betta

[kansaschick08]

I have myslef a betta, I just made one of those vase tanks for him, he looks as if hes going to die. :x his face is all white and his "gills" that flare out when he gets teritorial are moving realy fast and, his color isnt the dark red as they usually are, what do yall think?

 

[QTOFFER]

I would start by giving him a 50% water change.

How big is the tank he's in and is there enough surface area for him to come up for air?
Is the entire head covered with a grayish film? It could be a columnaris bacterial infection - bettas are pretty prone to getting them. I've never tried it, but BettaMax (Aquatronics) might help.

I haven't seen Christmasfish around lately - she knows all kinds of herbal betta remedies.
An t-iasg may have some ideas too. HTH

 

[kansaschick08]

well i just put water in today, hes in a vase with a plant on top that has roots, so that makes me think that there is enough air in there, and he still can get up to breath, he has a slight grey about his bottom of his head, what is columnaris bacterial infection?

 

[QTOFFER]

What size and shape is the vase?

Forgive me if you already know this, but sadly, most people who keep bettas don't.
Bettas need at least 2 gal to thrive and they also need unobstructed access to the water surface to breathe. The commercially bought betta vases are bad because they are too small and the vase's narrow opening and the plant's roots prevent the fish from getting to the surface. But if you made your own, you can easily avoid these problems. And I'm sure you know that the bettas can't survive by eating the roots - they need a high quality betta pellet supplemented with partially cooked, shelled peas once in a while.

Anyway, columnaris is a common bacterial skin infection that can kill if left untreated. It looks like a grayish or white film. Sometimes it is referred to as 'body fungus', although it really is not a fungus at all. I've sucessfully treated it with Kanacyn and Spectrogram in my non-betta tanks. For bettas, though, I would use BettaMax since bettas sometimes react badly to the other meds.

I'd also do frequent water changes - maybe 10% every other day. HTH

 

[Matthi]

I would recommend taking the plant out of the vase at least while he is sick (and consider doing this permanently), and like above - change at least 50 percent of the water every few days (make sure you de-chlorinate it first). If you haven't been feeding him (a myth among people who keep vase'd bettas is that they can survive by eating the roots), please get some betta food asap.
QTOFFER has good advice on medications to try, but remember, most fish will lead happy disease free lives if their conditions are kept sanitary and fresh, unless the environment is changed, meds will not work for long.

 

[kansaschick08]

well yesterday when i took him over to my grandmothers house, he seemed very happy, he was swimming around, and not laying down, and bein happy, so i think he was just getting used to the water.