Sierra Posted November 4, 2011 Report Share Posted November 4, 2011 Today I found one of my favorite bettas dead. I don't really know what happened to him and want to know if this could be spread to other fish. Day 1: Notice his perfect halfmoon fins have really rotted/disappeared to 1/2 in ONE day. Non-heated water, but warm place. Day 2: Place in nice clean, heated tank by himself (previous home of another betta for 2 days). Added salt **Here is where I wonder if I added too much salt and shocked him or ??? I don't know Day 3-4: He is very inactive merely laying on the bottom hardly moving Day 5: Worry I added too much salt and move to clean tank. (severe lack of moment after salt was added) Day 6-7: totally lifeless won't eat Day 9 or so...dead BUT half his chin turned white (assume in night when he died/right before) It is not a "cottony" white it doesn't look fungal, but I have no idea what happened to him, he was young it really looks like someone just bleached him, it was very shiny/smooth Other things: -i noticed on the uneaten pellet i tried feeding him it had a blossom of white growth....this makes me think fungal Anyone ever experienced this before? or know what this is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaFishMommy Posted November 4, 2011 Report Share Posted November 4, 2011 (edited) sorry to hear! RIP lil betta boy. food will grow fungus on it if left uneaten in the tank. that fungus doesn't hurt fish any from my experience, it just looks nasty. very strange that his fins would rot away so quickly. i've never had a betta's fins get bad so fast. what environment was he in (bowl or filtered tank)? what was the ammonia level? when was the last water change? what dechlorinator did you use? salt needs to be added slowly over the course of a couple days at least, to prevent the shock that you described. quickly increasing salinity content in the water can cause osmotic shock in fish. vice versa, removing the salt content quickly, can do the same. so your betta got 'double shocked' by going in the salted water, then back out of it. i personally don't use salt for fin problems - i believe it makes the problem worse, with the salt aggravating the damaged fins. whenever i've had to cure fin rot in bettas, i use 'Betta Revive' by Hikari. contains methylyne blue and malachite green. good stuff IMO, but if you're not careful you'll have blue hands after.... trust me... this i know. lol. every betta i've treated with it has bounced back nicely in the fin department. a few bettas that have passed away here over the 4 years since i started in the tank hobby have had the white chins shortly after death, more prevalant in red and dark coloured bettas for some reason. i'm not too sure what causes this, but it probably has something to do with loss of blood flow to the area. as for worrying if it is contagious, have you shared equipment between your tanks without disinfecting in between? nets, hoses for water changes, even your hands going tank to tank with no wash up in between? if precautions have been taken between tanks, then there shouldn't be too much worry. Edited November 4, 2011 by BettaFishMommy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sierra Posted November 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2011 I had him in a tallish 2 gallon tank inside a large heated fry tank, but no filtration. His water was only a week and a half old. I've never seen any bettas fins go like that actually i've never had fin problems because my water is kept fairly clean. *cough* procrastination from studying ... ahh okay yes I definitely double shocked him then. I never used to use salt for bettas only other fish and then I guess one day I read it will decrease risk of infection and improve gill function. So i put some the odd time. Online it says their chins turn white from shock however I have no idea if that is true. Yes I don't have good habits of disinfecting between tanks, but I've never had a sick fish....and I'm thinking that's a lesson that you learn once you have that problem lol. The only sick fish I ever had was that one that came with internal parasites and he was isolated completely. I will get myself some Betta Revive for next time. Thanks your reply was very useful On a brighter note I do have 9 of his babies growing quite nicely. I crossed him with a black halfmoon female (so here is to hoping for some lookers) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaFishMommy Posted November 4, 2011 Report Share Posted November 4, 2011 week and a half old 'bowl' water will have very high ammonia, and ammonia eats away at the tissues - ammonia burn. i remember back when i kept my bettas in bowls, i did an ammonia test only a few days after a 100% water change on a 2 gallon bowl and the ammonia was 4 ppm! yikes! that woke my noggin up and i moved most of my bettas over to 10 gallon tanks and did just about daily changes on any left in bowls. the chin turning white from shock makes sense, because in a shock situation, the blood flow would be going mostly to the vital organs to keep the fish alive. that's my theory. so the loss of blood flow to certain areas would make the area white. could you please share the link where you read this shock/white chin connection? thanks. big al's carries betta revive. and it's cheap - only a few bucks. the package is small, but in a bowl setting you only have to use a little bit. i recall something like 12 to 14 drops per gallon or per 2 gallons. i can't remember exactly, but i know i've overdosed the stuff in bowls before with no problems. the key with this med is to do daily 100% changes and re-medicate, because it breaks down in the water fairly quickly, losing potency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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