FishProfiles.com Message Forums

i wasnt trying, the paper slipped down, and distracted the other betta to go and check out who this new fish was, but he quietly went back to his bubblenest

yea, i almost thought of cleaning him up, and preserving him, then framing him, i though it might be better for that lovely of a fish. well, it worked in my dream and yea, i will only buy another if it is somthing odd or special, thas actually the reason why i have the ones i do, mr.fishy was sort of a quick grab, but hes my longest living, red i grabed because he was scrutinized for "not being active enough" and because the girl who put him back, told my not to buy him now his fins remind my of ribbon, my x-butterfly i grabbed him because he has a purply body with a little pink, and he HAD butterfly fins till he slipped through the divider and got into a fight wih his neighbor and they grew back megenta now only tipped with white and the red white and blue i grabbed because i dident see his fins, i saw his wonderfully colored body (baby blue) when i got home, he flaired up and BOOM! he stole my heart in an instant, i grabbed the yellow because, well he was all yellw, a little scruffy, but wit hthe right care he could have been a breeder and i waited 2 whole weeks to get that butterfly] i couldent believe no one wanted him, he was sitting in a bowl, not a cup, so i guess waiting for a sales person to fish him out was a deturrent but i told my she want stopping me from getting his beauty of a fish and she rolled her eyes and walked away (sounds teenish huh?) and i got him, like a day or 2 later i noticed his fins taking on a black blush, and i was so happy, i told one of my friend who doesnt much like fish, but she said she would pay 10.00 for him!! but i turned my head and said NOPE! i was going to give her some of his fry all i hope is his parents get another just like him later, i wont stop till i find another like him! my friend had bought a yellow like 2 weeks before i got mine, so i know there will be more yellows, but his guy was strainge, he actualy LIKED the currednt but probably because his fins were staggly...

Fishy hun, for now, i'd hold off buying more, and sterilise EVERYTHING that you used with him and the yellow.

Mouth fungus is VERY hard, especially once it sets in. I lost one of mine to it last year (03) and to the best i can figure, the infection went INSIDE the mouth cavity, so no matter how good the outside looked, it was still causing problems on the inside.

A cambo butterfly huh? turning black butterfly thats a big loss. As is a yellow

Hold in there chooken, and put the effort onto your 5 remaining bubs for now, give yourself a while.

I have had a betta in a vase for a week... big denial.
Its real hard to actually go through the actions of removing the body

Last edited by Callatya at 17-Jan-2005 01:36

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

i have 5 now, i was trying to get back to my record 15, but now im kind of discouraged i dont know why its always the winter bettas that die, any ideas why? its also the best time to look for the best ones, i still havent done anything with him yet, he is still floating in his vase his fins are perfect, its just his poor little head i cant look at, i will try and throw him out tomorrow, im kind of in denial

Awwww - that's so sad. I'm sorry you lost him. It can really be hard to fix them when they are sick, but its always worth the try.

How many bettas in all do you have or were they the only two?

RIP Betta

nevermind, he died and he was an interesting butterfly, he was cambodian red, with what started out as clear fins, but then they started to turne black, not sick black, but the color black, i wish i could have done somthing

yea, i dissolved the salt and tabs in a betta container, i mixed it up and i put a few drizzles in, just to make the water a little blue, it has spread to his eyes, should i do another PWC? i syphon the water out with airline tubing, then i syphon some of the meds into a milk jug filled with clean water, then i slowly pour it in there, well, he is due for his mornin meds......

Did you add the salt as I suggested? Fish often go into osmotic shock from loss of electrolytes like salt when they are sick. This helps and I find sometimes gives them a much needed boost. Follow what I said about dosing tho and not putting it in unless it is dissolved. Contact with salt will cause burns if it is not diluted. If possible, lowering water level makes it easier for them to get up to the surface for air. But if it is filtered, that is not possible. You would just change the water more frequently with less volume.

Last edited by Cory_Di at 16-Jan-2005 10:58

well, hes still alive but he still doesnt look too good, is there anything special i could do for him that might aid in his recovery?

i thought i was over with this crap! i havent seen it in MONTHS!! and my new butterfly i salted him dow for a good bath, he is in it right now, it is a little around his gills, and it looks like he ate a small fish , but couldent swallow it, so i fungussed in his mouth, well thats what i thought had happened, thats what i had hoped had happen will those fungus tablets get rid of it? i have used them before, but i havent had mouth fungus before, only cotton wool, please help!

If some of it cleared, then that means it is responding. That is a good series of meds. Columnaris can be stubborn, but apparently the version your fish has, is not liking the Acriflavine or the furanoid antimicrobials in the Tank Buddies.

Here's hoping he'll be wagging his fins at you in the AM.

I wouldn't make him even try to flare right now. He needs to rest quietly.

Diane

im using tank buddies, well, he is still ok i guess, his mouth is clear, but now its mostly on his chin, he made a vet weak effort to flair, but im not taking as any other sign other than he still doesnt like his neigbhor i guess tonight is the real test and a little prayer to help him along...

WHat is the name of the medicine that you tried? Is it Fungus Clear Tank Buddies - those fizzy tabs? Or, Fungus Eliminator?

If so, and if you don't see results, do a water change and use some powdered erythromycin if you can find it. Maracyn is a tablet form and you would need to cut it down to size as it is measured for 10 gallons (not maracyn2).

Add some salt. Predissolve 1tsp per gallon (freshwater aquarium salt) and add some today. Predissolve another tsp per gallon and add more tomorrow, but dribble a little early, then a little more late. Mouth fungus (columnaris) does not like salt and the salt is good for lost electrolytes. It gives them a much needed boost.

