# 12 tiger barbs 3 black skirt tetras and 4 bettas in PERIL!



## toilofday (Jun 29, 2007)

Hi everybody I have a mystery killer.

I moronically purchased a female betta from Wal-Mart because I felt sorry for it and being new to this aquarium bit cross contaminated the water to everything.

The female betta died from seemingly multiple diseases, and I just lost my prize betta in a very peculiar fashion. To make matters worse my 3rd favorite betta is now scratching its gills and has loss of appetite.

The sickly female died with much discoloration, a cotton patch, mild fin rot, and possibly ick and/or velvet. I know, i'm an idiot.

That all seemed to visibly develop in 2 days, and died on the second night.

2 days after its death+ my prize betta died. He didn't have any cotton patches, but one of his gills was swollen open, he developed tail rot (not from the base) that seemed to progress rather quickly, but I’m no fish expert here. He started having swim bladder issues right before his death (4 hours) and was sitting tilted. Eventually he was swimming horizontally and just before his death upside down. I have done my research since I realized the female was sick. Too bad I couldn't save her in time.

What I have the fish treated with: (this includes my prized betta R.I.P.) 


Jungle fungus clear
Tetracycline gel food replacement
salt
stress coat
stress zyme

This was all given to my prized betta as soon as he developed the visible symptoms I mentioned above.

I also have treated all of my fish with this mixture at the same time.

P.s. female was displaying symptoms (lethargy, poor eating, and dark edge of tail (not dissolved though) and she is doing better which is surprising considering she was in the same tank as the biohazard walmart fish. What a trooper.

I'm pretty sure I over medicated the "prize" and that may have helped do him in. The concentration of the jungle fungus was a little high. Ok, a lot. My bad.

Since his death I have added NovAqua at 1/2 dose
Aquara-Sol
Ampacillin food replacement gel (with no success)
The water in my 55 gallon housing the barbs and tetras is turned up to 85 and all the lights are off around all the fish. The bettas are still at 70.5 unfortunately, but I can't do anything about that.

All my fish are treated with a barrage of medicines all at proper dose. (My yellow betta has an extra drop of aquari-sol in his water. It’s supposed to be 12 drops in 10 gallons and I have 2 drops in 7/8 of a gallon) It was an accident, but that stuff is mild so I thought it wouldn’t hurt.

The problem is that my yellow Wal-Mart male that I bought with the biohazard betta is now itching his gills on the rocks. I haven't noticed it in a few hours since I added the second run of meds, but I’m concerned that my fish will all die one by one.

I looked very closely at the corpse of my prize betta and he was a bit slimy (but that could be normal or the slime coat additives). I didn't see any gold flecks, cotton or white spots, and am very confused. I even looked in his gills. Maybe I missed the gold as it seemed like velvet ant fin rot attacking my prize betta. The velvet also fits well with the itching gills of my yellow one.

Am I missing something?

OH!!! Should I get tetracycline tablets because my bettas won't eat the gel right now? I've seen them eat it once or twice each, but not like they do normal food. (one is picky and I think they have loss of appetite)

This is my first aquarium, so I want save my fish from such a terrible fate. It is my fault after all. Maybe I can blame it all on Wal-Mart.....yeah, that sounds good. Damn you Wal-Mart!


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## mHeinitz57 (Jun 9, 2007)

how big of a tank and are all of these fish together in it?!


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## toilofday (Jun 29, 2007)

55 gallon with barbs and tetras

7/8 gal individual with the bettas

I cross contaminated all the water like an idiot.


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## lioness501 (Jan 9, 2007)

may i ask how u mananged to cross contaminate the water even tho its 2 tanks???


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## toilofday (Jun 29, 2007)

By use of my only net first of all. Secondly I switched 2 of the males water bowls when I had my prize swimming around in the 55 gallon. I wanted to see if my other betta matched better. He didn't.

I ended up pulling the original out to isolation becuase he was being picked on by he tiger barbs.

Oh, and it's not 2 tanks. It's 5 tanks.

My bettas are sectioned off into the corners of an old home made 55 gallon tank that cracked when I was filling it up. I'm going to fill the center with dirt/plants and a breeding pool.


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## mHeinitz57 (Jun 9, 2007)

just curious but did you put the female with any of the males? I wouldnt put any males in the 55 with tiger barbs in there...a betta is an easy target for them.


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## toilofday (Jun 29, 2007)

Nope, the females were by themselves, and I did pull the betta out of the 55 because he was being picked on. That's also the reason I have 12 insead of 6. I thought they would calm down a bit, but the baby one are way too rude. I have 1 in particular that would litterly chase my passed betta around the tank (I removed him (betta) that day, once I saw it happen more than once by the same fish.)

Update on the sick fish.

my 2 males are both a little in active. The yellow one that was itching it's gills is a little slugish and seems to be favoring a mild tilt in his stance (very very mild though, perhaps nothing) but his apetite has returned. He at 6 hikari pelets this morning.

My other male is being very slugih and has only eaten 2 pelets. This is a little light for him, and he's not over the top active anyway.

So....I think i'm winning. Any thoughts on what the culprits are? I can't seem to figure this out.

All my barbs and tetras are acting perectly fine so i'm safe on that.


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## mHeinitz57 (Jun 9, 2007)

the flashing (itching and scratching) leads me to think it's gill flukes. Generally this leads to breathing issues so are the bettas hanging towards the top gulping air more than usual? You mentioned that you think the disease was spread by your net, well parasites are good at clinging to nets and spreading that way. You can buy anti-fluke medication or pretty much any medication with copper in it (coppersafe) does well. Just do not use that if you have any invertabrates in your tank. 

Parasites often lead to secondary fungal or bacterial infections because the skin is broken so that could explain other symptoms of your deceased fish as well. Loss of appetite is often due to stress so treating the disease can help with appetite. I noticed you were putting a lot of chemicals in your tanks...dont, lol. JUst stick with one medication only and make sure water quality stays perfect. Salt will help a little. If you are using fish bowls without filters, the stresszyme is pointless and stresscoat will do a lot better so only use that. Stresszyme is basically a bacterial supplement but definitely not one of the best ones on the market. Overmedicating and overuse of chemicals can actually cause more stress on the fishes body and cause disease to spread faster.


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