Post by starlight on Aug 19, 2004 12:34:55 GMT -5
For the last several weeks I've been treating 4 bettas for various illnesses. It's been really crowded in my apt since I had the bettas' regular tank running with the betta in small treatment containers with air stones.
You all know about Candy but there are some other bettas in my life.
Bear...two y/o red Super Delta male and sire of my first spawn was suffering from a strange malady. I noticed a tiny hole in his anal fin about two months ago. For a long time it didn't worsen but then the leading edge of his anal fin started to get really thin. It wasn't fin rot but kinda of reminded me of a leaf that has been partially eaten by an insect. The leading edge remained intact but the middle was scalopped. Bear's a healthy gentle giant and I don't usually remove him from is custom tank more than 2 times a year. I added the usual melafix/almond leaf but nothing improved it. After awhile his activity lessoned and the fin seemed rigid.
I took Bear out and put him in a treatment container with JFE. He perked up slightly but it wasn't fin rot that I was treating. After the full treatment, I put him in Kanacyn and with a few days Bear was acting like a young pup again, flaring, begging for food. The fin started to look better. All this treatment allowed me time to research the problem. All signs pointed to calcium deficiency but that didn't make sense. I feed 8 different types of food and even add Vitachem which contains calcium. I visited a site that discussed water quality and filtration and discovered what the problem was...Zeolite! Three of my bettas are in low custom acrylic tanks, the filters are custom made (by me). I cut Poly Filters (more about this at a later date) and the top third of the filter is Marineland Black Diamond charcoal and White Diamond zeolite. I learned a few things.
(1) if you use salt, don't use zeolite! I knew that salt "recharges" zeolite but causes it to release traces of ammonia that it adsorbs.
(2) zeolite removes calcium from the water as well! Maybe this was Bear's problem.
Bear is back in his acrylic tank. I re-did the filter and the top section is only charcoal. Bear's so happy again, mostly when I feed or play with him. The rest of the time he likes to look at his reflection in a tiny corner mirror.
Bear's always made me happy since a breeder friend gave me him and two sister's in Dec 2002. Here's my tribute to Bear.
April 2003 "Look I built a nice bubblenest, my little sis Bearette (rip) is ready, I'll just look at myself until you release her"
"Anyone want to know why they call me Big Bear?"
"OK if I flare for you will you call me Flare Bear?"
The Best Daddy Ever!
========================================
Big Star..the royal bf in my sig tore a nasty split in his huge caudal fin. It's near the top and is a clean split (not fin rot) He's an active aggressive fish that killed my best female a few months ago. He's so gentle with me but acts like a shark when he sees a female. He is in a treatment tank (kanacyn) and has the exact same tank as Bear. I'll remove the zeolite from his filter and hopefully next week he'll be back in his tank.
========================================
Unnamed young ST Steel Blue HM...this is my own breeding. I was treating him unsuccessfully for fin rot in his cycled 2G. I think the filter and plants were removing the meds. I finally put him in a container with JFE for a week and now Kancyn. I see some nice regrowth. The worst splits are growing together.
========================================
Now whats a long post without mention of Candy?
Candy under treatment for various illnesses since his late June arrival had really perked up. He's always hungry and eats 5 different kinds of foods. His tail biting really messed up his caudal and it's kind of short but appears healthly. Kanacyn at the beginning (wasting away) and Kancyn at the end (tail biting fin rot) saved his little betta life. I tried a lot of things in-between and in his case Maracyn Plus, Pima Fix/Melafix did not work. He had a bad reaction to JFE which I never encountered before.
Although Candy's caudal was still short, I knew he had enough medication. Unfortunately for the unnamed steel male, I decided to put Candy in his now sterilized tank. It's everything a male betta could hope for 2G Perfecto, glass top with 7w compact fluorescent light, java ferns and java moss, jr heater for the winter, mirror in the back, female next door and a new custom filter w/o zeolite. I put him in there yesterday and Candy came alive. He's much more active than I thought. He patrols the tank constantly, he searches and cleans food off the bottom like a cory cat. He's one of the most interactive bettas that I've ever owned. His color returned to full glory. He's quite smart too and immediately learned to take advantage of the plants. usually bettas will ignore plants for awhile but not Candy. I found him sleeping under the java moss this morning and he goes through the java ferns like a pro.
Unfortunately I also noticed something else this morning. Candy's anal fin was slightly frayed. I checked water params. ammo 0, ph 7.0, nitrites 0. All were perfect. I didn't want to treat the tank since that didn't work and was wondering what to do when I hit on something. Rachel had sent me some antibiotic flakes from Fla. Guppies awhile back. She also mentioned that her bettas wouldn't eat it. It's not really a flake but a fine crumble. Candy loves the trout mix which is a larger crumble...hmmm. I turned off the filter and put some medicated food in his tank and Candy loved it. I was surprised since it's so fine. A few hours later I gave him some more. I turn off the filter since it's so fine that it would get dispersed all over the tank. Candy likes seeking out these tiny morsals and ate every little piece. Maybe this will finally cure his illness? In the meantime he hasn't stopped playing since I put him in the new tank. I'll put the steel male in a different container, he's a much smaller fish than Candy and not nearly as active. When I put Candy in the 2G, I thought he'd stay in one spot waiting for me. I was wrong, he's in the Java exploring as I type. He loves this tank and the location on my kitchen counter. Candy loves to be the first to know that it's feeding time. He goes bonkers while I get ready to feed the bettas. As most of you can figure out, Candy is the first to get fed. I love the way he hunts the bottom, finding every last morsal of food. Meanwhile his two sisters are filling up with eggs and showing their stripes. Maybe in a few weeks Candy will be Dandy?
hmmm...I told you that this post would be long
You all know about Candy but there are some other bettas in my life.
