I Need Help NOW (Emergency)

[Mr.Fish]

I hope you could help me out!
week ago a friend gave me a male and female betta as a gift.I was NOT thinking about breeding them at all . 5 days later hundreds of tiny babies are at the water surface between the bubbles.However,the male was trying to kill the female so I moved her to another bowl .week later the fry start swimming and every thing seemed fine.Today,the male is covered with white spots and I have no idea what to feed the fry.So I went to the LFS and start feeding with (TetraMin baby fish food "E") but they just keep looking at it,the male looks realy bad.I moved some of them to another bowl.WHAT SHOULD I DO?????????.HELP..................!

 

[christerrell2k3]

damn man, i cant help you, but on this board there is bound to be someone that can help you.

dont take my word for it, but the male's immune system is prolly low, and is easily contraseptive to ick or some other diseases. Like they would all say, what are the parameters in your tank as of now? I would immediatly put the male into QT asap.
Keep searchin the internet for Breeding Betas FAQ.

 

[Allivymar]

Do the spots look like salt? If so, it sure sounds like ich. First and foremost do read the ich article I wrote; you can find it here: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=32

I don't know what betta fry eat; someone else will need to address that. However, I would try the heat treatment for the betta and fry if it is ich; its likely the safest, although nothing is 100% safe of course. Do know that its likely they ALL have ich and to prevent reoccurances its neccessary to address it with all of em.

And congrats! Betta babies

 

[Tigerlily]

White spots? Do they look like specks of salt on him? It sounds like your male betta has ich. There is an excellent article on this forum on ich, written by Allivymar. Here's a link to it.

http://aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=32

Usually, when you treat for ich, you treat the whole tank because the spores live both on and off the fish. I don't know whether the fry could tolerate treatment though. If it were me, I'd isolate daddy and hope for the best with the fry. Hopefully someone will come along with more fry experience. I've only ever had goldfish or guppy fry, and didn't have to deal with ich at the same time. I would imagine that they are larger than betta fry, so I don't know what you would feed those little guys. I'm sure someone will come along with a suggestion.

By the way, congratulations on the fry! I think it is pretty normal for the male betta to not tolerate the female anymore once the deed is done, so you're right to remove her from the tank.

 

[Tigerlily]

Alli! LOL - I was typing too slow, you beat me to it!

 

[BrianNY]

Whoa on the ich treatment. I know that bettas are highly prone to fungal infections. In fact I've seen special meds just to treat it. I'd make a trip to the lfs and explain what you have. Don't linger on this.

 

[fishluvr]

I used to "brew-up" a fresh batch of baby brine shrimp in some quart-sized jars (then pouring the mix through a coffee filter) for the fry when I was breeding bettas (almost 15 years ago!) and I also had some luck with ?Tetra's? liquid fry food...After a few days to a week, I'd start mixing in some powdered food with the good stuff...hope this helps...

 

[Allivymar]

LOL

*high fives Tigerlily*

And is why I asked if the spots looked like salt Brian; without a better description its where I usually start. Didn't know about the fungal issues; can you gimme more info so I can add it to collection of "stuff to know"? LOL

 

[BrianNY]

I wish I could Alli but I'm sure no expert on diseases. It was a single male betta that got me back into aquaria this year. A girl gave me one (with a plant), in a bowl. I kept it on my desk at work and it finally succumbed to something fungal.

I went to the lfs when he first got sick and was surprised to see meds just for bettas.

 

[Allivymar]

Ok then you betta gurus! Fill me in; not only so I add to what I've picked up so far, but since I have a lil betta all my own, wanna know what to do should the problem arise

 

[Guppyman]

Betta Fry Food

Hi Mr.Fish,

Normally you need infusoria for betta fry. Generally it's a few days to a week before they can handle newly hatched baby brine shrimp. Since you do not have time to start a culture, I suggest a minute amount of hard-boiled egg yolk. I'm talking an infinitesimal amount as it will rapidly foul your water if not used sparingly. It will keep those little buggers alive while you hatch your shrimp. I'd avoid the "liquid" fry food that you'll find in tubes at your lfs. It's more polluting than the egg yolk. Hope this help. - Guppyman

 

[TankGirl]

I know betta breeders who won't even think about putting a male and female together unless they have 50-100 clean mason jars to keep the fry. There is a real trick to raising betta fry, and you have to have a specialized setup to do it successfully. You need to decide what you want to do, and if you do want to raise bettas then hopefully someone who does this will chime in right quick!

I am not familiar with any of the Betta boards so I can't provide a link but it might be wise to do a Google search and find a board dedicated to bettas to get you through this situation, and you can get the info you need to decide if you want to continue.

Good luck, and congrats on your fry! No matter what the situation, having fry is like nothing else!

 

[madasafish]

OK, so AlliV and Tigerlily responded at almost the same time, but did anybody else notice how eerily similar their posts were??? Freakyyyyyy!!!

***Just some advice on the white spots... regardless of their true nature (fungal, ich, velvet) you should probably start changing your water frequently. If you decide to medicate, follow the instructions on water changes. If not, continue to do 20% water changes every couple or few days. Most parasites/bacteria/fungi that affect fish are opportunistic--they strike when the fish is *weak* because of water conditions/oxygen levels/recent stress/recent sickness. This should warn you (and I know you've just gotten these fish, so it's not your fault) that you need to be careful about water conditions in the future. Be sure to change some of the water at least once a week. My best advice to you is really to read up as much as you can on the web about this, and buy pertinent fish books.***

*As for the fry!*

I second Guppyman's egg-yolk suggestion, as that's something I've heard many times. I tried it with danio fry to no avail, though....

Liquifry is essentially infused egg yoke, so if you get that you prob. don't need to use egg yoke also. Plus liquifry is easier to use.

New-born fry don't tend to swim to the surface to get food, rather they eat what's infront of them. Rotifers/infusoria etc. sound like the best idea for now. Then I'd graduate them to liquifry and then to Hikari "First Bites" and Brine Shrimp. That's just my take on the matter.

HTH, though it's long-winded!

 

[Scott1980]

I'm a big fan of bettas and have been researching because I'd like to breed myself one day, but don't know enough to help you out here. I would recommend www.ibcbettas.org This is the International Betta Congress, it's got ton's of info and links to other professional Betta Breeders. Congrats on your new ki ds!!

 

[PlatyLady]

Another site that might be helpful is www.bettatalk.com I visited a lot a few years ago when I first started keeping bettas. I haven't checked it out in awhile though...