Darling107

My fish is not doing well at all. I Need help fast, so if anyone can try, i would appreciate it. He got sick about 5 days ago, wasn't doing good at all. He sat at the bottom all day and night, his fins dropped, fuzzy stuff growing on him and he was eating but now isnt. Yesterday was the first day he looked like he was doing very well, and now today not good at all...he has cotton in his mouth now and hes starting to turn gray. I am using aquarium salt and bettafix.

PLEASE HELP!

Darling107

Nevermind i think he is dead, i tried but i didnt know much about them.

AquaGirl

It could have been some kind of a fungus, especially mouth fungus. I am sorry your fish died. I also had my fish sick a while ago. I wasn't quite sure what disease it was because she displayed many diseases' symptoms. But she also had cottony growths on her body. Eventually she got body fungus. I used Maracyn I & II. They work great together and cure multiple diseases (including secondary infections resulting from the initial disease the fish got). My fish is OK now. I think they'd work for you if your fish were still alive.

I think what you need to do now is try to find out what went wrong. Make sure your tank water is cycled and test it for ammonia, pH, nitrite, and nitrate. Maybe you're well familiar with cycling process and water testing, so just disregard my advice. But if not, then you need to change 20-25% of your tank water every week or two - depending on how many fish you have and on the kinds of fish they are. (In a newly set-up tank, you need to "cycle" the water - that is, before you buy any fish, you have to wait about a month until the water chemistry stabilizes; until ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite are at best ZERO.) Now, that you already have fish in your tank, you need to perform partial water changes every week or two - as I mentioned above. And likewise, you continue to check your ammonia, pH, nitrate, and nitrites every now and then; and monitor them very closely when the fish are sick.

Darling107

Thank you very much AquaGirl! I'm actually getting a betta soon again, I loved mine I also truely believe he was sick from the pet store. But thanks again for you help, you gave me alot of good advice for the future!

AquaGirl

No problem Darling107 This website, FishLore, has a lot of information about cycling the tank and water chemistry / water testing, fish diseases, etc. So you can also read everything here. Good Luck with the new fish.

AquaGirl

One more thing regarding fish from stores. It is actually very common to get sick fish from the store. And this is one of the most common reasons why your fish get sick - they get infected from the sick fish you buy in a pet store. Often times the diseases on newly acquired fish aren't visible, although they're already there. That is why it is always a good idea to keep an additional "quarantine" tank. When you buy new fish, it's best to put it in this quarantine tank for a period of observation (it's good to keep it there for about a month). If, after a month, the fish doesn't display any symptoms of any disease(s), it eats and moves normally, then it it is safe to put it in the main tank with the rest of the fish. This way you make sure your fish don't get infected from any fish from the store. A quarantine tank is also helpful in case the fish you already have get sick. Then, instead of keeping it in the main tank - where it will infect all the other fish - you quarantine it in your additional tank, medicate it, and put it back in the main tank when it's healthy again. A quarantine tank doesn't have to be large, 10 gallons should suffice. It also should be filtered all the time, and the water in it should be as well cycled. I know it may seem as a waste to keep an empty tank running, but believe me it's very helpful when your fish get sick or when you're buying new fish. So if you can afford it, I'd recommend you set it up. If you can't, then just be very careful when buying new fish. Never buy fish from a tank where you see dead fish floating, or fish that generally don't appear healthy to you. Good Luck

Butterfly

Well said Aquagirl!!!
Carol