antisen

It's been a while since I've posted here, but recently Dory has been doing pretty rough... he's had fin rot on all his fins and seems to be having trouble swimming. I just started him on a course of Triple Sulfa and Rid-Fungus to try to combat it since Fungus Clear wasn't working as well as usual.

Today I was studying the water closer than usual when I suddenly noticed, to my horror, there appears to be THOUSANDS OF TINY WHITE BUGS EVERYWHERE IN HIS TANK. I can't tell if there's any on him or not. I have no idea how long they've been in there because they're tiny and white and until just now I assumed it was just debris/dust floating around... until I saw them CRAWLING on his wall. I am freaking out (if you can't tell). What do I do?? Please help!!

Thanks,
Whitney

0morrokh

Sounds like planaria. They aren't harmful...in fact your betta will probably enjoy eating them. However check to make sure you aren't overfeeding.

antisen

I'm positive I don't overfeed; I feed 2 pellets twice a day and once or twice a week when Dory is sleeping before I get home at night he only gets fed once. I also have no live plants or food that I've ever used in the tank, nor have I added any new fish. So the other weird part, besides not knowing if they're hurting him, is that I can't conceive of where they came from.

They don't look at all like planaria. They are not wormy or slug-like bugs. I attached a little picture of what they seem to look like... it's hard to tell because they are so tiny (the very largest seem are barely a millimeter long and most are even tinier) and no one I know owns a magnifying glass. They are whitish-transparent, egg-shaped with little feeler(s), and crawl on the glass and float around through the water. There don't :appear: to be any on Dory but again they are very tiny and Dory's body is light-colored so it's hard to tell.

I wouldn't be concerned if Dory was happy and healthy, but he's been ill lately and I want to make 100% sure these things aren't to blame for it.

Thanks again,
Whitney

Attached Images

littlebug.JPG (2.1 KB, 142 views)

0morrokh

Sounds like the little critters I always have in one of my tanks (little moving white dots with tails). Probably not a problem. I still haven't figured out what exactly they are.

antisen

That makes me feel better I guess... as long as your fish in that tank aren't mysteriously sick or anything then I guess they're harmless and the fin rot is unrelated. Doesn't mean I have to like them though! Have you found any way of getting rid of them? They kinda gross me out, especially since I stick my hand in there once a week to vacuum the gravel.

chickadee

I had them in one of my tanks and I used Jungle Labs Parasite Clear Tank Buddies and it got rid of them. But you have them in there and eventually they will return and you will have to treat the tank again. I am wondering if Dory brought them with him when he came to you and it has just taken this long for them to mature. I think my tank was infested from an infected fish. You need to treat the tank for sure as they will become a horrid problem and bother Dory something fierce.

Rose

0morrokh

They've never bothered any of my fish. They're just little critters that glide around the tank walls & gravel. As long as I don't overfeed they don't take over or anything. I'm curious if anyone knows what they exactly are?

antisen

I've had Dory for over a year in this tank now and for a while before that in a vase/bowl. Honestly, my school processes its own water and does so very poorly by the look/taste of it, so I wonder if they might actually be from the water supply. It's a gross thought but it's the only thing I can think of.... good thing I drink bottled water I guess. Once this medication is done I'll try parasite clear. Since they don't appear to be attaching to Dory at all I think my biggest worry now is his bad case of fin rot

chickadee

I do not know that they are harmful but when I had them in the tank with Alexander he was bothered by them and would flinch when they landed on him and I was afraid they were biting him or something so they had to go. I am always erring on the side of caution and do not like having problems I am not sure about. I will say that vacuuming alone will never rid your tank of them and eventually the gravel will be full of them. I just wanted them out and that took care of the problem for a while until the second bunch of eggs or whatever hatched and then I had to retreat the tank. Finally they stopped appearing and the fish settled down. It could be that they are harmless but he would Never eat them and like I said all I had to do was see him flinch and I disliked the little buggers.

