# white fuzz help plz



## xbabygurlxxx

ok i had a tank with female bettas n i guess the food on bottom caused it to breakout n in end it killed all of them one by one... i cleaned the tank out n got a few more females n fed much less so it wouldnt happen again but it did...but it came back n one by one they went... i got sum jungle fizz tabs but the last 2 females still ended up dying from it i got rid of the gravel period with new set up having a feeling it was on gravel n regrowig... with the set up now my 3 reg bettas r fine in there own homes with in my halfmoon kings home well its looking to me like i see sum fuzz starting on him how can i get this be4 it gets him...he wasnt cheap n thatd be a big lose!


*** heres 2 pix u can kinda see it on him***


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## chris oe

These are pretty good pictures, but I can't see anything here, at least nothing that's in focus. Where exactly do you see it on him? Back? Tail? Could you try to retake the pictures and see if you could get the white fuzz in better focus?


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## xbabygurlxxx

well trying to take more focused is a joke lol he WONT stay still...always on the go.... on 1st pic u can see it real blurry along his front back/sides the rest his body looks fine... im wonder if it came from the algea eater whos been in tank even when all the females cought it n died yet he dont seem to have any fuzzy on him n has lived thru it all... i just went out n bought a bottle of maracyn-oxy and dosed the tank...


since trying to get a picture is a pain i got sum video of him swimming you can see it on front of him...

YouTube - betta white fuzzy fungus?


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## chris oe

I think I can kind of see it. I'm worried it might be saddleback columnaris. Did all the fish that died get fuzzy in the same place approximately? Do a google images search and see if he looks kind of like the images you get to you. Columnaris is kind of a funny disease, 'cause the area is very specific where the fish will get their lesion (area that gets fuzzy) and its always the same. I would be tempted, if I were you, to isolate him (columnaris spreads from fish to fish very easily) and treat him for columnaris. I'd also do a really good clean and sterilize on the tank and all your equipment, especially if he reacts well to the columnaris meds, 'cause its a pretty vicious little killer, if this is what it is, and betas, being nippers, are even more likely to spread it. Heck, if this guy reacts well to the columnaris meds, you may even want to give the rest of your fish a course of treatment (after the clean and sterilize of the tank) just in case somebody is in the beginning stages of it and hasn't started to show symptoms. I would still isolate him, though, because some strains of columnaris are resistant to some of the meds, and you're not going to want all of your fish infected. Fortunately these guys are so good about small tanks. 

Good luck,
Chris


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## chris oe

Did a little reading around about columnaris, since we're dealing with this right now. Apparently it thrives at temps above 80F, so if you can bring the tank temp down to 75F that will be helpful. Adding salt at the rate of 1 tbsp per 5 gallons also helps. Columnaris is gram negative, so Maracyn will not help, I found a great article with a whole lot of good suggestions on treatment options at 

Columnaris (Flexibacteria); Aquarium/Pond Treatment, Prevention; Fungus, Saprolegnia

National Fish Pharm also has products and will give you advice

Fish Skin Disorders

I don't have any commercial interest in either of these places. You may find medications locally, just keep in mind they have to be gram negative, if the fish store person doesn't know what gram negative means, try someplace else.


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## xbabygurlxxx

no when i had the 2 sets of females it started in random spots on them.... well other then the algea eater he is isolated... the other 3 are in bottles in his tank and have there own water. he so far seems fine...eating like normal swimming lots not sad n sluggish at all... the algea eater thats been thur it all still has no fuzzy period on him... im not sur how to read the temp on the tank the themometer sticker has 72 lit in dark blue 74 lit in med blue 76 lit in tan and 78 lit in brown the rest is black...im gonna give him next dose @ 9pm and am keeping the light off like it said. also i dont think hed have any open wounds theres no other fish able to nip him and there is nothing but the 3 smooth glass bottles and a bubble bar in tank...and the thing to the water filter but thats smooth too. when i cleaned tank after females i took tank into tub rinsed with really hot water then sprayed with clhorox anywhere spray cuz all i had let it sit a min then rinsed again with really hot water...sprayed scrubbed n rinsed bubble bar n water filter too.


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## majerah1

Does sound like Columnaris,which is very hard to get rid of with bettas.First off,its stressful to have them small bottles in the big tank like that so you should set up places for each seperate.Second them stick on thermometers are mostly crap,you should get the kind that goes in the tank.Third,if you want to steralize the tank with bleach,do one third bleach two thirds water.Soak it for a day in that.Then rinse,sit in sun to dry for three days,then bring in and rinse with hot water,wiping the inside with a paper towel that has dechlorinator on it,just to get rid of residue.Do the treatment recomended above,and after the fuzz is gone,keep an eye out for finrot as stress from meds usually brings that on afterwards.


