Need Help!

[Meliodas]

Hello all, I am new to this and have never posted before. I was at PetSmart today and saw a male betta fish which had a cotton like growth taking over his body. I knew this fish was going to die unless I took him, so I bought the treatments that I thought might help, being Fungal cure and Life Guard, which I now know is useless against what I think he has. From all my research i am now pretty sure he has columnaris. I have given him one salt dip with aquarium salt for 8 minutes after watching a detailed video on it. I am not sure how often to do this however. Lastly, all the medication i need is apparently not sold anywhere after a long night of calling every possible store. I do not believe he will survive if i order medication, and I do not know what all i need. Any help would be greatly appreciated! I do not want to see him pass

 

[Delapool]

Hard to know but try the fungal cure. Does it say what is in it? That looks more fungal to me but I see a tattered top fin? With fungus should notice a difference with treatment within a day or two. And these can be useful ‘clean-up’ (as with salt), before moving into antibiotics for bacterial cure. Are you in the US?

 

[King Fisher]

Columnaris should be treated with a gram negative antibiotic like kanamycin.

 

[Meliodas]

I am in the US. It had eaten its way down most of his top fin, I have given him 3 salt baths now and used a que tip dipped in salt water to gently get the slime off. Some of it will not come off and is sticking around his left fin and gills area, there are many other areas on his fins that have a spot here and there. Fungal Cure has 3mg Victoria Green B and 30mg Acriflavine. Which i dont believe will help fight columnaris. I will order kanamycin and hope he makes it till it arrives, thank you for the help!

 

[King Fisher]

Also, for the fins, you can take a qtip dipped in hydrogen peroxide and rub it on the damaged fins. Just be sure to keep the peroxide away from his gills.

 

[Delapool]

It’s not the best (even for a fungal cure) but try the fungal cure in meantime - would start with a half dose.

Neither salt or the dyes have been successful for myself however they are very good at cleaning up a fish back to base infection. Which then allows antibiotics to do their work better. Salt had some success on an eastern states Australian forum (we can’t get many meds over the counter), but they were dips on large cichlids at saltwater strength.

In all my cases I found an increase in heat just made it worse. Same temperature or slightly lower. This matched a thread several years back where H2O2 was successful but his air-con broke and fish eventually lost. Some people here locally feel increasing heat helps, have always flat-out found that not the case.

FYI - here I’d treat straight for fungal on that since the columnaris presented differently but another med that takes the guesswork out treats both (below). Or if unlucky to have both anyways.

http://www.thatpetplace.com/fungus-guard-tabs-8pk

'Contains two antibiotics as Furan 2 (nitrofurazone & furizolidone) and an anti fungal (potassium dichromate). The fura antibiotics are milder, older meds. The Kdichromate is a strong oxidizer.'

Good luck! Hope your fish recovers.

 

[Meliodas]

Sadly, he just passed not too long ago. I noticed earlier today that he had columnaris in his mouth and i assume his gills as well. Go figure he would not eat. It's a shame that pet stores keep these betta fish in such poor conditions. I will be visiting my local petsmart and petco much more often to make sure no others are suffering the same fate. I ordered all this medication that now I cannot use, but i figure there will be another fish to attempt to save. Thanks for all the help.

 

[Delapool]

Sad news

 

[King Fisher]

Sorry to hear. It's always a good idea to keep medication on hand.