Lonely Angel

Last night when I said goodnight to Jake one of the spikes of his tail (he's a CT) was red, so I thought that maybe it has gotten cought filter intake tube. I turned off the filter (until I can fit a net over it) and added vita-chem and garlic guard to his water.

Now this morning I see a small round object stuck to the base of his tail. It looks like a miniature tick so I'm thinking it's a parasite. It's a white oval ball with a tiny black speck at the front of it. Is this a parasite? Also, do you guys think it's in any way related to his bloody fin? He's still active and behaving normal, and he was eager to eat this morning.

I'm going out now to get some parasite-rid just in case, but hopefully I'll have a more knowledgable opinion before I treat him. I'm so worried about my little Jakey. Please someone help if you can.

capekate

I dont know what is going on with his fins.. but as far as that bug that is on him? I would pick it off.. it almost looks like some kind of water bug. But it also appears in the photo to be sitting on him and not in him...I would pick that thing right off asap! Its summer and all kinds of insects and critters can crawl into our tanks this time of year!

Lucy

Gosh, it looks like a tick. Is that even possible?

COBettaCouple

Yea, I've never seen anything like that on any of our fish.

capekate

Last I knew, ticks will drown in water. At least thats what I hope when I pick them off the dogs and flush them lol...

Red_Rose

In the second picture, it looks like something is latched onto his tail but in the first picture, it looks like a discolored bump that's forming in his tail. If that's the case, I'd say that he might have flukes since they tend to start as a bump or "pimple" on the fins or body.

My Jake had flukes awhile back and it first started off as a big bump inside his lower lip and then it turned into what looked like a pimple.

Lucy

I burn them.

I just looked it up, ticks don't drown.

http://www.healthypet.com/library_view.aspx?id=51

Fishies-for-me

Sure looks like a parisite to me. It also looks fatter in the 2nd pic. I also would take the chance of removing it. Unless it is really stuck and hard to take off then I would leave it and treat the tank with an anti parisite med. Good luck.

capekate

UGGGGGHhhhh...... guess I have to squish them to death! For some reason, I just cant burn them..

But yes.. about that bug/parasite... the first photo looked like it was possibly under the skin, but the second photo does not. So with that, I just figure the second photo is clearer and hopefully its something she can just pick off the fish with no harm done.

aquariumnewbie

I've never seen something like that before! If I were you, I'll remove it and torture that whatever parasite it is for sticking onto the fish.

chickadee

There are meds for external or internal parasites and I think rather than trying to catch him and pick it off of him I would be getting a med to kill the thing in case it has attached itself to him somehow and you could injure him somehow by trying to physically remove it.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...fm?pcatid=4721

This will work well if you do not have snails or scaleless fish like catfish or others in your tank or real plants. Copper products do not do well in tanks with those types in them. But if your betta is in a tank with the above in it then you could and should remove him to a quarantine tank to treat him alone. The problem is that the parasites will be in the tank and could resettle on him without treating the tank so it may be worth losing the real plants if you have them to treat the tank as well but if you have scaleless fish or snails they will have to be removed from the tank to treat with Copper products or it will burn them.

Rose

Lonely Angel

Okay, I bought some parasite meds from the LFS. I wasn't sure what to get so I bought everything that even mentioned the word "parasite" on the package.

Maracide (by Mardel) liquid. ingredients: malachite green, chitosan

Parasite Clear (by Jungle) dissolving tablets. ingredients: praziquantel, diflubenzuron, metronidazole, acriflavine

Parasite Guard (by Jungle) dissolving granules. This one doesn't list ingredients.

BettaFix (by API) liquid. I seem to recall that there was a controversy over the safety of this product, so I probably won't use it but I bought it just in case.

Does anyone have experience with any of these?

One of the boxes shows drawings of several different parasites and the image of body flukes looks a bit like what Jakey has.

edit: he's alone in his tank and there are no live plants so I'll just leave him where he is while I treat him.

chickadee

Of the ones you have listed, I would use the Maracide. The choice I would have made to begin with would have been Coppersafe but you do not have it listed so Maracide it is. Although it is the harshest of the bunch.

Although Parasite Clear is the least harsh I am afraid it will not be strong enough to do anything with this problem but it is always nice to have on hand.

