Jaide Posted October 30, 2008 Report Share Posted October 30, 2008 My betta still has this condition - see various other threads. What I thought was a hole on his head is fungus as small filaments have grown from it - I have tried antibiotics and tonic but it simply won't go - any other remedies? He's a very sick fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted October 30, 2008 Report Share Posted October 30, 2008 Antibiotics kill bacteria and tonic pays the power bill for the pet shop. What you need is a fungicide. Fungus infection is usually an oportunistic infection of a bacterially infected wound so you usually need a bacteriacide (antibiotic) and a fungicide. Which antibiotic did you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted October 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2008 I tried Furan2 - he seemed to repond to the first dose but not so to the second - a bit overkill with the meds now so would like to try something that really works. What fungicides can I use and what are they called - I'll trot down to the pet shop today to pick it up. Edit: I went to the local pet shop, they didn't have a fungicide - what's the name of the fungicide I should purchase? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted October 31, 2008 Report Share Posted October 31, 2008 Furan should do the job with the bacteria if you use it as per instructions. I would get a cotton bud and dab methylene blue or malachite green (or both)straight onto the wound in concentrated form. Catch the fish and hold it in the net and dab it on the wound but avoid getting it in the eyes. Hold it out of the water as long as you can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted November 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2008 I tried that Alan, it didn't work. I did find out he's not bleeding anymore - that's something. Maybe it's not fungus, but looks like fungus. What could cause an eye to sink into head and gills to become inflamed and white fungus patches to appear (on gills and top of head - assuming labyrinth organ?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted November 2, 2008 Report Share Posted November 2, 2008 I don't think it is fungus then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted November 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2008 Well, it's spreading and the filaments are getting longer. If it's not fungus - what could it be? I've tried everything and have had a gutsful of it now and my poor fish is probably feeling the same Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted November 4, 2008 Report Share Posted November 4, 2008 If you can post a picture someone should be able to help, otherwise we are working blind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted November 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2008 Pics attached, both profile and side-on: Please click on images to enlarge them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted November 5, 2008 Report Share Posted November 5, 2008 My fighters (usually the females) sometimes get this 'cotton wool' effect when the male has squeezed too hard and taken the top layer of skin off. Often dabbing methylene blue directly on the wound works but occasionally not and I lose the female. I don't know what 'hole in the head' looks like but could it be this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted November 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2008 I just googled hole in the head disease and it doesn't look like that. The hole in the head disease is small flat patches, whereas this is one hole that is fungus-like, and spreading. He also had a patch on his right gill but that's healed up well, the one on top of his head is just getting worse. He hasn't been near any ladies lately, so no rough play going on there. As you can see, he's a very sad fish - he doesn't eat much (if at all) and has had this condition for weeks I just had a thought, when he was sick and bleeding, I moved him to a small hospital tank, he responded very well to treatment and enjoyed being on his own. He had been with a deformed angelfish which sits on the bottom of the tank for a while, but I'd since added a baby pleco and bronze cory. I added another male fighter and put him in a guppy tank until I could get a tank set up for the new fighter but he got out - and it wasn't long after that that the my red boy got sick. New boy is aggressive, my red one isn't. I may have put him back into his tank, from the hospital tank prematurely (even though all the others have been moved out, except deformed angelfish which had been with him for ages before anyway with no problems) but maybe just being back in that tank is enough to upset him of what happened before? I'll set him up in a new tank this weekend and see if he improves then. I've tried all meds possible, including applying meds directly to the white but he's not improving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted November 5, 2008 Report Share Posted November 5, 2008 It certainly looks like a wound with an infection. Perhaps you added those other fish too soon, and they had something that he wasn't immune to, and he wasn't completely healed, so got sick again. I guess the only thing you can do is treat him for bacteria and fungus if you still don't know which it is. I'd say that while it looks like a fungus, if it hasn't responded to fungicide, it's probably a resistant bacteria. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted November 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2008 What shall I use? I've tried 2x Furan2, tonic salt, melafix - both to tank and to wound. Blue meth, both to tank and to wound. What else could I use to treat him? If anything, I reckon he's O.D.ed on meds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeh_buddy Posted November 5, 2008 Report Share Posted November 5, 2008 Sorry to hear about Fluffy I thought he was getting better. Hmmm have you tried Acriflavin thats a good anti-fungal treatment. Just use a cotton bud to dab straight onto the wound. Sounds like it may be a secondary infection. Let me know how it goes. :oops: Oooo and also maybe add lots of stress coat as the aloe vera in stress coat will help replace the slime coating lost on his head and help heal it, and ward off further infection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted November 5, 2008 Report Share Posted November 5, 2008 I'd use furan 2 + stress coat like yeh buddy said. Acriflavin is probably going to be your best bet for anti fungal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted November 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2008 I thought he was getting better too, yeh_buddy, but that one on his head just won't heal. The rest of his previous wounds are looking quite ok now. OK, where can I get Acriflavin from, I don't think Hutt Pets sells it - would Animates sell it? I'll give them a go at lunchtime today. Thanks for all your responses everyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted November 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2008 It could be hole in the head - I found pics of bettas with it and it looks similar. In which case I need to treat the tank with metronidazole ('Flagyl') - where can I purchase this from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted November 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 I managed to get some Acriflavin (thank you Chris) and have administered the tank. A question on fungus: does the filaments and most of the fungus drop off and then regrow again. When my fish was in the hospital tank, the fungus on his head dropped off and bits of it were floating around the tank (only stirred up from water change) so I scooped it out. Anyway, I notice the fluff on his head has dropped off again (just a small white patch in the hole of his head) and scooped out some of it last night when I made a water change. Is this normal fungus behaviour or could it be something else? :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke* Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 it's probably his bodyslime ...meth blue will help get it back on. you prolly don't wanna try another med but i had a fighter years ago with an inflamed gill; it was sticking out and he ended up doing 'death circles'. a dap of formalin right in there completely fixed him. goodluck and yea go the acriflavin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted November 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 I don't think it's bodyslime, I've never seen it before. It's soft and fluffy bits floating around - very small, must be the fungus stuff on his head. So, is it normal for fungus to drop off and grow back? There's still a small white crater in his head where it will start regrowing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaide Posted November 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2008 I administered Acriflavin on Friday and my fish is sicker than ever. So it's not fungus. Must be hole in the head disease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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