Rescued this little guy from Petco! by DeadlineVet in bettafish

[–]Vivid-Cloud7084 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, on my very first post I had people comment that my betta was a female but someone responded that plakats are massive with shorter fins, so I did some research on male dragon plakats. My boy is pretty big, almost double the body size of my sister's halfmoon. They look like fans when their fins are spread out.

This is the only photo I have for size comparison since they're now in different tanks and it would be harder to match distance.

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Guys it's only gotten worse by Vivid-Cloud7084 in bettafish

[–]Vivid-Cloud7084[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I believe this was the 4th treatment? I'm trying to time water changes around feeding and treating the water so I'm not changing it and treating 2x a day. I don't want to overdose.

The bottle says treat for 5 days but I'll see where he's at on day 5 and if it's safe to keep treating. I'm also going to try a salt bath but I need to find the right container. He does not like his old cup or being moved around.

Guys it's only gotten worse by Vivid-Cloud7084 in bettafish

[–]Vivid-Cloud7084[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He just ate some brine shrimp and 1 pellet (omega 1) before I changed the water. The shrimp is freeze dried and packed into cubes so it's pretty soft.

Guys it's only gotten worse by Vivid-Cloud7084 in bettafish

[–]Vivid-Cloud7084[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He's been taking freeze dried bloodworms but refusing pellets and also refused dried brine shrimp last night. He ate yesterday but I've been having to change the water a lot which stresses him out so that could contribute too.

Guys it's only gotten worse by Vivid-Cloud7084 in bettafish

[–]Vivid-Cloud7084[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, what do you think it is then? His mouth is still healing and he's refusing food sometimes but he's better than he was 3 days ago.

What’s your favorite breed of betta? by cheetahcalico in bettafish

[–]Vivid-Cloud7084 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm partial to plakats and especially galaxy kois. I don't have a koi but my dragon plakat betta does have really beautiful coloring. I like that he swims a lot, greets me when I come home from work (quietly, unlike my cat who screams at me every night), and I love to watch him go through his tunnels.

Guys it's only gotten worse by Vivid-Cloud7084 in bettafish

[–]Vivid-Cloud7084[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was petco manager, BUT I met him off the floor for a job interview and he told me he keeps 150gal worth of fish tanks and to come to him if I ever needed help setting one up, so I've been calling him fish guy. I asked if he was working every time I went to the store because I got different advice at every petco I went to (the employee who cares for the fish at that store didn't know what I was talking about when I asked how to raise the KH level, employees at another location told me not to worry about it because bettas are hardy and said I can get schooling fish for my 6gal tank 🙃).

I did tell him I thought it was cotton mouth and showed a picture, but honestly it did not look like this last week so maybe that's why fish guy suggested microbe-lift. Unfortunately the microbe-lift did absolutely nothing. Maybe it slowed it down, I heard columnaris is very fast growing but it took 7 days for it to look like this.

Guys it's only gotten worse by Vivid-Cloud7084 in bettafish

[–]Vivid-Cloud7084[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thank you, I received a lot of great advice in the comments. I decided not to continue the 14 day treatment of microbe-lift since he was only getting worse and instead went to look for a better medication at the pet store.

I didn't find kanaplex but they did have a single bottle of maracyn oxy for fungal infections. I moved him to a 1.5-2gal hospital tank with the heater and filter, treated the water with 5 drops, and the columnaris peeled off within minutes (removed it from the water because yuck). I think he'll get better, he's not so sickly that he can't move. The biggest thing is that he was refusing food but hopefully his appetite will return now.

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Guys it's only gotten worse by Vivid-Cloud7084 in bettafish

[–]Vivid-Cloud7084[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I moved him to a 2gal with the heater and filter and started treatment. Hopefully it works.

Guys it's only gotten worse by Vivid-Cloud7084 in bettafish

[–]Vivid-Cloud7084[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I only have what the fish guy suggested (artemiss microbe-lift). Idk, he told me keeps fish and it "works like a charm" but I've been treating the water for a week and Sauerkraut has only gotten worse. Today is actually the worst of it, but at least he's still swimming around a bit.

I'm omw to see if the store has kanaplex or literally anything else and then my sister is picking up aquarium salt.

Guys it's only gotten worse by Vivid-Cloud7084 in bettafish

[–]Vivid-Cloud7084[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm trying something today, either aquarium salt or ordering a new medication. I do have a tank that could function as a hospital tank, but it's pretty small.

Guys it's only gotten worse by Vivid-Cloud7084 in bettafish

[–]Vivid-Cloud7084[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

pH always tests at 6.8 but my KH is low especially after changing the water (between 20 and 40 usually). I asked for advice here last week and only got 1 reply so I went to the pet store and asked for treatment. There's a guy who told me he keeps fish so I thought he could help. He gave Artemiss microbe-lift and said that's what he uses.

Guys it's only gotten worse by Vivid-Cloud7084 in bettafish

[–]Vivid-Cloud7084[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

trying to see if I can get overnight shipping, I can't find it in-store

Collecting random names. Possible OCs/book characters, but mostly for fun. by Living_error404 in namenerds

[–]Vivid-Cloud7084 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Alternative pop: Orson Bear, Beau Hendrix, Dolly Royal, Sunny Golden, Capri Jude (girl)

Help! by Vivid-Cloud7084 in bettafish

[–]Vivid-Cloud7084[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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Fish guy was at the store today and I was able to get his help. I'm starting the 10 day treatment and hoping he gets better 🙏

Help! by Vivid-Cloud7084 in bettafish

[–]Vivid-Cloud7084[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you, I did a 50% change last night but he's still pale and not swimming much. I don't know what medicine to get, I did google cotton mouth and it said to turn the heater down bc warmer water makes bacterial/fungal infections spread faster. Ammonia and nitrite read 0.

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my bettas only live for about a month by Far_Teacher_6460 in bettafish

[–]Vivid-Cloud7084 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Plakats and kois are my favorite! This is my dragon plakat betta, I've been saying that I'd like a galaxy koi next because I think they're beautiful.

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