My Beta seems to be sick

[Jess]

Hello,

My beta seems to have some specs of what looks like white dust on the
side of its gill. Other than that he seems to be doing fine. His colour
on top and on the side is quite dark, and he still has long fins.
Is he sick?


His bowl was dirty three days ago, and I did clean it as always.
However, today it is still a little cloudy and it has "stuff" in
suspension in it.
Can I re-clean it in such a short notice whithout sending him into
shock?

I would really apreciate any advice.
Thanks,
Jess

[[email protected]]

Hello, i am not a professional but i can give you advice by experience
and what i have read.
White spots are generaly not good, if it looks like it has white
chicken pops, then it might be ich. if you go to your local fish store
they will definitely have the cure on hand. but if your tank was quite
dirty it might of actually started to "cycle". which if you don't
know, and is of my best knowledge, the proccess where the bacteria in
the water is trying to establish a in a way "food chain", when this
cycling is done it will turn the ammonia and nitrites from the fishes
poo and pee and from its gills and from extra food into harmless
nitrAtes. Cycling is a good thing, but it doesn't usually happen in
any betta tanks i have had(i think it is because they generally don't
produce enough waste to start the process).
anyways, in my experience cycling will result in cloudy water while it
is still in the process and then once it is established the particles
in the water that make it cloudy looking will fall and settle on the
gravel.

but that is all the advice i can give, i hope it helps.

nic

[[email protected]]

Oh, it is also a good idea to do partial (10 to 20%) water changes
every 2-3 days during the cyling process if that is what is actually
happening.

[bettasngoldfish]

How big is the bowl? It's best to not try and cycle anything smaller
than five gallons. Its just too hard to keep it stable. Please do
change the water if its cloudy and has "stuff" floating around. The
stuff is more than likely slime coat that has come off of your betta
possibly due to toxic water. It would help if you could be more
specific about your set up such as how big your bowl is, how often you
change water, what is the temp?, what type of conditioners do you use
in the water, etc.

Maria

[Jess]

Hey,

Thank you for responding to my post!

My bowl is about 2L I think. It is set up at my desk at work. Room temp
is about 22 deg Celsius. He is under the lamp, and that brings up the
temp a couple of degrees.
I have no filter setup, no thermometer in the water.
I usually change his water about every two weeks. I do use Betta Plus
water treatement. And I never change more than a third of the water.
For a week or so, around the time the problem started, I have been
using Betta Fix (about six drops every two days) thinking it would help
him.

The problems seemed to have started because i missed a clean-up. So his
aquarium did not get clean for a little more than three weeks.
The water started to get really dirty with white small specs floating
around. I changed the water and and three days later changed the water
again. It seems that it is still dirty and the "stuff" are still
floating around.

I really don't want to lose him.
Thank you for your help!

Jess

[Jess]

Small correction: I meant to say I never change more than two thirds of
the water.

Sorry!

[lgb]

In article om>,
says...
> I usually change his water about every two weeks. I do use Betta Plus
> water treatement. And I never change more than a third of the water.
>
For a small bowl with no filter, I'd change water at least once a week.
Better would be 1/3 twice a week. Best would be a 2.2 gallon aquarium
with filter and heater.

--
BNSF = Build Now, Seep Forever

[bettasngoldfish]

Hi Jess, To start with I feel your fish is most likely stressed from
poor water conditions : ( I also have a betta on my desk at work and
he is kept in a 2 1/2 gallon tank with a 25W heater. The water is
changed every Friday and the temp is kept at 78 degrees. In anything
smaller than a 2 1/2 you really need to change your water more often.
Since the bowl is not cycled you need to change 100% of the water
making sure it's the same temp as the tank/bowl and use a conditioner
like AquaSafe to remove any chlorine/chloramine or heavy metals in the
water. Do you have an ammonia test kit? That would help you determine
when you really need to change the water in your betta bowl. For
example, test every day and when you see ammonia say on the fifth day
then you know you need to change the water every four days. By not
changing 100% of the water you are only diluting the toxins in the
water and that makes for an unhappy fish. I hope I explained every
thing clearly if not just ask, I am happy to help : )

Maria

[bettasngoldfish]

I forgot to mention that it would be a good idea if you could atleast
pick up a thermometer so you can keep an eye on the temp. Your betta
would really do much better in warmer water something like 78-80
degrees but they can survive in lower temps. The most important thing
is that the temp is consistent and that's why my boy at work has a
heater because I can't be there in the evening and weekends to make
sure it does not get too cold in the building. I do however keep some
of my bettas at room temp at my home. I must admit that I would prefer
they all had heaters but I have too many to be able to do so. It's not
a good idea to let them drop under 70 degrees, get yourself a
thermometer so you can atleast keep an eye on it and don't let it get
too awful cold.

[Elaine T]

Jess wrote:
> Hello,
>
> My beta seems to have some specs of what looks like white dust on the
> side of its gill. Other than that he seems to be doing fine. His colour
> on top and on the side is quite dark, and he still has long fins.
> Is he sick?
>
>
> His bowl was dirty three days ago, and I did clean it as always.
> However, today it is still a little cloudy and it has "stuff" in
> suspension in it.
> Can I re-clean it in such a short notice whithout sending him into
> shock?
>
> I would really apreciate any advice.
> Thanks,
> Jess
>
First, yes you can re-clean the bowl but don't change as much water. I
would change about 1/3 of the water every couple of days for a little
while. He may get well just from having better water. Don't scrub the
sides of the bowl or any gravel too much because there are helpful
bacteria living there that break down the ammonia your betta excretes
into the water.

As for the white flecks and dark patches, two parasites come to mind.
Ich causes only white salt-grain sized flecks on fish. White Ich cysts
are quite easy to see. The second parasite called velvet, can look like
tiny whitish or golden flecks or a dark golden or greenish covering on
parts of the fish when it gets heavy. It's not uncommon in bettas. You
need a magnifying glass to see the individual velvet parasites.

If he doesn't get better and you can find a picture of ich or velvet
that matches how your fish looks, treat him with a formalin/malachite
green remedy. For velvet, also darken his bowl - the parasites
photosynthesize.

--
Elaine T __
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