Sick betta...bloated and ich again?

[Sahabo]

ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 5
last pwc: 50% on 8/17/09
betta purchased in 3/08
food: 5 Hikari betta pellets/day as a staple, varied occasionally with bloodworms, brine shrimp and I feed him a blanched pea once a week.

Course of illness: Added 3 Trigonostigma hengeli (Rasbora hengeli) in June to 10 gallon betta tank (ugh, I know that probably was not the best idea in hindsight...don't yell at me lol). Betta was living happily with 4 otos in the 10 gallon. When I added the rasbora's, he got stressed and developed ich and finrot. He behaved fine with the new fish. I considered taking out the new fish, but Maracide and Maracyn II cleared up the ich and finrot pretty quickly. I thought everything was fine and everyone was behaving fine together. Then the ich came back but Maracide took care of it once again.

Problem 1:
In the past two weeks, betta started getting bloated and I thought it was constipation. I gave him the pea treatment, then tried adding a few days of fasting in between peas. No effect. Then I tried adding Epsom salt. Still nothing. Then I started giving him Epsom salt baths in a 1 gallon tank for 15-20 minutes once a day. Still nothing! arg. You can see in the pics how bloated his stomach is and the scales are starting to protrude there. I'm assuming that is still constipation, but why isn't it clearing up??

Problem 2:
At the same time, what I thought was ich came back. However, it did not respond to any meds this time. I tried Maracide, Marycyn I and II and nothing helped. Well, the Maracyn seemed to have a small effect and that was the last treatment I tried that ended 2 days ago. I'm really starting to question if it is ich at all or maybe he has ich and some kind of fungus too.

Behavior: He's hungry and will gobble anything I let him have. He is not flashing or rubbing. He seems to be a little lethargic but perks up when he sees me. The weirdest thing, he is spending a lot more time near the surface, just hanging out there and breathing a little more heavily than usual.

OK, that was a lot of information! Hopefully someone has some advice for me!


pics

 

[Sahabo]

 

[Zer0]

Dang.. that is one beat-up fish.

 

[An t-iasg]

I'm sorry about Corwin Medicines may appear to cure ich but the ich parasite is only vulnerable to meds in the free-floating stage. The ich in the gravel and on the fish lived to reproduce again. Heat kills ich at all stages. Raise your water temperature up to 87 or 88 degrees gradually, one degree every 6 hours. When you get to 84-86 degrees, the ich will reproduce rapidly and you'll think it's getting worse. Keep the elevated temperature (87-88 degrees) for two weeks after you see the last ich spot. It will probably take 3-4 days for the visible ich to go away, and then keep the temperature raised for two weeks after that. Keep all the fish in the 10 gallon tank; don't put any fish in a QT. If you remove any fish, they could re-introduce the ich when they return.

About the bloating - one more thing you could try is feeding antibiotics. Kanaplex (kanamycin) by Seachem can be added to food. I don't have exact measures, but put some pellets in water, sprinkle some Kanaplex into the water, and soak for about 5 minutes before feeding. You could also soak some bloodworms in the mixture but they wouldn't need to be soaked quite as long.

One of my bettas was quite bloated for about a month before he died He was active and kept eating while bloated but wouldn't respond to any treatment. I hope Corwin gets better.

 

[Sahabo]

Thanks Deb.

so you feel feel sure that it is ich after seeing the pics and not anything esle? I find it strange that none of the other fish are showing any signs of ich or disease at all.

Also, Corwin is probably about 2 years old by now. what's the typical life span?

 

[An t-iasg]

I agree that it's strange to only have one fish in the tank show ich. I do think it's ich, especially since you said he was stressed. The other fish may be a bit healthier than Corwin. They may be able to resist the parasite a little longer than he could but I would still start the elevated temps to get rid of the ich before it infests the others.

We don't know how old our bettas are when we get them but I had a betta for 1 year, 8 months, and then 1 year, 11 months. So if Corwin has been with you for two years he's lived a long, healthy, and happy life with you

The betta that was bloated started off mildly bloated. Peas and fasting appeared to cure him but only for a month or so. Then he became very bloated and I fed the antibiotics soaked with the food. He lived for a month after that, eating and swimming as usual, with the bloat. I figured he wasn't going to get better so I enjoyed him while I could. He refused food one day and died the next day

 

[Sahabo]

k thanks...I started turning up the heat tonight. I'll be looking on where to buy that antibiotic.

 

[Sahabo]

he's not gonna make it. he's barely breathing now, just laying in his moss near the top. he won't eat or flare. I'm so sad. I hope he's not suffering too much. The bloating just won't go down, no matter what I try.

 

[An t-iasg]

I'm so sorry to hear that...I remember what that feels like to look at a poor sick betta. Once the scales start protruding, it doesn't look good, unfortunately

 

[Sahabo]

He's still alive this morning, but barely, and his eyes are starting to cloud over.

I know it's silly for me to be this sad about a fish, but you know, he's my first ever fish and after I got him I just fell in love with this hobby.

I've read about the best way to dispose of fish when they die, and I guess burying them is the most earth friendly...

 

[An t-iasg]

It's not at all silly to be sad. Fish have their own personalities and they do bond with us. I have buried my dead fish too. I buried them on the wooded hillside near a creek. I figured that was a fitting place.

 

[Sahabo]

aw thanks Deb. it's nice to see that you're still around here. maybe I'll start posting more.

 

[Sahabo]

alright, so he doesn't have ich. he has some body fungus and dropsy. i know dropsy is usually fatal. i did raise the temp and add epsom salt to the tank...do you think i should isolate him from the other fish? is dropsy painful? is he suffering? should i put him down? i can't believe he's even still alive. i can't find that kanaplex and he won't eat anyway

 

[An t-iasg]

I didn't move my bloated betta to another tank. He acted normal for almost a month with the bloat, so I didn't do anything other than feed the kanaplex. When it became clear that his days were limited, I left him in his tank where he probably felt the most comfortable. I have never put a fish down. If you are considering it, there's an excellent sticky in the index of this forum.

Is he suffering? No one really knows. At MACNA one year, I went to a presentation on whether fish feel pain. Fishes' brains and nervous systems are not as sophisticated as ours and it's likely that they don't feel pain the way we do.

 

[Sahabo]

He died last night. I'm so sad.

He was so beautiful

 

[Sahabo]

I buried him in a little spot near the ocean. On the way back to the car, my hubby found a $20 bill laying on the ground...so Corwin got us a free lunch

 

[An t-iasg]

He was beautiful. That's a great picture. I'm so sorry. He was a happy fishy with you and his final resting place sounds fitting too. What luck about the $20

 

[kaiofcanada]

So sorry for your loss. He was a beautiful fish. I got a betta after reading your thread today. This is my first betta actually even though I have kept fish for quite a long time. I never had a betta for some reason although I always admired their beauty, grace and spunkiness. I hope mine has as much personality as yours. I named mine Darwin.

 

[spoonman]

Beautiful fish!! Sorry for your loss.

 

[Sahabo]

Thanks everyone *hugs*