no medications or salt. I plan to keep him in unmedicated water for several days (with regular water changes, of course) so I can get a better picture of whether he is truly cured of the fin rot and parasite problem. I'm hoping for the best, and I'll keep everyone posted!


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

sweetness. I wish him happy healing!


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## Aus (Feb 3, 2012)

Yay! I hope he makes a full recovery. You should see his fin issues healing much faster now that his energy/nutrition isn't being sapped by parasites. 

I'd -slowly- increase his food quality (a sudden influx of rich food might not be good, I know it isn't for other species..) to a very rich protein diet, to help make up for what he missed out on. 

I hope to see a pic of him when he's feeling all better.


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