# Heavy breathing. Beard is out.



## jrtague (Oct 2, 2015)

I just came home from work + the gym so I hadn't seen Bodhi in about 11 hours. As soon as I turned on his light I noticed he was breathing heavy. His beard is out and the sides of his face are extended, almost like he's flaring but he's not. 

He's swimming around. Not excitedly, but at least he's not lying on the bottom of the tank. He's just kinda hovering towards the top. He's taking in surface air bit not more than usual. 

I'm sorry I'm writing this on my phone so I can post pics quickly, but I couldn't copy and paste the survey correctly. Here are some of his parameters:

10 gallon tank
Heater - set at 80 degrees
HOB filter
Tank is cycled and has lots of plants
There are currently 2 cories, 2 nerite snails, and a couple MTS who share the tank with him.

I've had him 4 months and he was eating Omega One flakes but over the past week I've switched him to NLS pellets. He doesn't like pellets but he was finally starting to eat them after I went cold turkey on the flakes. He also gets frozen blood worms 1x a week.

Yesterday I thought I noticed his gills on the left side coming out slightly more than the right when he breathed. But he was acting normal and looked good and this morning he looked fine. Whatever it is got drastically worse while I was at work. 

I did his weekly water change (30-40%) on Saturday, but I just tested his water to make sure it was okay. Ammonia and nitrites are zero. Nitrates are 5-10ppm. It's hard to read the color on that one, but I think that's supposed to be a safe number.

I added some more plants on Saturday and the MTS. They were all from a trusted source, but do you think that could be an issue? I put plants from the same order in another tank and that betta is doing well. Also the cories in Bodhi's tank look like they're fine.

Just now I did a 40% water change just in case it is something else in the water. I put some aquarium salt in, but only half the recommended dose because I know cories are sensitive to it. 

Does anyone know what this might be and how to treat it? Thanks so much for any input you can give. If there's any info I forgot to include, please let me know. I'm so worried about him!


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## jrtague (Oct 2, 2015)

Gah! I attached a bunch of pics but only one showed up. Here's another:


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## Taeanna (Apr 2, 2013)

Are you able to get a penlight and shine it along his back and up into the gill? does it look the same on both sides or is there something weird about the damaged side?

Have you seen him going up for air more than usual or parking himself up top so he can continue gulping air?


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## jrtague (Oct 2, 2015)

I can't see any difference between his gills when I shine a light. It looks like the front part is inflamed. But the one side is more open than the other.
This morning when I woke up, his right ventril fin has two spots of white cottony fuzz on it. And there's a little on his side. I wonder if he damaged his ventral and then it caught a bacterial infection. He had white fuzz like this about a month or so ago. I treated him with tetra fungus guard (which says it treats fungal and bacterial issues) because it was the weekend and that's the best I could find at Petsmart and didn't want to wait for something to be shipped to me. It seemed to work, but maybe it didn't go away completely? Or it came back because of fin damage?

He is hovering by the top now but not really gulping for air. His swimming doesn't seem to be impaired. I took out the carbon filter and put a dissolved tab of the fungus guard in his tank. Hopefully it can keep the fuzz from spreading at least. Last time he had fuzz, his gills/beard looked fine though.

Here's a pic of the fuzz. His beard is red in this pic but that's it's normal color:


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## Taeanna (Apr 2, 2013)

let us know how the fungus guard goes. if he has hurt his beard on something then it wont be able to fold up as neatly and stick out. it should hopefully heal quickly and he can pack it away again. keep an eye out for him gulping more air than normal which is a sign his gills arent up to the challenge.


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## jrtague (Oct 2, 2015)

Bodhi looks terrible this morning. The ventral fin that was fuzzy is mostly gone now. There's only a skinny strip left. His stomach is a little swollen and the scales are sticking out on it (not anywhere else though). And his anal and cadual fins appear to be rotting away. They're dis colored and frayed at the ends. No improvement in his beard. 
It looks like he's made bubble nests around he top of the tank. Though maybe they're just bubbles from the air he's breathing from the top. Still doesn't appear to be gulping for air, but he's hovering at he top like that all of the time now.
Is there anything I can do to make him more comfortable? I know his water is clean and medicated so I'm afraid to mess with it too much and stress him out more. I don't know why his fins would be rotting all of a sudden. I hate to see him distressed like this. Hopefully the meds will kick in soon...


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## Taeanna (Apr 2, 2013)

if the fin was already rotted then everything below that was waiting to fall off. As distressing as it is this might be a positive sign as it means the undamaged fin is ready to start sealing the wound and healing.

the bubbles around the top are because hes been breathing a lot of air and its leaving behind little spit bubbles- the same as how they construct their nests.

can you show us a picture of him from the top looking down to better assess where the swelling is?


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## jrtague (Oct 2, 2015)

Thank you for the responses. He's hovering in a corner right now and I'm having trouble getting a pic of his belly/chest where the swelling is. But here is one taken from above.
He looks even worse since I've been at work. But he must be a fighter to make it this long. I'm hoping he can hold out and the meds can kick in. He's definitely gotten fuzzier in the past several hours though. And now I can see tiny pin holes in his fins.


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## Taeanna (Apr 2, 2013)

If he is deteriorating so fast i suspect an internal concern thats drawing all recources. if you have it now would be the time to deploy antibiotics- you might be looking at an internal concern thats targeting things we cannot see.
2 easy to get types are tetracycline and kanamycine (look for names like kanaplex and tetra0cylcine)

Fingers crossed he pulls through


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## jrtague (Oct 2, 2015)

Unfortunately Bodhi passed away last night. In the last few hours his body became strangely discolored with gray/silver patches around his back which were fuzzy too. I'm really sad, but I'm relieved he's not suffering anymore.

Thank you very much for the medicine suggestions. I will buy those to have on hand for my other bettas. Hopefully they never need it.

So far the cories seem unaffected and the snails are...acting like snails. Is there anything I should do/treat the water with? The fungus guard has 2 more days I'm supposed to leave it in for. Then maybe a big water change and just keep an eye on the cories? 

I have 2 male bettas in 5 gallon tanks. It probably makes sense to give one an upgrade eventually into Bodhi's 10 gallon tank but I'm really nervous that something like this would happen again. Is there a good rule of thumb for how long to wait on something like this? I am in absolutely no hurry. It is my best & biggest tank though and has tons of live plants so someone should probably get to enjoy it. I just don't know what kind of bacteria this was and I want to play it safe.

Thank you again for your help!


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## Taeanna (Apr 2, 2013)

If you worry about bacterial infection then sun is your friend. drying it out in sunlight will kill many nasties. if this isnt viable then I suggest letting your tank's ecosysem continue without a tenant for a while in order to burn out the bad bacteria- since you already have residents i suggest watching them all carefully and leaving everything where it is. Your man could have just had an opportunistic infection that got out of hand and everyone else will do just fine.

I am very sorry for your loss, he was lucky to have had a good life with you up until now, SIP.


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