Please pardon my sort of off topic issue but this is important to me and you are all the most knowledgeable people I know. I have already searched the internet for help and couldn't find anything specific enough. I have a Betta fish, that I'm quite taken with, that started showing white puffy spots and then his abdomen swelled up. From what I read, it was likely a fungus and one reputable site said to buy Fungus Clear tablets and dose him with that. If after 4 days he still has symptoms, change 25% water and dose a second time. I've done the first dose and I'm not sure he can wait 2-3 more days for another intervention.
He seems to be going downhill. Today he is laying on the bottom, which he never does. And there are little wispy hairs "growing" off everything including the substrate, plants, and side of the tank. I did add 2 live plants 3-4 weeks ago and I'm worried that maybe I introduced something with the plants. I've removed them.
If the wispy hairs are green, its probably hair algae, nothing to worry about. It tends to grow on everything. But as for the betta, it doesn't sound like its doing well, did the fungus start with the intro of the plants? Removing them at this point can only help... did you remove them during the first dose? I would imagine the meds handle the fungus with the plants in there regardless... but did you remove any carbon from your filters ? The carbon will interfere with the meds usually... and as for the carbon in the filter pads, i dont know how to remove those, as removing the pads opens your biowheel up to dirty water, which isnt good, ive dealt with that headache before. Hopefully someone knowledgeable with fungus chimes in soon. good luck
Directions: Add one tablet to each ten gallons of aquarium water. Remove activated carbon during use. If necessary, second dose may be added in four days. Change 25% of the water before adding second dose.
From what i gather, you need to keep your filter on, remove all carbon, drop in a tab, and give it atleast a day or two to work... if you turn on your filter immediately, it will rid the water of meds within 30 minutes, since you have two filters with carbon in them.
Somebody posted a comment about this med under the directions i saw:
"Jungle Buddies Fungus clear is an amazing anti-biotic. It is a great deal cheaper than Tetracycline, Tri Sulfa, or any other anti-biotic brand. It starts out by actually fizzing in your tank, then turning the water blue. Within 3 days, my fish with fin rot were all clear. I do recommend you take out any ornaments in your tank, it WILL STAIN IT, I learned that the hard way. Like all medications, remove the carbon in your filter ( even if you have an under gravel filter )"
spongebob is absolutely correct, and sorry to chime in so late, if you can remove the fish from the main tank and put it in a ten gal quarantine tank and treat him that way, get a fungicide for the main tank and treat that as well, i have seen this often with bettas as the ammo lvls in a tank increase, make sure that when you are feeding that you actually underfeed, i know this sounds obsurd but most people tend to over feed, it's the rotting food that causes the fungal growth, especially in betta bowls, there are also meds that are specially made for beta fish, try your lfs, beta fungus removal and beta meds are not common but they can be found. second i would try working with some stress zyme and stress coat as this will allow the beta to rebuild it's immunity to the fungus once it has been cured. hopefully this helps and we will be thinking about ya, and yer lil guy it sucks i worry about my animals as if they were my own children as i have no children. people tell me how can you worry so much it's just and animal i reply well how can you worry so much it's just a kid... LOL
I turned the filter off because the filter pad, which is a sealed pad, contains carbon. This is not my big tank where I have two Penguins. This is a smaller 6.6 gallon Betta tank with a small Power Filter.
The wispy hair-like things are so fine I can't tell if they have a color.
I removed one real plant a couple of weeks ago, before all this happened. I removed the second plant a few days ago when the fish started showing symptoms.
the hairs are just hair algae that grow easily on plants in water that has low current. the more current the less hair algae, secondly turn your lights off when treating, i know this sounds crazy cause it's harder to see the fish but use a flash light, if the bacterial infection or fungal infection thrives on light you will defeat the purpose of medicating.
ok as long as you leave the filter off it will be fine... u could always cut a slit into the filter pad, empty out the carbon and run the filter that way too.
Poetic - I don't have a 10 gallon isolation tank. Only thing even close is a little glass 2 gallon mini tank. I could put him in that while I sanitize his tank? That would only take an hour or two. He sure does love his 6.6 gallon tank and he likes the temp high, the little 2 gallon would be, at the most 72 degrees. His tank is 80 degrees and he still wraps himself around the heater while sleeping. One site said to increase the temp when battling a fungus. I turned his up to 84 degrees and he still seems to love the temp.
Isolate in the 2 gallon while sanitizing and move him right back to his 6.6 gallon?
that would actually be fine, the two gallon tank would be easy to heat up just add a little warmer water to it and keep in the warmest location in the house, yeah that should actually do you just fine, when moving him back to the 6.6 do a half water change into the 2 gallon to get him back use to the water quality, do this gradually and he should adapt just fine. also take out your ornaments and give em a good scrub down and vacuum your gravel really well. water quality is a big issue when it comes to bettas they are quite temperamental when it comes right down to it
Oh, and as for the feeding. I only feed him 3 times a week and I feed him one pellet at a time to make sure none falls to the bottom. I feed him about 4-6 pellets 3 times a week, and maybe only 2 of those total drop to the bottom. Even then he sometimes eats those. I change 50% of his water once a week. and he has an extra pad in filter.
