[prettyfishy76]

I have a 29 gallon BioCube that I have been housing my Betta Rubras in since November 2012. I have had them for close 2 years. They have always been healthy - I have never had any health issues with them.

I bought 4 White Cloud Mountain Minnows and 8 Red-Fin Tetras last Saturday, 03/31/13, from a LFS. I performed a 25% water change before introducing them. Since then, 2 of the WCMMs and 4 of the Red-Fin Tetras have disappeared. I can only assume the bettas killed them and something ate them. Not sure if bettas ate them or if ghost shrimp and cory cats disposed of their bodies. I did notice that a couple of the bettas had rather LARGE stomachs after the disappearances.

Anyways, starting yesterday, 04/03, I noticed that one of my bettas was distressed and was white about the face. Her mouth was a little beat up, too. I thought that she gotten in a fight with another fish, so I decided to check on them again this morning. Well, this morning, she was dead. Her body had more loss of color - no fuzz, just colorless scales. Her stomach was also bloated. I am kicking myself for not taking a photo of her.

Now, another female betta is showing the same symptoms, except the loss of coloration is not on her face, but are patches on her body. She does not appear comfortable and her body condition is not ideal. Her belly is bloated. I noticed another betta with a colorless patch on its back. I have attached photos of the one female with the multiple patches. Has anyone seen this before? I honestly have no idea what this is. It looks like it kills them fast, which is upsetting me as I am highly attached to these fish. Could they have caught something this quickly from the new additions of minnows and tetras?

The minnows and tetras do not have any sickly traits.

Please help!

 

[Romad]

It sure looks like Columnaris to me. This is one of the more common and invasive diseases You're the third person this week that has posted similar pics.

It looks pretty advanced to me which isn't a good sign. Treat with Kanamycin and Furan 2 (can be combined together) or Acriflavine & Terramycin. It's a gram-negative bacteria so see what your LFS has in the way of treating that.

Lower the tank temp to 75F if possible while treating and do large water changes with each treatment.

Good luck and I hope you're able to save some of your fish.

 

[prettyfishy76]

Romad, you are probably correct. The LFS agrees with the diagnosis. My husband was kind enough to stop by the LFS this afternoon to see what their thoughts were. He showed them the photos and describe all that has been going on. He also brought in a sample of the water to be tested - they said the readings were all within a normal range and that we don't have to worry about doing a water change right now. They sent him home with Triple Sulfa before he called me back. Do you think that will work?

 

[prettyfishy76]

It looks pretty advanced to me which isn't a good sign. Treat with Kanamycin and Furan 2 (can be combined together) or Acriflavine & Terramycin. It's a gram-negative bacteria so see what your LFS has in the way of treating that.

If I can get the Kanamycin and Furan 2, do I combine them with their two separate doses? I wasn't sure if I would dose them at their full strengths or not.

 

[MoneyMitch]

never had to deal with this personally but take a look here, may give you some insight, and if your going to treat with x2 meds i would do both of them at half dose.

 

[Romad]

Romad, you are probably correct. The LFS agrees with the diagnosis. My husband was kind enough to stop by the LFS this afternoon to see what their thoughts were. He showed them the photos and describe all that has been going on. He also brought in a sample of the water to be tested - they said the readings were all within a normal range and that we don't have to worry about doing a water change right now. They sent him home with Triple Sulfa before he called me back. Do you think that will work?

Triple Sulfa is a broad spectrum bacterial treatment. I've read that it's effective for mild to moderate cases of Columnaris but if you can get your hands on something specifiically for gram-negative bacteria, I'd go with that. It looks like a pretty advanced stage of the disease to me

As for the water changes, you're not doing it because you're trying to reduce levels of nitrates or just doing routine maintenance - you should do it so that you can give the best possible environment for sick fish to try to recover in. Clean water is the best thing to do for them IMO. And most medications state that you should do a 25% water change with each treatment so start with 50% and then 25% with each treatment if that's what your meds. call for.

Crossing fingers for you in the meantime.

 

[Friesian Fish]

Looks like the Bettas are females...I'm not sure if they would eat the fish then; maybe they could IDK.
Once, my dad had some goldfish and a Betta Fish (I'm not sure what gender, but probably a male because they are prettier than females with their long, flowing fins) and he came home one day and found only goldfish heads and the one Betta. :'(

 

[prettyfishy76]

Triple Sulfa is a broad spectrum bacterial treatment. I've read that it's effective for mild to moderate cases of Columnaris but if you can get your hands on something specifiically for gram-negative bacteria, I'd go with that. It looks like a pretty advanced stage of the disease to me

I got my hands on KanaPlex and Furan-2. If I combine these, how should I dose? Full-strength or half of each dose?

 

[Romad]

Most meds. list dosages per 10 gallons of water. So if you were to use just one med., it would be two doses for that size tank.

Check the boxes for dosage instructions and if it's 10 gallons per packet or cap, do one of each.

 

[prettyfishy76]

UPDATE

After going through a combination treatment of Furan-2 and KanaPlex, my betta rubras seem to have recovered from their infection. After the first two fish died early on, I have not had any other deaths. The fish that started showing the colorless patches have regained their natural colors. I can tell that they feel a lot better because they have started displaying breeding behaviors.

Thank you to EVERYONE for the help and support with this issue!