Betta fish are recently gaining their fame with their beauty. They are considered as one of the most beautiful freshwater species of fish and the most wonderful pets for beginners.
If you are interested to keep betta fish at home, you should be ready to prepare a large tank and maintain high quality of water. By doing so, you will ensure that your betta fish will live healthily and happily inside their tank.
Also look at the another popular fish species, koi fish. You will be amazed with all the characteristics each of popular koi fish types has.
Besides preparation, knowing the common diseases betta fish often have is also important. You won’t see your betta fish died easily, will you? By knowing these common diseases of betta fish, you will be able to prevent some conditions provoking them. So, let’s see the top 4 diseases betta fish commonly have.
- Fin Rot
Fin rot is commonly caused by bacterial infection of the fins. The bacteria eat away at your fish’s fins. It is commonly triggered by the poor water conditions that lead the fish to stress. Dirty water in the aquarium leads to the overwhelming aquarium bacteria.
You might also want to know water quality problem in aquarium and the causes of cloudy water in aquarium. Most of the bacteria in the aquarium are harmless, but when your betta fish is in a weak condition, it will be susceptible of infection, specifically the bacterial infection causing fin rot.
The condition is getting worse as your betta fish’s immune system lower down and unable to fight diseases. If this disease is left untreated, the whole body of the fish will be affected and finally it might kill the fish.
This disease can be noticed by these following symptoms, such as small holes in the fins, the edge of the fins changes color to black, white, or red, the fins seem to be thin and colorless. When your fish are sick they will commonly show symptoms that tell your fish is sick. So, be aware of any symptoms shown by your fish.
If your fish gets this disease, isolate it before further treatment. Isolating will be helpful to reduce the severity of the infection. Then, don’t forget to do complete water change and cure the fish with some anti-fungal medications and tetracycline. The earlier you notice this disease, the easier it will be to treat.
- Constipation
It is also possible for a betta fish to get constipation. When you feed overfeed your betta fish, they would be likely to get constipation. Make sure you include the nutritional food to feed your betta fishes. The symptoms of constipation are lack of appetite, swollen abdomen and you wouldn’t find any feces in the bottom of the tank.
To treat constipation in betta fish, fasting might be needed for around 1 or 2 days. The other way to treat it is by feeding a single frozen pea without the skin. The fiber in frozen pea helps to move the blockage. Then, you can remove the uneaten pea after around 20 minutes.
- Ick
Ick is a disease caused by parasite infection. These parasites are always present around your betta fish and just need to wait for the chance to latch to your betta fish. You can notice the signs of ick in the beginning, such as the presence of white spots on the scales.
The white spots look like tiny cotton balls. These white spots are actually cysts that nurse the immature stage of the parasites, called tomites. Your fish will clamp their fins and rub against any surface in order to remove the parasites.
This disease can be treated with free swimming stage. It means you need to remove the carbon filter and add some malachite green as the ick treatment to the water. Then, you can level up the temperature of the tank to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. This process will encourage the cysts to burst and detach. The tomites will be released and the medication in the water are able to kill them.
- Swim Bladder Disease
This disease surely affects your fish to be able to swim normally. If you notice your fish having problem in maintaining their balance and swim on one side instead, then they might have swim bladder disease.
Your fish might also have some other problems when they have problems in swimming as mentioned in reasons why your fish is floating fish tank. This disease is commonly caused by bacterial infection due to poor water quality. However, injuries caused by breeding and fighting might also lead to this disease.
Swim bladder disease can be treated by moving the affected betta fish to a shallow tank. Make sure that the water line is only a few inches above its top fin. Then, you can add some antibiotic to the water and make daily changes of water until your fish fully recovers.