i think my bettas have velvet...

I have had 2 of my female bettas die today. I have had all of the bettas for a little over a week, and kept them seperated at first to be sure they all appeared healthy. They did, so I put them all together. This morning I wake up to find one dead, and another one simply laying in the corner, breathing very slowly. I removed the dead one, and put the sick looking one in a seperate cup. The one in the cup has now died too. It looks like it might have been velvet, since there is a kind've coppery color on both of their gills. The other 3 appear fine, and are acting perfectly normal, one of them even being more active than she normally would. 1 of the females still in the tank with everyone else also has a little coppery-shimmer on her gills. Would it hurt to treat the entire tank for velvet, even though I am not absolutely positive that that is what it is?

 

Is there any way you could post a pic?

From your description, it does sound like velvet so it probalby wouldn't be a bad idea to treat for it.

-Chelle

 

I would try to post a pic, but none of my cameras like taking pictures of the fish. I think the combination of close up and moving is too much for them (none of the fish like to sit still, lol.) I will try this afternoon (when I return my second dead fish) to get some medicine for velvet. I treat velvet for 10 days, correct? To end the cycle?

 

I'd treat for a few days after the velvet is all gone (kind of like how you treat for ich).

-Chelle

 

I added the medicine today, and another one appears to be doing very poorly. I seperated it (in medicated water) to see if I could find any other indications of anything being wrong, as this fish did not display the symptoms of velvet. This fish appears to have a hole in it's head, so I will be making yet another trip to the store to get a medicine for this. Should I continue treating for velvet as I am not sure this is actually what my fish had? The 2 fish that died were darker in color, so that I would not have been able to see this kind of apparent injury as easily. The newest sickly fish is a light color, and the injury is clearly visible. Is this type of disease contagious? and will it hurt my fish to treat them for velvet if they do not actually have it?

 

What are your actual readings for ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte?

Personally, I have never heard of HITH in bettas.

-Chelle

 

Well, I tried some bettafix, since it's supposedly a miracleworker for bettas, curing even disesases it doesn't claim to cure. It seems to have really helped, all of the fish are perky and seem to feel fine. They have their personalities now, and appear fine.