Sick Bettas

[Jagman]

Hello all,

This is my first post and hope someone out there can help me. I had two male Bettas one

passed away after about a week of purchase. He was kept in a separate tank, water tem 26 deg and using and external filter. The first signs I noticed things were not right was that his colour turned from scarlet red to white from the head to midway down his body. Next stage

was his tail fins went raggy. I dosed his tank with Whunder tonic in the prescribed dose, a cure for fin rot which I thought this might be? The next day he had gone. Time elapse was 4 days. My second Betta I purchased on Saturday 21st August and passed away tonight. Note same symptoms as first Betta but this time he turned white fron the tail up to mid body. I have fed my Bettas on frozen bloodworm and the nitrate readings on the #1 Betta tank was 5.0ppm and 2nd tank 0 ppm. My female Bettas are doing just fine in the same tank as my second male, thank goodness. So any help will be appricated as reluctant to get any more until I know what the problem is. Sorry for length of post.

[foamy]

My first impression is that do the white colour consists of any patches like cotton? suspecting it is a fungal + fin rot condition. I think my first treatment will be isolation and add some aquarium salt. If it does not help much, go melafix and last treatment will be furan 2. is the betta showing any bloating? or even raised scale?

Good luck for the treatment.

[Adrienne]

First off - welcome to the forums. You can introduce yourself further up the page and if you add your location to your profile it can be invaluable if assistance is needed.

I've never had this happen to my fighters and I have had thousands. I'll start with a few questions and after you give me the answers more are sure to follow -

How big is the tank?

Was the tank newly set up for the first fish?

How long had the tank been running before you added the first fighter.

Was the second fish put into the same tank as the first?

Was the tank thoroughly cleaned out between the two fish?

What sort of filter are you running?

Did you purchase both fish from the same place?

From your post I am not certain but are you saying that the female fighters are in the same tank?

My only thoughts at this stage are that while it may have been finrot eventually thats not what caused the body to go white.

[BikBok]

i had some guppies infected by some newcomers and they all turned white at the head and part way down the body. It was fast and it killed. I suspect it was columnaris.

Maybe google columnaris and see if the symptoms fit.

At any rate. I would put some salt in the tank with the female bettas.

[Jagman]

Hi Foamy

No there were no patches like cotton, no bloating or raised scales. Yes I did

try melafix but with no luck. I am searching the www for answers before I get any more. Thanks

Giles

[Jagman]

Hi Adrienne

Thanks for your reply. My tank size is 30 litres but only had this half filled with water which had

been set up 2 wks prior to adding my Betta. The tank had been cleaned out before setting up, using warm water. The filter I was using in this tank was an external one using a spray bar the filter is a Crystal 80, however I changed this to a foam filter as I found this to be a bit overkill.

My second Betta went into my other tank a Jewel 125 using their filter system which was a running community tank which contained my 2 female Bettas, and some Tetras, I had the male in a breading trap attached to this tank. Yes I did purchase my Bettas from the same place, I find that they are very knowledgeable and keep there tanks and fish in excellent order. My first Betta was kept in the small tank by himself.

Giles

[Adrienne]

I have had no experience with columnaris but I also wondered if that might be it by your description. I gather stress and a change of water conditions can cause it and I might be wrong here, but I think it is something - like white spot - that is always present but needs a trigger. If it is columnaris your other fish in the tank will be at risk.

Try putting a post into the diseases section. You will get a bigger response by fish keepers more experienced with diseases. Just do a description of what was wrong with the fish, the sized tanks they were in, the type of filter running and the length of time you had had the fish for. You will field a lot of questions and very likely a good solution to your problem.

[Jagman]

Hi BikBok

Thanks for you information on columnaris, I have Googled and read but don't think this was the diease even though some symptoms were similar. No lesions, milky patches and none of my other fish are showing any signs after a week. I attended my fish club last night and spoke to a number of members, I had photos on my mobil ( not sure how to place on this post or for that matter on my computer?) no one could identify and found it rather strange. So I will keep searching. Thanks once again for you efforts and information.

P.S I have put the disired amount of salt in with My female Bettas.

Giles

[Jagman]

Hi Adrienne

Thanks for you helpful information and advise. I will place a post into the Diease section.

Cheers

Giles

[pink_fish]

Hi Giles, and welcome to the forums!

I have had a similar thing occur with two fighters on two different occasions – both were bought and died within a few days. Both went into large, well-cycled tanks containing happy, healthy occupants who showed no signs of illness. The bettas both paled right down and died. The eyes on one of them sunk in as well. Their skin appeared 'burned' or 'rubbed'. In both cases the fish looked fine for the first day, then rapidly deteriorated and were dead within 3. After trying to figure it out for ages, I realised that it was probably pH 'burn', as the pH of the water they had come in was wildly different to that in my tanks. Now, having learnt from my mistake, I always check the pH of water that my new fish come and compare it to that in my tanks. I then spend at least a good hour acclimatising new fish – changing out small amounts of water in their shipping bags with water in the tanks. I have never had the problem since. Hope this helps.

[Jagman]

Hi Pink fish

Thank you for your tip, I shall be more aware of this in future. I would like to get a couple

more Male Betta's but naturally have been cautious after my last two. I would like to try

breeding these fish. I will start looking around the Wgtn region for some more males.

Cheers

Giles