Types Of Fish Tank Fungus
Strange white growth on betta fish’s gill? Answers desprately needed!!!!?
hi, my bff just got her second betta. She had one living in a singular bowl before. Now he shares a new tank with my freinds second betta. (They have a divided tank.) They enjoy short flaring sessions once a day and always swim in sparkling clean aged water. however late last night my freind was freaking out in her fishroom. On her first fish, the original one, she spotted a tad of cottony stuff- fungus. But she knew that it was only a small bit of fungus. But another thing popped up the same night- a white growth that sticks out on “sam” ’s gill. She had never seen it before and it is three dimensonal so it was not just rapid color change. This morning he wouldn’t follow her finger or eat anything!!! PLease help, I love that fish?? And what could the growth type thing be???
Bowls are not a good place for bettas and often times they do not live out their fullest life and end up sick a lot from these inadequate housings.
Your friend needs to get the bettas a 5 gallon tank (per betta) that is heated and filtered or a 10 gallon with separation. Bettas are tropical and they require a steady 74-78 F temp, which only a heater can provide, the word STEADY being important, and bettas need a filtration system. Otherwise, water can look ’sparkling clean’ but in test fatal. In fact, without a filter, they are swimming in ammonia and nitrite rich water, which is what causes infections like what you have described. Test it with a liquid master kit and she’ll see what I am speaking of.
The second thing she needs to do is to diagnose the problem. If it doesn’t look like sprinkled salt then it is not ich as some people on here have suggested that jump to that conclusion everytime someone says their fish is sick. If you have described a white patch that is ‘fuzzy’ it could be two things. One is a fungus. This can be treated with Pimafix, aquarium salt and an anti-fungal antibiotic. It can also be columnaris. Many people mistake columnaris for fungus because it does look like a fungus but in fact is a serious bacterial infection that requires a gram negative anti-biotic, like Maracyn 2 and even Melafix helps.
She’ll need to google both fungus or columnaris to view pics and see which it likely is. Columnaris is virulent and needs to be treated VERY fast and will result in death in the early stages if let go.
Unfortunately unless she gets her bettas in the proper homes they will continue to fall ill and will not live out the 3-5+ years that they can when in a proper filtered, heated tank.
Good luck: )
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