My betta baby might have TB

:( This has been a horrible horrible two days.

Dionysus, my first and only betta, has suddenly taken a turn for the worse. It started out looking like swim bladder disorder. He had trouble swimming. But then it got different--instead of floating, he would sink. His body remained vertical, when he did lay on the ground(most of the time) it was on his side. When he did swim, it was clear his fins were clamped and his back was horribly curved downwards and making it hard for him to swim.

So I started treatment with indian almond leaves and epsom salt. Just in the time it took to prepare the water he already looked worse and had started to lose color. It's hard to tell if he has any injuries, his scales are a vibrant purple red that already look the color of a normal inflamed area on a different color fish.

By this morning he could barely make it to the surface of the water. His eyes are now protruding out like popeye and he suddenly looks like he has lost a ton of weight and is looking malnourished.

I'm at a loss. His water parameters were fine. I didn't feed live foods--I don't know where a parasite could have come from unless something was just in our water. This all happened so fast. Ugh.

I've heard tuberculosis will often mimic other diseases since it affects the organs. I know it causes a bent spine. I also know it's fatal.

I want to wait it out, because part of me hopes it's just swim bladder disorder and he'll get better. He's just a year and two months old, you know? He could have bounced back and had a few more years with me. But with how bad he is this morning I don't know if I should let him suffer longer.

But he's my first pet fish ever. :tears: He is my little prince!

Such a sad, sad day. :(

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._6940392_n.jpg

Dionysus in his prime.

Pretty fish don't know much about it but good luck hope he pulls through:please:

TB usually takes a little longer to come to full bloom. Sounds like a sytemic infection. Unfortunately I've been out of bettas long enough to hav forgotten most everything except the Indian leaves. Sorry I can't help.

I know it takes a while for it to take effect, but I have seen it come and kill off fish without ANY symptoms during that time. They all seem to be optional "it might cause this, but it might not", sort of things. I'm on a betta forum right now talking to them about it. It could be a bunch of different things. I'm still treating him--using the leaves and salt. He's still alive today but not well. Gave him shallow water so he doesn't have to swim up to the top. A betta breeder told me I will know for sure in 4-6 days what it is--if it's an infection, it should clear up with the medication and I will see improvement at that time. Almost all other betta infections get better with clean warm water, epsom salt, and indian almond leaves. TB is one of the only ones that actually does not respond at all to this type of treatment.

Still hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.

Good luck with him.

Thanks.


Sigh, the sad boy this morning before his water change:

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...g?t=1318208691


Sad to think in only a few short days he would look so different than his usual handsome self. :(

Still alive, still around the same healthwise. He sits normal sometimes, but sometimes sits vertical. I lowered the water for him so he can breathe a little easier, he likes to sit just underneath the top now while relaxing at the bottom.

Trying my best to keep him comfortable at least.

Sorry to hear about your fishy, I hope you can find some answers. Looks like a stunner of a fish, I've had bettas but never had anything likes this happen

Any change yet?

Looking a little healthier and swimming horizontally again. Still dragging his rear end occasionally and spends most of his time at the bottom. Now he moves his pectoral fins though to keep his balance instead of just sitting there motionlessly! He will sit vertically still(but face up, not the face down death hang!)

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...n/CRW_9749.jpg
See blur? He's still swimming around, looking for bloodworms.


http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...n/CRW_9753.jpg


Now he doesn't slide at the bottom any more, he keeps himself afloat barely above the bottom. Seems to have gotten spoiled on bloodworms now and won't touch pellets. At least it's a higher protein diet which is what I was going for, just hoping I can get him to eat other foods!

he sounds like hes doin better sicne he is not sittin still on the bottom of the tank

Yeah I think so too! I don't want to get my hopes up too much, I know bettas are prone to doing the whole "Oh yay look I'm getting better--oh wait, -dead-" thing after getting sick. They are just so sensitive that a little bit can do serious damage. But it's nice to see his personality shining through.

Seems he also has finrot. I know recently we have had bizarre things happen all over my town(like, recently there was a chemical fire/explosion that spread a terrible gas over the city, people were like saying to not let your dogs out for days in my area) and I wonder if something bad was in our water. All this stuff started to happen after a water change. I never slacked on my water changes, so I wonder if some kind of chemical got through despite dechlorinator that did some damage just as he was also developing SBD. It seems to have appeared on the same day. I wasn't 100% sure before, but now I am.

Anyway, he still seems to be doing better. Still wobbly and falls to the side, but is stronger and looks less depressingly near death!

You'll see the fin rot in the pictures. I can't treat it right now, I'm using epsom salt which does NOT mix with aquarium salt(which treats finrot), so I'm working on getting him back to health before we worry about the fins. The daily water changes should help though!

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...n/IMG_9802.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...n/CRW_9830.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...n/CRW_9840.jpg

Hope he pulls through,. I would be devastated if my catfish or stingrays started acting that way.

how often are you changing his water? (I don't know if its the light or the camera but the water looks murky?) I had a betta that was showing similar symptoms and I just kept doing frequent water changes and he got better eventually.

hes really gorgeous! hope he pulls though for you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LaFilleClochette

how often are you changing his water? (I don't know if its the light or the camera but the water looks murky?) I had a betta that was showing similar symptoms and I just kept doing frequent water changes and he got better eventually.

hes really gorgeous! hope he pulls though for you.

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I'd guess it's just the tannins from the leaves making the water murky.

hope he pulls through. I bred bettas for a bit before law school and found it pretty interesting. never came across anything like you're dealing with though. keep us posted.

Yeah its the tannins.. keep up the good work.

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Daily water changes, sometimes twice a day if he chooses not to eat and it makes his water messy. Definitely the tannins making it mucky! (Personally driving me crazy, I love clean water! Lol!)

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...n/CRW_9877.jpg


Actually, I do have some news. After a very long conversation with a few betta breeders we think he may have a back injury. Since the treatment he has improved in every way--except for the way he curves his back down. And despite the fact that he is now eating and pooping regularly and has no swelling, he acts like a 'belly slider'. So, we think that at one point something must have happened. My guy is known for being fiesty. He's tried to jump into his filter before, and is one of the fish that will jump for the food before you even put it in the water. I'm thinking that at one point he might have hurt himself, possibly while constipated he was weaker?

The good news is, he isn't acting like the fish who never recover. He actually attempts to straighten his back and swim and actually moves around--one of the breeders had her male that jumped out of the cup while doing a water change. He missed the table and fell to the floor, and since then has had serious swimming problems related to his injury. He eats fine, still flares and acts normal--just doesn't swim. So he just sits around all day. Like my fish, he tends to rest while 'standing' on his fins, and when he does swim he hunches over.

Finally, the last symptom that didn't fit anything(and was the one reason everyone told me he must have tb) is making sense...


So, he's still improving. Today and yesterday I was able to see his usual blue shine that has been missing during these stressed out moments. Right now I'm discussing with the breeders how much longer to keep up the treatment, and when to start weaning him off the salt so that I can start treating his fins and eventually move him back to his tank.

When he is in his tank I'm going to add a lot more driftwood and plants for him to rest on closer to the surface and just in general have more hiding/resting places for him to get to place to place without long swimming stretches.