Keep temp below 77F whenever mouth fungus is infecting a fish, but never drop temp more than 1-1.5F daily or you risk temp shock and ich.

sorry for the confusion

the yellow one died, thats the one i just bought on thursday. the platty fry are in a 1 gallon container floating, so that they get the warmth of the heater,

The cambodian butterfly is still living, he lives in a 10 gallon, but the vase is for treatment, i dident put any plants in there, and i NEVER put a plant on top, that just stupid IMO my other bettas are in vases because there was no room in the other tanks (30-female betta, 10-(yellow betta) 10- cambodian butterfly, 10- used to be a butterfly) they are too aggressive, or they just prefer being in a vase. mr.fishy has the vase i want to get the rest of my vase-bound bettas, IMO it looks like a woman's figure, big in the top so lots of surface area, and gets slender going down, he loves that vase more than any other, my red white and blue has one of those rip off triangle tanks for 10 bucks, and red my pure cambodian red has a 1 gallon jars.

the living betta has fuzz coming out of his mouth, and is around his lips, but is hassent progressed sience i started treatment, so im hopefull. and he is kind of lethargic, no other fish have any symptoms of being sick.

I'm a little confused so bare with me.

Both are bettas, right?

The one you just bought is the one that died? Did he try to eat a platy fry and that is what got stuck?

I think you should just take the body back and get store credit. Tell them you need to focus on getting the other one healthy and would like to spend the credit in the store another day or on something else. One sick fish can be a chore. Get him healthy first.

You are keeping the living one in a vase? How long have you had him? Is there any rotting plant matter in the vase? How much water is in there? Hopefully, you are fully replacing the water about every 4-5 days if it is less than 2 gallons, which most are. If I don't change my betta water in the 2 gallon, small world containers, their fins begin to melt. The volume of water matters. To make matters more complex, the vases have a small surface area. While betas breathe from the air, they also use some oxygen in the water. The vase won't have as much and it will deplete sooner because of how narrow it is.

When you do your water changes, hopefully, you are using aged water that has sat out for at least several days, and is near the betta vase for a good 6-8 hours. This would bring the water to identical temp and stress free. I keep 2 gallon jugs filled at all times so that when I want to do my water change, I just set the jugs in the vicinity of the container the day of the change.

Does the living betta have any physical signs of anything - fuzz, sickness or other.?

oh, and the yellow betta died about 15-20 minuets ago and i had to change the water in the vase i have the other betta in, and now he seems to be doing a little better, and i think some of the fuzz is coming off already! if i had the chance to save one or the other, it would be my butterfly, i will be going back to wally-world to pick up a replacement for the yellow (wow, does that sound as cruel to u as it did for me! do you think i should? or just get my money back?

im sorry,i ment my butterfly betta i forget, sorry
and now my new yellow betta i noticed a large redish/bloodyish lump onthe tail fin
and the butterfly was ina tankwith large guppy/platty fry in a 10 gallon, and the yellow was in a 10 gallon with 2 adult platy, and a bunch of guppys, he was happy, and liked the current, he flaired at his reflection inthe back, and now he cant swim, i put him on a leaf and he is breathing hard

Last edited by fishyhelper288 at 15-Jan-2005 11:16

You say butterfly, can you be more specific.

Freshwater, Saltwater or Brackish setup?

Tank size and Parameters; stock list.

Inverts in the tank?

Could have come into the home system with it - that is why quarantine is so important.

This is a fish that eats live food or decided to have a snack on his own? If so, do you quarantine your incoming fish or raise your own. Or, do you simply get them from the fish store and put them in the tank? If the latter, take a real good look at all of the fish in those tanks and you'll see that your fish are capable of catching anything and everything from that food. The only safe way is to quarantine, for weeks while feeding the feeders good hardy food, or raise your own.

There are any numbers of products that can help with mouth fungus or columnaris infections, if that is what it is. The dead fish could have started to go through a true fungus rot, ultimately taking hold in your fish, so it may not even be bacterial.

I would start with a product like Fungus Clear Tank Buddies, unless you are in a saltwater situation because treatment of those are entirely different and requires the experts in the Marine Forum. However, if you have good snails you want to keep, I'm not sure how it will affect them.

An alternative would be to use Erthromycin or Maracyn (same thing). Tetracycline and Sulfa-mixes are good too, but much more harsh on the tank.

If you can isolate this fish, that would be the best. Sometimes all that is needed is a sizeable rubbermaid bin, a bubbler, some fake plants, and if you have one, a spare heater. Transfer the fish with as much water from the main tank as you can without depleting 30% of the original water. Refill the main tank with identical temp water and slowly, over hours, keep adding freshwater to the bin that is identical in temp. You don't want to raise or lower the overall tank or bin temps more than 1-1.5F in one day, or you risk more stress. Water changes are notorious for making matters worst when they alter the overall temp by 3-4 degrees or more.

Definitely use the salt as neither true fungus nor columnaris favor it. But, salinity too needs to be increased and decreased gradually, or you risk osmotic shock. One way to do this is to dissolve the rock type (like Doc Wellfish) slowly by putting a full dose (1 Tbsp/gal for freshwater) in a disposable glad container with holes poked in the lid. Sink it and it will dissolve over a few days, gradually raising salinity. Water changes dilute it.

Keep us posted on his progress. Hope things get better. One other word of advice is that while fish can eat other fish that are significant in size, it is best to get fish that are much smaller so they don't stick out of the mouth. Therein lies the risk of it getting stuck.

Last edited by Cory_Di at 15-Jan-2005 10:44