Question
Mercutio- fungus?
Hi! My betta Mercutio has what I finally realized 2 days ago is a fungus. I have since done some reading and feel poor water quality (my slackness) is likely the culprit. I have changed his water twice in the past 2 days: 1st time was 50% change & I added a dose of Maracyn 1, but overfed him, (he ate nothing anyway), so I cleaned it ALL out yesterday with hot water, soaked his aquarium decorations in a bucket of warm water and Maracyn, then rinsed them and put them back in the tank. I left him inside the container I usually put him in when I clean the tank, with all fresh water and a little bit of Maracyn. After leaving the container (with him in it) in the tank to acclimate to water temp. I put him back in with just a little of the medicated water.
Now! My question is: I've made the water warmer, there's a tad of medication in from the change-over, and it's sparkly clean in his tank. I also haven't fed him again. He looks to have a more greyish discoloration on his head and about 1/2 his body, nothing really on fins except the top one looks more "swept back" than it used to be. He began acting more listless though I suppose about a month or more ago, but developed to "hanging out in a surface corner of the water" this weekend, so I took a closer look.. One eye looks more popped out than the other, and his tummy's been bulgy for months. It sounds silly but it didn't occur to me he was constipated. At first it looked abnormal but then it "evened out" and now he just looks like he's been growing. His swimming used to be normal, and he was friendly and knew when you were looking at him, but yeah, for a month or more now he's been listless, and especially weird the past few days. Every now and again he'll start jerkily shooting around the tank real fast, then goes back to hanging out at either the top or bottom again. Do you think he has just fungus on the outside, or might he have swim bladder disease? And what course of treatment should I pursue best now? Is Maracyn ok for what I think is a fungal thing? I had another fish die of fin rot half a year ago and it was traumatic... I want to be patient but also want to make sure I'm treating him properly! Thanks so much for your time.
AnswerHi Samantha,
The most important thing you can do for a fish is give him good clean water. That means putting him in a large enough tank (at least a 10 gallon) and changing 25% of his water once a week, EVERY week. If you don't do that, bad things happen and it can be difficult or even impossible to fix them. Note that is much better to change 25% of his water rather than cleaning it all out. Cleaning it all out can be very shocking to a fish. If the tank gets dirty, do more frequent 25% water changes. Also, be sure that you are not overfeeding him. Only give him food that he eats right away. Never give him food to "eat later".
-- Ron C.
rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>
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