Bear...two y/o red Super Delta male and sire of my first spawn was suffering from a strange malady. I noticed a tiny hole in his anal fin about two months ago. For a long time it didn't worsen but then the leading edge of his anal fin started to get really thin. It wasn't fin rot but kinda of reminded me of a leaf that has been partially eaten by an insect. The leading edge remained intact but the middle was scalopped. Bear's a healthy gentle giant and I don't usually remove him from is custom tank more than 2 times a year. I added the usual melafix/almond leaf but nothing improved it. After awhile his activity lessoned and the fin seemed rigid.
I took Bear out and put him in a treatment container with JFE. He perked up slightly but it wasn't fin rot that I was treating. After the full treatment, I put him in Kanacyn and with a few days Bear was acting like a young pup again, flaring, begging for food. The fin started to look better. All this treatment allowed me time to research the problem. All signs pointed to calcium deficiency but that didn't make sense. I feed 8 different types of food and even add Vitachem which contains calcium. I visited a site that discussed water quality and filtration and discovered what the problem was...Zeolite! Three of my bettas are in low custom acrylic tanks, the filters are custom made (by me). I cut Poly Filters (more about this at a later date) and the top third of the filter is Marineland Black Diamond charcoal and White Diamond zeolite. I learned a few things.
(1) if you use salt, don't use zeolite! I knew that salt "recharges" zeolite but causes it to release traces of ammonia that it adsorbs.
(2) zeolite removes calcium from the water as well! Maybe this was Bear's problem.
Bear is back in his acrylic tank. I re-did the filter and the top section is only charcoal. Bear's so happy again, mostly when I feed or play with him. The rest of the time he likes to look at his reflection in a tiny corner mirror.
Bear's always made me happy since a breeder friend gave me him and two sister's in Dec 2002. Here's my tribute to Bear.
April 2003 "Look I built a nice bubblenest, my little sis Bearette (rip) is ready, I'll just look at myself until you release her"
"Anyone want to know why they call me Big Bear?"
"OK if I flare for you will you call me Flare Bear?"
The Best Daddy Ever!
========================================
Big Star..the royal bf in my sig tore a nasty split in his huge caudal fin. It's near the top and is a clean split (not fin rot) He's an active aggressive fish that killed my best female a few months ago. He's so gentle with me but acts like a shark when he sees a female. He is in a treatment tank (kanacyn) and has the exact same tank as Bear. I'll remove the zeolite from his filter and hopefully next week he'll be back in his tank.
========================================
Unnamed young ST Steel Blue HM...this is my own breeding. I was treating him unsuccessfully for fin rot in his cycled 2G. I think the filter and plants were removing the meds. I finally put him in a container with JFE for a week and now Kancyn. I see some nice regrowth. The worst splits are growing together.
========================================
Now whats a long post without mention of Candy?
Candy under treatment for various illnesses since his late June arrival had really perked up. He's always hungry and eats 5 different kinds of foods. His tail biting really messed up his caudal and it's kind of short but appears healthly. Kanacyn at the beginning (wasting away) and Kancyn at the end (tail biting fin rot) saved his little betta life. I tried a lot of things in-between and in his case Maracyn Plus, Pima Fix/Melafix did not work. He had a bad reaction to JFE which I never encountered before.
Although Candy's caudal was still short, I knew he had enough medication. Unfortunately for the unnamed steel male, I decided to put Candy in his now sterilized tank. It's everything a male betta could hope for 2G Perfecto, glass top with 7w compact fluorescent light, java ferns and java moss, jr heater for the winter, mirror in the back, female next door and a new custom filter w/o zeolite. I put him in there yesterday and Candy came alive. He's much more active than I thought. He patrols the tank constantly, he searches and cleans food off the bottom like a cory cat. He's one of the most interactive bettas that I've ever owned. His color returned to full glory. He's quite smart too and immediately learned to take advantage of the plants. usually bettas will ignore plants for awhile but not Candy. I found him sleeping under the java moss this morning and he goes through the java ferns like a pro.
Unfortunately I also noticed something else this morning. Candy's anal fin was slightly frayed. I checked water params. ammo 0, ph 7.0, nitrites 0. All were perfect. I didn't want to treat the tank since that didn't work and was wondering what to do when I hit on something. Rachel had sent me some antibiotic flakes from Fla. Guppies awhile back. She also mentioned that her bettas wouldn't eat it. It's not really a flake but a fine crumble. Candy loves the trout mix which is a larger crumble...hmmm. I turned off the filter and put some medicated food in his tank and Candy loved it. I was surprised since it's so fine. A few hours later I gave him some more. I turn off the filter since it's so fine that it would get dispersed all over the tank. Candy likes seeking out these tiny morsals and ate every little piece. Maybe this will finally cure his illness? In the meantime he hasn't stopped playing since I put him in the new tank. I'll put the steel male in a different container, he's a much smaller fish than Candy and not nearly as active. When I put Candy in the 2G, I thought he'd stay in one spot waiting for me. I was wrong, he's in the Java exploring as I type. He loves this tank and the location on my kitchen counter. Candy loves to be the first to know that it's feeding time. He goes bonkers while I get ready to feed the bettas. As most of you can figure out, Candy is the first to get fed. I love the way he hunts the bottom, finding every last morsal of food. Meanwhile his two sisters are filling up with eggs and showing their stripes. Maybe in a few weeks Candy will be Dandy?
hmmm...I told you that this post would be long
:
Not me! Sounds like your detective work must have paid off since you were able to determine the cause. Do you think the Vitachem must have prevented the effects for some time?
Great news for you though, I hope they'll help!
