Something dangling off my betta

[Rita]

Hey guys, so it’s hard for me to get good pictures but my betta has something dangling off of both sides of his body… between his gills and his fins. I noticed it 3 days ago… and he was pretty lethargic at first but his activity is better today and he is eating.

temp 77f

Ammonia 0

Nitrite 0

pH 8.2

Nitrate ~20

I didn’t test Kh or Gh with the API liquid kit, but according to the test strips my Kh is moderate and Gh is high.

 

I have a video that shows it better but I don’t know how to post a video! Thanks for any advice guys!

[Colu]

Is moving on it own like a worm it could be an anchor worm but not convinced that what it is  and is it the same on the other of the fish

[Rita]

On 9/30/2021 at 8:35 PM, Colu said:

Is moving on it own like a worm it could be an anchor worm but not convinced that what it is  and is it the same on the other of the fish

No it’s not moving. It’s brown and thin looking. I thought it was poop at first until I saw where it was attached to. And the fact that it’s on both sides of him. None of ember tetras have anything like this.

[Hobbit]

Does it look like it’s coming out of his gills?

I just had a fish (platy) that I moved inside after she spent her summer out in a tub. After one day inside, she had what looked like strings of mucus hanging out of her gills. They were very thin and clear. I caught her in a net and held her right at the water’s surface and tried to use tweezers to pull them out. I never seemed to get anything, so I think I was right that it was just mucus and nothing more nefarious. I’d added some anti fungal and anti parasite meds so it may have been related to that.

I wonder if your little guy is shedding some dead tissue for some reason… or maybe he just accidentally caught some debris in his gills? If he were my fish, I’d be getting out the net and the tweezers 😜 My poor fish 😅

Then again, if I had poop stuck in my gills I’d want help getting it out. 😝

[Rita]

On 9/30/2021 at 8:51 PM, Hobbit said:

Does it look like it’s coming out of his gills?

I just had a fish (platy) that I moved inside after she spent her summer out in a tub. After one day inside, she had what looked like strings of mucus hanging out of her gills. They were very thin and clear. I caught her in a net and held her right at the water’s surface and tried to use tweezers to pull them out. I never seemed to get anything, so I think I was right that it was just mucus and nothing more nefarious. I’d added some anti fungal and anti parasite meds so it may have been related to that.

I wonder if your little guy is shedding some dead tissue for some reason… or maybe he just accidentally caught some debris in his gills? If he were my fish, I’d be getting out the net and the tweezers 😜 My poor fish 😅

Then again, if I had poop stuck in my gills I’d want help getting it out. 😝

It did look like it was coming out of his gills… but as I studied him today it kind of looks like it’s dangling off his fins. I attempted to pick it off with my long plant forceps but the substance dangling off him is to fine for the forceps to grasp. I haven’t seen him flashing or anything either.

[Hobbit]

Weird! Well, if he’s not trying to get it off, it might not be bothering him. Maybe just wait and see?

[Rita]

On 9/30/2021 at 9:09 PM, Hobbit said:

Weird! Well, if he’s not trying to get it off, it might not be bothering him. Maybe just wait and see?

Yeah, I added seachem stress guard to the tank in case he is having some kinda slime coat issue. If he starts getting worse I’ll move him to a quarantine tank and maybe treat with maracyn and/or ich X.