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## xbabygurlxxx

ok well im gonna goto pet store and find one these cemicals it list for that cuz that sounds more like it...it spread like a virus in last 2 batches n so this says its very contagious...his is growing much slower then it did with the femailes prolly cuz its only him and the waters cool plus hes much bigger being that hes a halfmoon king not a tiny vieltail female...gonna get another filter for when i replace after treating too.... should i get a new bubble bar too? i dont wanna keep it in there if it could be harboring the disease...


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## Bettalovely

majerah1 said:


> Does sound like Columnaris,which is very hard to get rid of with bettas.First off,its stressful to have them small bottles in the big tank like that so you should set up places for each seperate.Second them stick on thermometers are mostly crap,you should get the kind that goes in the tank.Third,if you want to steralize the tank with bleach,do one third bleach two thirds water.Soak it for a day in that.Then rinse,sit in sun to dry for three days,then bring in and rinse with hot water,wiping the inside with a paper towel that has dechlorinator on it,just to get rid of residue.Do the treatment recomended above,and after the fuzz is gone,keep an eye out for finrot as stress from meds usually brings that on afterwards.


This. Having them in bottles in a larger tank like that could be stressing them out which can make them more likely to become ill. Do they flare at each other a lot? I would definitely follow the above advice.


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## xbabygurlxxx

i didnt have bottles with females they had free roam of the 10gal tank... the male i have now faced fin for like the 1st day but they seem not to care nomore n go bout there business and r perfectly happy and eating they have no probs it the king that has roam of the tank thats ill... i got new bubble bar cuz i didnt trust the last one plus totally ditched the filter cuz ya can scrub the internals so i didnt wanna risk it causing a new outbreak... i bleached to tank for an hour...i have it fill back up n put primafix and melafix which is all i could find between 2 stores i went to plus water condition in tank with bubble bar on high to circulate it thruout tank... pettie is in a small fish bowl byself with 1 drop of betta revive... earlier be4 i went to store i noticed one scale hanging off him so im hoping this help and all can cure him...gonna release the chinese algea eater back in tank soon...hopefully he aint harboring it...he doesnt have any fuzzy on him n acts normal but hes been in tank thru the female al getting it and now the king...


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## chris oe

When you need to sterilize things, scrub them clean (you can use salt as a cleanser if you need grit, or use a nylon pot scrubber that you've never used with soap to scrub off things like dirt and algae). Once the surface is clean of dirt, you only need a couple teaspoons of bleach in a quart of water, and you only need to wet surfaces for 15 seconds to sanitize them, then rinse until you can't smell bleach anymore. Its probably a good idea to use dechlorinator in any case, but rinsing is a must. You can also boil things like nets and airstones and so on in boiling water in a pot on the stove for a few seconds, provided they're made of things that can stand to be boiled (most things are). You can also use an old toothbrush if it is really clean (you can boil it with the rest of the fish equipment to make sure) and use that to help you scrub in hard to reach corners, just don't scrub algae with it and then use it on your teeth (lol)

I really don't think Pimafix and Melafix will help your fish with columnaris. They're great remedies for injuries and stuff like that, but they're not strong enough for this. Columnaris is a really nasty bad disease. Its like when you've got strep throat, you can't just take tylenol, you have to get an antibiotic from the doctors. Well this is the same thing, but you can't just use just any old antibiotic, it has to be a gram negative antibiotic. What I would do is call before you go to any more pet stores, tell them you have a fish with "Col-um-nair-is" and you need a gram negative fish medicine for it. If they don't understand or don't have anything, just call another store, that'll save you some driving around. 

You could try calling a vet, but I have no idea what something like that would cost. I suppose you could ask what it would cost first. ? 

but you shouldn't have that much difficulty finding a place with somebody who knows what they're doing, this is a pretty common disease, and anyplace who sells fish should know what it is and have stuff to sell for it. You will probably have to ask questions, though.


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## xbabygurlxxx

well the algea eater is back in tank n is still alive so water is good... i have petie in a small bowl right now with betta revive in the water... hes just relaxing...had bit too eat too...

heres a couple pix from the bowl...lil easier to get pix now that hes staying still a bit...you can see it hanging off him...his fins so far are fine n fuzz free same with his mouth...


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## xbabygurlxxx

like OMG WoW for being less the $2 n only on second treatment looking at him there is 0 fuzz!!!! i LOVE this betta revive stuff!!!


