i know they are not monster fish, but one of our siamese fighters in the pet shop i work in has a weird thing on his head that wont go away. it looks like someone has taken to him with a white pen and tried to draw a brain on one side of his head!(sorry.... no pics) when this developed all the catfish he lived with died. he seems very happy, eats well etc and has been treated with white spot cure and melafix but nothing has worked. any help would be great.
siamese need help!!!
- Thread starter magnus titus
- Start date
I know bettas pretty well. If you can get pics, i'll try to help. In the meantime, check out this site: www.bettatalk.com
wow a petshop who goes through the trouble of treating a single betta.
what shop is this and where?
what shop is this and where?
im in wellington (johnsonville), new zealand, and sorry i dont have the technology to do pictures ..... i just have a little disposable camera & no scanner. joy.
it would be much easier if i did! im trying to treat this fish because even tho i personally would never own a betta, he is a real character and i dont really want to have to euth him (i had to with one of our last betta's because he kept loosing weight and lying on the bottom not moving...he was my favorite one, i cried.) i want him to get better and go to a good home.
it would be much easier if i did! im trying to treat this fish because even tho i personally would never own a betta, he is a real character and i dont really want to have to euth him (i had to with one of our last betta's because he kept loosing weight and lying on the bottom not moving...he was my favorite one, i cried.) i want him to get better and go to a good home.If the white stuff is not fluffy or particularly fluffy in appearance then it is columnaris, you need a med that treats both fungal and bacterial infections to get rid of this.
Columnaris most commonly comes about when the fish are put under some sort of stress, like the tank/water quality is not kept clean enough, tank is over-stocked or over-crowded, fish are harrrassing each other because they are unsuitable tankmates etc.
Siamese fighting fish/Betta's are primarily solitary fish by nature and tend to thrive best when kept on their own. The best thing you can do to treat the fish right now is to get it a tank of at least 2gallons and acclimatise the betta to it. Do a 20% water change on the tank once a day with Stress Coat or AquaSafe dechlorinator while treating the tank with an anti fungal and bacterial medicine like Pimafix- increasing the airation of the tank will also help, either by adding a filter or bubble pump, but make sure the current in the tank is not too strong (betta's/siamese fighters don't like strongly filtered tanks, in the wild they originate from slow moving waters like ponds in Thailand).
Columnaris most commonly comes about when the fish are put under some sort of stress, like the tank/water quality is not kept clean enough, tank is over-stocked or over-crowded, fish are harrrassing each other because they are unsuitable tankmates etc.
Siamese fighting fish/Betta's are primarily solitary fish by nature and tend to thrive best when kept on their own. The best thing you can do to treat the fish right now is to get it a tank of at least 2gallons and acclimatise the betta to it. Do a 20% water change on the tank once a day with Stress Coat or AquaSafe dechlorinator while treating the tank with an anti fungal and bacterial medicine like Pimafix- increasing the airation of the tank will also help, either by adding a filter or bubble pump, but make sure the current in the tank is not too strong (betta's/siamese fighters don't like strongly filtered tanks, in the wild they originate from slow moving waters like ponds in Thailand).
Really good to see someone in the trade going to the effort to try and help the fish.I think betta's sometimes get a rough deal as there a reasonably cheap fish.I see to many sick one's in fish shop's.
the stuff on his head isnt fluffy at all, just looks like someone has drawn on him with a white pen. he had 3 pepperd corys in with him & they died the day before i noticed something was wrong with him. he is in a 2ft tank that is divided into 3 parts, one siamese fighter in each. the other 2 boys are fine but their catfish died as well ( 3 in each bit ). can the other siamese fighters catch what the sick one has? he has been like this for about 3 weeks now... suppose if it was catchy then the others would have it by now wouldnt they?
Pimafix is NOT a great antibacterial, and though it will treat fungus (and perhaps some lower grade bacterial stuff) it won't do anything for columnaris which is a really nasty quick spreading bacterial infection.
It doesn't really sound like columnaris anyway since it hasn't progressed any further.
Are you sure there's no way he could have been injured? Because that's kind of what it sounds like. Without pictures a proper diagnosis can't be made though because what you're describing doesn't sound like anything in particular.
You said you're worried about whether the other bettas will get it, so are you saying they're in an interconnected system or are they in the same tank? If the latter they're probably fighting.
It doesn't really sound like columnaris anyway since it hasn't progressed any further.
Are you sure there's no way he could have been injured? Because that's kind of what it sounds like. Without pictures a proper diagnosis can't be made though because what you're describing doesn't sound like anything in particular.
You said you're worried about whether the other bettas will get it, so are you saying they're in an interconnected system or are they in the same tank? If the latter they're probably fighting.
its nice to see someone post something like this over a betta.. it shows there are some truly compassionate fish keepers out there!