The other med I have no experience with and do not want to recommend it.

Bettafix I would return to the store and never use on any living thing.

Rose

Lonely Angel

Yeah, I couldn't find any coppersafe locally. I'll try the maracide. Should I treat at half strength or something since it's so strong?

Fishies-for-me

Is there a petsmart there?? that is where I got the coppersafe for the velvet on Floyd. It seemed to be pretty easy on him and it says it is stable in the water for 1 month so You only have to replae what you remove during water changes.

chickadee

Unfortunately in order to make it effective it always has to be used at the dosage recommended. It is harder on your fish than other meds but he should be okay to use it on if he is healthy otherwise. Just be sure to remove the carbon filter from your tank when you do this. (only the carbon part) and be prepared to put a new carbon filter cartridge in as soon as the treatment is completed according to the label. Follow the treatment instructions to the exact letter and do not guess at directions. If the first round of treatment does not work I would not repeat it and make every effort to obtain a small bottle of Coppersafe but make sure to remove the Maracide from the tank with carbon filtration first and then remove the carbon filter again before starting the Coppersafe if you do. If using two types of antiparasitic medications do not work then I would consider the possibililty that is is a growth of some type. But this is not likely.

Rose

Lonely Angel

I gave Jakey a dose of the Maracin, and I also ordered a bottle of coppersafe from DFS with overnight shipping. When that gets here I'll do a water change and start treating with it. I use plain filter floss, but I do have carbon filters on hand. How long should I leave the carbon in for before starting the coppersafe?

Thanks for all this help

chickadee

Since it has only been the one dose and it is not a huge tank 8 hours or so should do it and then the new meds can be added when you remove the carbon and put some new filter floss in. I know it is a hassle but I think you will be happier with the results. I do hope that Jakey will be okay and please do keep us advised of his progress as we do care how he is doing.

Thank you for letting us know how you are doing and what is going on.

Rose

Lonely Angel

The parasite looks like it's getting a little bit thinner, so hopefully that's the medicine working. The coppersafe should arrive today so I'll start treatment with that. Jakey's still active and has a good appetite so at least the parasite doesn't seem to be causing him pain.

This morning I soaked Jakey's dried bloodworms in vita-chem, but the silly boy looked at me like I was crazy. He tried it a few times but kept spitting it out, then he swam over the the glass and stared at me. "I won't put up with this, Mom. Give me the good food!" hehehe my silly little boy

chickadee

I used to soak the bloodworms in Vitachem and they would not eat them either so I stopped and so I soaked them in the Garlic Guard and some of them would and some wouldn't so now I put the VitaChem in the water and give them the bloodworms dry but one at a time and make them chew each one up good before they get the next one and they know they have to chew or they don't get another one. It is a small ritual that we go through and it takes longer but I do not mind as it is quality time that I get to spend with each of them and as long as they are chewing their food up it will go down okay. I have not had any constipation problems with this practice. But they do get their pea treats 2 or 3 times a week too.

Rose

COBettaCouple

Glad to hear of the improvement.

Lonely Angel

Jakey's parasite is nearly gone now. It's shrunken down really small and I can barely see it anymore. The coppersafe worked really well.

Thank you to everyone who helped!

chickadee

I am so glad. Thank you for letting us know.

Rose

COBettaCouple

Good to hear.

sapphirebetta

maybe its a tumor on his tail (Blech)

Lonely Angel

Thankfully it's gone now after treating him with coppersafe, so it was just a parasite.

chickadee

I want you to know that right now there is no such thing as "just a parasite". Parasites are just as deadly as any of the viral or bacterial diseases that we have been fighting lately. They just act in a different way. So thankfully you caught the one on Jakey before it got out of hand and caused a problem with him or other fish. I am so glad it is gone.

Rose

Lonely Angel

I didn't mean to discount it as nothing; believe me, I was very worried for my boy when he had it! I know how dangerous parasites can be, since I lost my first betta Ianto to an internal parasite. I just meant that thankfully it was something that there was medication available for and that I was able to cure quickly. I treated it very seriously and did everything to take care of my Jakey just as I would if he'd had any other problem.

Also, (in case someone reads this in the future because they have the same problem) from the research I did I believe that Jakey had a body fluke.