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## chris oe

Well, gratz on the "no fuzz" - what does the beta revive say about how long you need to treat him? Make sure you treat the full amount of time so it doesn't come back, and thank goodness you found something so great. I'll have to remember this stuff.


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## xbabygurlxxx

package says prevents & controls protozoan, bacterial, & fungal diseases.
active ingredients speen recovery. safe & effective short-term treatment.

for prevention & treatment of diseases in betta:best used with daily water changes. 1 drop per 16oz water daily for atleast 3 days. discontinue use after cure has been achieved. treatment should be discontinued after 7 days. if cure has not been achieved use an alternative course of treatment.

ingredients: water, neomycin sulfate(<10%), methylene blue (<0.5%), proprietary polymer mixture, buffers EDTA, malchite green chloride (<0.01%), cyanocobalamin, & electrolytes.

comes in .08fl oz to treat 5 gallons... 

im keep him in 1 more day then release into tank which is being treated with melafix & pimafix to be on safe side...


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## chris oe

Sounds great! Congratulations-


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## Skybox

I had 3 with the same problem, Only one made it. I miss my "half moon"!
After this happen, I had A LOT of these little white bacterial running around in my tank. 
Has this ever happen to any one. How can i kill them. I'm even scare of it!
*c/p* *sad:betta:


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## chris oe

Its very contagious. Once you've had it in your tank, if it keeps spreading, you need to look at treating the whole tank, sterilizing everything (boiling water, bleach) and I do mean everything - nets, wiping down the outside of food bottles and drops bottles and tabletops with bleach solution to get dried on splashed water, the tank inside and out, everything, and keep cleaning everything like it was a baby's room until the sickness goes away completely.


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## xbabygurlxxx

yea its proving to be a royal PAIN.... after bleaching the tank and treating it with melafix & pima fix and having my halfmoon king in bowl with meds which cured him i put him back in tank whats it been 4-5 days now... lastnight i saw a small patch hangig off top his head!!! instead of taking him out i threw2 tubes the betta revive in which is enough to treat 10gal and over night the spot vanished... such a pain having feeling it was the hood cuz the bubble bar splashes water on hood which drips back in tank thats only thin i could not sumerge...i need a new hood anyways cuz 1 socket curoded out so i cant even put a bulb in cuz theres no metal part to screw bulb in and other side when will turn on flickers sum then cuts off so is going...but dam $30 just for a new hood...thats not even the tank included.... but when i do manage to get new hood im covering bottom most way with selefain so water dont ruin it like it did this one...sux they gotta be in dark till i get the money... gonna look into a small filter system prolly one for inside tank instead of hanging off the back...


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## xbabygurlxxx

this is just getting frustrating... tonight i go check on him n a part his top fin hanging off with white fuzz on it!!! so now hes starting to lose fin!!! i threw more meds in tank hopefully it will go away already!!! tomorrow im buying a small internal filter since i threw out other and even tho i feed him lil once a day theres crap all over bottom of tank which i dont get... maybe the filter might help cure this problem...atleast its wishful thinking...


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## chris oe

Oh man. I'm so sorry this is cropping back up. Yeah, I'm sure you're right, it was probably the hood, anyplace the water splashes can be a haven for crap. When you replace the hood, see if you can get one of those combos where you have a lid with a light that sits on top of it, so that the light is sealed off from the water, and then you can wash the lid when you need to, bleach it if you need to. Everything around your aquarium you need to be able to clean it down to the shine, I tell people its just like a baby's room, you need to be able to sterilize everything. If you can't boil it or bleach it, don't buy it (except fish and plants of course - lol) 

is there an 800# on the tubes of this remedy you're using? or a website? you might want to see if you can call them up and ask them if this stuff is good for columnaris or not, although if it went away the first time this is a good sign, he may just have gotten reinfected when he came back to the tank. I'm just a little worried about the fuzz coming back on him, if it might mean that this stuff isn't going to keep it away for good or not. Probably worth watching and waiting to see, but if they have an 800# might be worth a call. 

Good luck, 
Chris


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## Skybox

Just don't do what i have done. I had put one of my bettas into a cup and put about 3 mg of methylene blue. My sick betta just went wild and Die. I was so mad at myself for try to cure it in a small cup! :real mad:*tnpe


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## chris oe

I don't know what the dosage would have been, but you can't beat yourself up about it. columnaris is really tough to beat, and apparently betas have a real tendency to get it, so it is probably a good idea for people who love and keep betas to educate themselves about it, about treatment and about prevention. That's all you can do about stuff in the past, is let it teach you, 'cause you can't change it. Better to put that energy into learning all you can about it, so your next fish are healthier and stronger. 

Good luck, and my condolences, 
Chris


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