Rose

LuvaBetta

The taste of it? um, ewww! Why are you tasting his water?

nmwierman1977

You know I have those on the walls of Rj's tank too. When I clean his tank once a week I wipe his walls down to get rid of them, but a few days later they are back. They haven't bothered him any, but now I'm wondering if maybe that whats causing him not to feel so well. They've been showing up on his walls for about 2 months now. he's been kind of sluggish lately, He's seems better this morning, but I've been putting maracyn plus and ridfungus in his tank to treat what ever is wrong with him. His body is looking kind of wierd too. Under his top fin and on his top fin his color is more of a faded color and turning whitish or grayish and the same on his bottom fin and on his body just above it. I guess if this is what's causing him to be this way after I'm done dosing him with the rid fungus and maracyn plus I'll get some parasite clear try that and see if that get's rid of it all together. Can I get that petsmart? I don't want to order anything since we are moving soon. Natalie

janoue

I know this is probally a bad recomindation, but if it were my tank, I would be moving my boy to a hospital tank for a few days, and I would be doing some serious disinfecting and i would throw out the gravel and buy new. and then put him back in with some stuff to help cycle the tank and his filter that hopefully hasn't gotten any eggs etc in it. I know thats probally a little dirastic but these are my Boys!

King_Snuggles

I would do the same as janoue but i have some left over bio-spara so i would get new filters as well. the bio wheel is only a few dollers.

chickadee

The thing about it is I have even bleached a tank and put the fish back in and they return so I believe it is something either carried on or inside the fish. This is why the fish have to be treated and then the tank is going to need to be treated again too to take care of any eggs or anything that are hatching. These are hard to get rid of.

Natalie, if RJ is by chance taking these as food he is probably constipated as he can eat a LOT of them and stuff himself and you would not be noticing. Is he usually an aggressive eater? If so I would nearly guarantee he is doing that and his discoloration is partially due to constipation and digestive problems. Sometimes even the peas will not help if they are allowed to stuff themselves and if he has an unlimited supply of food in the tank right now he is probably doing it. Alexander would not eat them but he was such a picky thing that I had trouble getting him to eat what he was supposed to most times. That does not mean that bettas will not eat them if they are the aggressive eaters that enjoy eating and will eat without being picky. If the females I had had the chance they would have chowed down on them in a minute as they were little and they moved.

Rose

nmwierman1977

Rose,he doesn't eat them and trust me he never get's constipated. He poops pretty normally. I'm not definitely sure if this is whats causing it or not.It was just a thought. I'm trying to figure the whole thing out. He's swims around fine and is still eating, so I'm not even sure if it's something serious or not. I would think that if it was he'd be doing a lot worse now and he's not. Anyway, I don't want to take this thread away from Antison I just was tossing it around in my head cuz I'm still trying to figure out why he's like this. It all happened so sudden with his color fading. Anyway, sorry Antison, didn't mean to take it over. Natalie

antisen

Well Dory's water comes from the tap just like the water I brush my teeth with, except Dory's is treated for chemicals so he's probably better off than me :P Have to say I've never tasted the water out of his tank though, which is an accomplishment since I siphon the old fashioned way

As for the bugs, I think I'll follow Rose's suggestion with the Parasite Clear for now, and if it doesn't clear up I'll take the 100% water/gravel/filter change route as troublesome as it may be. Hopefully it'll just clear up with the meds though. Natalie, we may be having the same problem because Dory is unusually sluggish as well and is losing some of his coloration, but swims and eats just fine when he chooses to. Leads me to believe it is those little bugs' fault

chickadee

Even if they are not eating them. It could be something the bugs are doing like biting or causing some type of parasitic problems of some sort. It could also be that these bettas are the carriers of the bugs in the first place and need to be treated. I know they come from somewhere and it may be that they just have to reach a certain point to be noticable. Now I know that they came from a betta in my tank and he had to be treated and the Parasite Clear is what did it but the tank had to be treated twice. Once to get rid of the adults and then the tank had to be treated again when the eggs or whatever from those adults hatched and they started to show up again. So be prepared for a repeated treatment. After the second treatment I have never seen them again but catch them right away on the notice of the second bunch before they can lay any more eggs.

Rose

antisen

Thanks for the advice Rose. Hopefully Dory will start feeling better. Neither Jungle Fungus Clear nor Triple Sulfa / Rid Fungus helped his fin rot or lethargy at all, so maybe this will fix it. I'm posting a pic in case anyone has any other ideas on how to make my poor Dory feel better. It is rather back-lit though because my light is burnt out.

Attached Images

DSCF1211.jpg (130.0 KB, 18 views)