Help! I've Been Treating My Betta For This For Nearly A Month And He's No Better!

I think this is a type of fungus. Whatever it is the Seachem Sulfaplex isn't working. I've been treating him in a 5 gallon tank since February 22nd and he's just grown the exact same fluffy thing but on his tail this time. I had a mystery snail die behind some plants and I didn't notice for a couple of days. I think this is what started it. I can't find anything like it on line and no one seems to have any suggestions, so I'm asking again.

He has this little puffball that was growing behind his dorsal fin. I've pulled it off (it came away easily) and it came back but smaller. Now one is on his tail and it wasn't there yesterday. I have been giving a daily dab of methylene blue on the spot and put some on his tail because it looked a bit ragged. His tail was clean yesterday and now the fluff is as big as it is in the attached photos. ****?

He eats Omega One Betta Buffet and his appetite is good. He's quite active and showing no signs of stress or disease. Just his little foo foo.

His parameters are: Nitrates: 5, Nitrites: 0, Ammonia: 0, pH: 7.

Treatment is two level scoops of Sulpfaplex every other day, with about a 50% water change and a methylene blue dab on the spot. He did a two day treatment with Kanaplex when I thought the fungus was cleared up but he's back on Sulfaplex now.

Here's the link to two photos of the pom pom on Imgur:

 

Huh, that's pretty weird. It looks like he has a tumor that's opened up the skin which has allowed for the fungus to jump in. How long has he had that lump that I'm interpreting as a tumor? Was this a new occurrence alongside the fungus, or did he have it before?

I would say that the m blue dabbing might not be enough, and you might want to try doing a bath instead. I've never had a fungus survive more than a day after an m blue dip. When I look up sulfaplex, it says that it's more of a gentle antibiotic and antifungal and can take three weeks or more to be effective. Whenever you've tried a med for a long time and it doesn't fully work, you should try something new. You might want to consider getting a stronger anti-fungal, since I'm sure he can handle it if he's eating and swimming normally otherwise. You can also try a salt bath, just to see if the fungus is salt tolerant (if it isn't salt tolerant, the salt should zap it right away).

Edit: Hydrogen peroxide is another great, efficient, fast and easy way to kill things you don't want. Microorganisms are wiped out with H2O2 and fish are largely unaffected. If you try it, you should get an eye dropper or pipette and lift him out of the water and put a few drops directly onto the fungus (being very very careful not to let it get anywhere near his gills), then put him back in the water.

 

Thanks for the reply. It's not a tumor, it's soft and fluffy. You can see the individual fibers. It came away easily from his back and just a bit ago from his tail. I'm going to call Seachem tomorrow and see what they say. This really is a weird one but then, I had a horse who was allergic to the sun, so I'm used to odd afflictions. I'll read up on the dip and a salt bath to make sure I do it right. He's my desk buddy, even if he doesn't like me very much right now.

 

Thanks for the reply. It's not a tumor, it's soft and fluffy. You can see the individual fibers. It came away easily from his back and just a bit ago from his tail. I'm going to call Seachem tomorrow and see what they say. This really is a weird one but then, I had a horse who was allergic to the sun, so I'm used to odd afflictions. I'll read up on the dip and a salt bath to make sure I do it right. He's my desk buddy, even if he doesn't like me very much right now.

I can see the individual fibers of the fungus, but it looks like it's sitting on top of a small tumor-like mass. I can't really tell if the whole mass and white fibers are a fungus, or if the mass is flesh and the fibers are fungus, or what. Hmm, pretty strange, I hope you find out.

 

The "tumor" you're seeing is also fluffy fungus (or whatever it is.) It detaches super easy and is only held on by the tiniest bit of tissue. It hasn't regrown on his back behind his fin and his latest one was at the tip of his tail fin so that he looked like he was waving a pom pom. That grew to nearly the size of the one of his back in around 24 hours. I removed it yesterday with a Q-tip. It looks like its growing back again, although I can barely see it on the same spot on his fin. I'm going to try the hydrogen peroxide tonight since it's on the tip of his tail. I guess I just have a weird little fishie.

 

It's Saprolegnia. It might be a good idea to treat that first then see what's underneath. The treatment of choice is malachite green. Try to find just MG and not MG with formalin/formaldehyde/glutaraldehyde as that's not useful for Saprolegnia and just increases stress on the fish.

Sulfathiazole (Sulfaplex) is almost completely useless these days.

 

It's Saprolegnia. It might be a good idea to treat that first then see what's underneath. The treatment of choice is malachite green. Try to find just MG and not MG with formalin/formaldehyde/glutaraldehyde as that's not useful for Saprolegnia and just increases stress on the fish.

Sulfathiazole (Sulfaplex) is almost completely useless these days.

And...this is what I came to say. I finally found a site that gives me info on Saprolegnia and they recommended PolyGuard which does contain malachite green. I switched him over 2 days ago and darned if he hasn't grown another pom pom, on his dorsal fin this time. They also recommend an m blue swab to the spot. I've been doing that and let's just say he's not amused. But with the right treatment maybe it will work this time. He's still feeling good and eating well. Poor guy is giving me the stink eye these days instead of wanting to visit (his tank is on my desk next to my keyboard.)

 

And...this is what I came to say. I finally found a site that gives me info on Saprolegnia and they recommended PolyGuard which does contain malachite green. I switched him over 2 days ago and darned if he hasn't grown another pom pom, on his dorsal fin this time. They also recommend an m blue swab to the spot. I've been doing that and let's just say he's not amused. But with the right treatment maybe it will work this time. He's still feeling good and eating well. Poor guy is giving me the stink eye these days instead of wanting to visit (his tank is on my desk next to my keyboard.)

Seachem is too vague about their ingredients and dosages. Dosing malachite green from a dry formulation is also more complicated (it looks like Polyguard is a powder?). Anyway, Kordon makes a malachite green solution with very clear information on concentration and dosing.

I also don't think dosing every 3 days with Polyguard is adequate. It should be daily.

 

I just ordered some Kordon malachite green from Amazon. We'll see how that works. Now the betta on the other side of my desk isn't feeling the best. Sigh. It's always something.

 

I just ordered some Kordon malachite green from Amazon. We'll see how that works. Now the betta on the other side of my desk isn't feeling the best. Sigh. It's always something.

What's the temperature of the tanks? They might be a little chilly this time of the year if they don't have heaters.

 

What's the temperature of the tanks? They might be a little chilly this time of the year if they don't have heaters.

Oops, sorry I forgot to mention it. It has a heater and is 78.3 degrees.