Sick Betta...looks like santa claus

[freshwatergal]

Ok...I just bought two new male betta's today, and noticed on one of them a fuzzy looking beard. He looks like santa claus. It also looks to be binding one of his fins, and his pelvic fins. I added a capful of melafix to his water (1 gal kritter keeper, I hope that wasn't too much). Anyone know what this might be? Thanks for the help in advance.

Tiff

~added~ Ok, I just did a water change because I had heard that melafix wasn't really good for betta's. Any other suggestions? Thanks

 

[Fruitbat]

Most likely some sort of fungus. I've used Jungle Fungus Clear very successfully to take care of fungal infections. Might be worth a try.

 

[An t-iasg]

I've used Jungle Fungus Clear too on my bettas. I take the betta out of the tank and put him in a 1 gallon kritter keeper too. I use 1/4 teaspoon of Fungus Clear. Get a paper cup of the water first, then dissolve the fungus clear powder in it, then pour into the kritter keeper. Make sure all the Melafix is out first!

 

[Allivymar]

Urk. Get all the Melafix out of there ASAP! Something about the levels of tea tree oil in Melafix does NOT mix well with bettas and can cause more probs then it may solve.

 

[freshwatergal]

Well, thanks for the advice, but it was all too late. I woke up this morning to find that the lil guy has went to the big fishbowl in the sky. But thanks anyway.

Tiff

 

[platylover]

Sorry to hear about your loss. I just wanted to add some advice for future reference. I had the same problems with a couple of bettas. I used Maracyn for 5 days and he cleared up. I think that what your guy had was actually columnaris which is a bacterial infection. I used this and he had cleared up after 3 days. I medicated the water for a few more days just to make sure it was all gone.

HTH in the future.

 

[freshwatergal]

How do you dose for a 1 gallon kritter keeper?

 

[An t-iasg]

This has always worked for me: I mix up a gallon of water (I mix half tap an half RO) in an empty bottled water jug. Add your dechlorinators, and put the whole capsule or tablet of medicine into the water jug, and shake it up. If the dosage is 1 capsule per 10 gallons, then you want to add 1/10 of that gallon to the kritter keeper. Fill the rest of the kritter keeper with your regular water.

One-tenth of a gallon is 1.6 cups (1 1/2 cups, approximately). My kritter keeper is 3.4 liters -- not quite 1 gallon, which is 3.79 liters, I believe. So if you wanted to go 1 1/4 cups with the med water, you could.