bettas sick after cold water snap

[stinkpot]

hi all,

i've been keeping 3 bettas (one male, two females) and a bunch of plants in a 5.5 gallon tank for about a week now. everything looked ok, up until the past 3 days. at that point, our tank heater began behaving erratically; it failed completely 2 nights ago, leaving our poor bettas in ~58F water for about 24 hours.

i replaced the heater yesterday with a visi-therm stealth and the water is once again a balmy 76-78F.

unfortunately, it looks like some damage has been done. two of the bettas, one male, one female, now have furry white patches on their sides. the sick female has also lost her appetite.

i've done a bunch of forum reading and internet scouring and am now somewhat confused. i've heard this condition referred to as columnaris or cotton fungus. other sites say its not even a fungus, but actually a bacteria.

regardless, can anyone who's gone through similar problems suggest an appropriate treatment? i've seen "jungle fungus eliminator" and maracyn recommended before; is one particularly better than the other?

finally, with appropriate treatment, what're their odds of pulling through?

any advice is of course much appreciated!

- ld

http://stinkpot.afraid.org:8080/

 

[Zagz]

I would treat with the jungle fungus eliminator. If you treat quickly there chances are good. Of course no one can guarantee anything but it is worth a try for sure. Good luck.