Sick Betta

[Cody000125]

Hi All,

I've been trying to treat my betta for quite a while now but nothing seems to help. My betta has usually been hanging out near the top of the tank recently and has red spots on the top of his head. This all started when I noticed his fins weren't fully growing out. They always seemed okay but would occasionally get a tear in them. First I moved him to a quarantine tank and dosed him with quarantine trio(Maracyn,Ich-X,Paracleanse) since I didn't know the what it was causing the issues. That didn't seem to help that much, so I did more research and someone suggested it could be columnaris so after around a month I tried dosing Kanaplex and Furan-2, again he seemed to be okay but the symptoms didn't improve. I moved him back down to my main tank and noticed he was breathing heavier than up in the quarantine tank. So after doing more research, I'm starting to think it could be flukes? I'll provide pictures but his gills seem to be red and I've read that flukes could cause red spots as well. Also that flukes reproduce which is maybe why he would be breathing harder in my main tank. Could I get someone's opinion on if they think it's gill flukes or what they think it is? And if it is flukes what should I dose? Should I move him back to the quarantine tank and dose there or I've read I should just dose the entire main tank. All that are in my main tank are ramshorn snails, nerites, and my betta. My main tank is a 20 gallon and my quarantine tank is a 10 gallon. Here are my water parameters:
Temp: 80*
pH: 7.2-7.4
Ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 5-10
KH: ~6-7

And here are some pictures:

 

 

I have paraguard on hand which I heard might help with flukes but I've also heard praziquantel is the way to go. Any help would really be appreciated. Thank you

Edited February 20, 2021 by Cody000125

[Colu]

Red patches could be a bacterial infection the raised gill covers could be gill flukes I would treat paracleanse  for gill flukes if maracyn has not worked try maracyn2 it could be a gram negative bacterial infection

[Cody000125]

2 hours ago, Colu said:

Red patches could be a bacterial infection the raised gill covers could be gill flukes I would treat paracleanse  for gill flukes if maracyn has not worked try maracyn2 it could be a gram negative bacterial infection

Hi! I've tried dosing kanaplex, isn't that a gram negative bacterial infection? I also have Prazipro on the way this sunday to try, I have paracleanse as well but I've heard good things about Prazipro. I plan on doing my water change sunday and then starting the Prazipro treatment for the whole tank on monday. Do you have any other suggestions?

[Colu]

Yes kanaplex is gram negative bacterial treatment I missed that on the list of treatments you used you could Qarantine and treat with aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 2 gallons for 1 week and prazipro other than that not much more I can suggest as maracyn and kanaplex have not worked

[Cody000125]

7 hours ago, Colu said:

Yes kanaplex is gram negative bacterial treatment I missed that on the list of treatments you used you could Qarantine and treat with aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 2 gallons for 1 week and prazipro other than that not much more I can suggest as maracyn and kanaplex have not worked

Will the red patches go away? Or will I just prevent the spread of more? I've moved him back to the quarantine tank and added some aquarium salt. I'll add the prazipro tomorrow. He seemed to be recovering well in the quarantine tank and his labored breathing picked up when I added him back to the main tank. There currently aren't any other fish in the main tank. I'm not sure what's wrong with my main tank, could the flukes have reproduced and when I added him back in they got into his gills again? I'll be dosing the main tank tomorrow as well just in case.

[Kat_Rigel]

It looks like you've tried quite an array of things; make sure you are completing the treatments for any of the antibiotics like maracyn. Ex. The package recommends treating with Maracyn for 4 days. Although the Co-op has done their own "med trio" as a kind of blanket treatment, I think that is more for cases where you can't really tell there is anything wrong. At this point you know for sure something is wrong, so make sure you are giving the antibiotics the amount of treatments needed.

I think aquarium salt and increased temperature would be a good thing to try. Aside from the fact that you've already tried quite a few other things, salt can treat both parasites and bacteria. So regardless of what it is it should help. Higher temperature can help parasites "run their course" faster; they live, they have babies, they die, and hopefully your salt treatment will prevent those parasite babies from thriving on your betta.

Usually I give advice like, "but you do what you think is right," but for this I strongly think you should use salt and heat. The Co-op has great instructions, as you probably know:

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-salt-for-sick-fish

 

[Cody000125]

1 hour ago, Kat_Rigel said:

It looks like you've tried quite an array of things; make sure you are completing the treatments for any of the antibiotics like maracyn. Ex. The package recommends treating with Maracyn for 4 days. Although the Co-op has done their own "med trio" as a kind of blanket treatment, I think that is more for cases where you can't really tell there is anything wrong. At this point you know for sure something is wrong, so make sure you are giving the antibiotics the amount of treatments needed.

I think aquarium salt and increased temperature would be a good thing to try. Aside from the fact that you've already tried quite a few other things, salt can treat both parasites and bacteria. So regardless of what it is it should help. Higher temperature can help parasites "run their course" faster; they live, they have babies, they die, and hopefully your salt treatment will prevent those parasite babies from thriving on your betta.

Usually I give advice like, "but you do what you think is right," but for this I strongly think you should use salt and heat. The Co-op has great instructions, as you probably know:

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-salt-for-sick-fish

 

Got it, thank you! He's currently back in the quarantine tank again, 10 gallon, and I added some aquarium salt earlier today aswell 🙂 What temperature do you suggest bumping it up to? And do you think it's possible he has gill flukes? I have some prazipro on the way and was going to dose my main tank and quarantine tank.

[Kat_Rigel]

I can't remember *exactly* what I turned it up to when I treated my tank (ich, it was years ago) but I want to say it was in the 86* range. I want to say I did it for about 4 days. (Sorry for the uncertainty, I want to make sure I'm not telling you the wrong thing!) Although I was following the heat/salt treatment for ich, the reasoning behind it is the same.

Keep us updated!

[FriendlyLoach]

I know it is unlikely, but your betta may be simply changing color in a natural way. I doubt it but it is something to keep in the back of your head. 

Edited February 21, 2021 by FriendlyLoach