Help please! Can't figure out what is on Betta fin

[nicocurio]

Found this survey online hoping it will help with diagnosis.

1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?


I noticed some pin holes and a stringy fluff hanging off of my better fish dorsal and tail fin. It is almost invisible. You can only see it at certain angles or in bright light.
I noticed a white fuzzy growth on the heater as well.



2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds).


Fish acts normal. Eats well. Excited to see me. But has this stringy fuzzy lent on fins.


3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.


Tried 100% daily water changes with 1 and 1/2 teaspoon aq salt for 5 days. No change.


Tried Bettafix after reading loads on columnaris and saprolageniasis. It seemed to cover both with malachite green and methylene blue. 100% water change with 8 drops in one gallon over three days and no change. Fuzz still there.



Tank/Water


4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.


1 gallon, 1 betta fish. Temporary home while waiting for nitrogen cycle in new planted tank to finish before putting fish into new home.



5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).


30% weekly. now 100% daily.


6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?


no substrate - just a clean one gallon jar with small heater and india leaf.



7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.


no


8. Parameters and water source;


Note: Water Parameters are important in diagnosing problems within a tank. If you don't own test kits for the following information, you can purchase them, test your parameters and post this info as soon as possible.





- temp 77 degrees on average



- ph 7




- nitrite reading 0



- nitrate reading 0



What type of water or combinations of water sources do you use? If it is an RO/tap/well water mix, please list percentages in the mix.

municipal water 100% treated with Betta safe


9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.

no


10. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can.

I feed just a pinch of TDO Chroma boost once daily. Maybe 4 tiny pebbles.


11. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms. If you can't add them to this post, please provide a link to them.

photos added

 

[Betty]

Tried Bettafix after reading loads on columnaris and saprolageniasis. It seemed to cover both with malachite green and methylene blue. 100% water change with 8 drops in one gallon over three days and no change. Fuzz still there.

I'm wondering if 3 days is long enough to treat? Do the instructions say you can redose if there is no improvement?

 

[FishBeast]

Hit it with antifungal, antiparasite and antibacterial treatments. If still present after recommended dosage and duration, you may try manually plucking it off very carefully.

 

[nicocurio]

I'm wondering if 3 days is long enough to treat? Do the instructions say you can redose if there is no improvement?

Thanks so much for your reply! It says a max of 7 day treatment and to use with daily water changes and a re-dose each day. What seems so odd is that I do the changes - redose and the fluff is gone. Then the next morning I check on Prince and the fluff is back! Just as long and stringy. I see some bits floating in the water and it almost looks like it comes back overnight and then reattaches to the fins. But I don't know if that can be since it keeps coming back in the same spot! Unless that is where his fin is damaged and it can reattach there. But where would it be coming from? I keep the water between 75-77 degrees, as I read that can discourage certain strains of bacteria/fungi. I also read to clean the container and all cleaning utensils in vinegar. So every day I clean the heater, thermometer, net, and container in apple cider vinegar then pour boiling water over to clean off. Then rinse VERY thoroughly. I hope I'm not making it worse or doing the wrong thing. I have read so many different forums and threads trying to find out what to do. I am not a fish expert and this is my only fish. He was abandoned by a friend and I just want to give him a good home. I have made a planted tank for him that I want to put him in as soon as he is well. Someone said I should put him in now, but I am worried about putting him in too soon when he might be sick or stressed. I had him in there too soon when the nitrogen cycle was still going and he got sick. So I took him out treated him for ICH and he seemed better - then this happened just when I was going to move him back!

 

[nicocurio]

Hit it with antifungal, antiparasite and antibacterial treatments. If still present after recommended dosage and duration, you may try manually plucking it off very carefully.

Thank you so much for your reply! Do you have a recommended medication? There are so many and I don't want to overdose or do the wrong thing. I ordered Mr Peabodys medicated flakes as a antibiotic back up kit for direct treatment with the following: kanamycin, oxytetracycline, metronidazole, praziquantel, fenbendazole. I also ordered kanaplex and furan. I have not given him any of these yet. I also have methylene blue, API liquid super ich cure, bettafix, bettarevive, API stress coat, and an ammonnia detoxifier. I know that may sound a bit over the top, but I know disease can kill quickly so I want to be prepared and have everything I need on hand. So on that note - if you have any recommendations for meds that have worked for you, I'd love to know! I would like to have the best firstaid kit possible.

 

[Betty]

It's really good of you to take the fish in and try to help it.

Be careful about putting boiling water on the heater and thermometer. I'm not sure if the vinegar cleaning helps or not.
Also don't know which medication is best to treat with, but make sure you do a full treatment. It's hard to know which of those medicines to use when we can't figure out exactly what the disease or condition is. Maybe someone with experience with a similar condition and recommend one.

I would add an airstone to improve circulation if the container is large enough that it doesn't make it too turbulent.

The section on Cotton Fin Fungus sounds like it might be what's going on? http://badmanstropicalfish.com/fish_palace/tropicalfish_disease_identification_1.html#Finfungus

 

[nicocurio]

Thank you! Yes I saw that - but it didn't give enough info for me to be sure - which is why I started treating with the betta fix that has methylene blue. Then I saw that the stringy stuff seems to come back over night so I decided to post on a forum in the hope that someone might have some experience with this and has had success treating it before. I could add an airstone - but it's 1 gallon and I read bettas don't like turbulent water. I will move him to a two gallon if I can find one. The reason I put him in a one gallon is that it's much easier for me to dose medicine because I'm not very good with math and the medicines are all for much larger tanks. I also read if a betta fish is sick, a smaller tank is better so they don't have to swim as far to get air when going to the top.

 

[nicocurio]

It's really good of you to take the fish in and try to help it.

Be careful about putting boiling water on the heater and thermometer. I'm not sure if the vinegar cleaning helps or not.

I will stop using the vinegar and boiling water... I had my doubts about both, but am at a loss for what to do. Someone recommended the boiling water and I read about the vinegar. I wish there were a comprehensive book available on bettas and their care.

 

[VickiK]

Found this survey online hoping it will help with diagnosis.

OMG. This is the best thing ever! Maybe we should have a "form" that we can fill out like this under "SICK FISHIES". It would sure help with diagnosis! I love this @nicocurio !

I wish I could help on your problem. I cannot. Will be watching for positive updates! Peeps around here are super smart.