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bettamergency! Anonymous
yo /an/ I have a betta that I seem to have noticed today has a gill...oddity. He had a spot or two of ich, and i've been treating that for about three days now. Today, I noticed his gill cover opening creepy far (it may open this far by default and I just never noticed) and he's got this swolen bit of gill that keeps pulsing like he's breathing heavy (only, as a betta he shouldn't be breathing under water). His right gill/gill cover look completely normal. He's acting totally normal. Maybe being a bit less of an asshole to other fish in the tank, and chills in the corner every now and then.

I did a bit of internets research and concluded it was gill infection/disease and went and picked up some Maracyn-TC to dump in the tank to hopefully help him.

Did i research correctly? Also, if so is it safe to put the maracyn-tc in the tank with other fish? I don't want to put him in the bowl as my room is kept cold as fuck and the temp would drop rapidly from that of his tank.
>> Anonymous
you have a betta in the same tank as other fish? isn't that kind of a dumb thing to do?
>> Anonymous
>>328421
I'm not the OP, but no, it isn't. Don't bother commenting if you don't know anything about Bettas.
>> Anonymous
The betta is in with other fish. He basicly spends his time being a complete asshole to other fish, but he's slower than the other fish and basicly can't do more than startle them. Bettas will kill other male bettas to death, but so far he's been pretty awesome with other fish, and i think he's been much more stimulated than he was in his featureless round bowl with nothing to entertain him.
>> Anonymous
Bettas can and do breathe through their gills, they just don't have to.

I'm no expert on medications, but I don't think it will hurt to dose the whole tank. It's just an anti-biotic. And the closest thing I know of from what you describe is gill disease. Good luck.

Have you been testing your water? Is everything in safe ranges?
>> Anonymous
I wouldn't worry about it tbh. One of my fish had a similar problem, specifically a small spot of some weird injury/fungus that I treated for. During the course of treatment, one of his gills would flare out very large.

I would only be concerned if the behavior continued after he recovered from the ich..
>> Anonymous
>>328459
Have you been testing your water?

I did a ph test and it was around normal. I haven't done a nitrate or amonia test...but i change the water weekly and just swapped out the filter. Maybe he's agitated 'cus the old filter was full used and wasn't cycling so much.

he's acting completely normal really, he even chased the catfish around the tank a little while ago. it just freaked me out because at one point i saw his gill open and i saw a meaty inside of it, and it isn't something i normally see.
>> Anonymous
>>328498
>...and just swapped out the filter.

By this, I hope you mean, you left the filter media in the filter along with the new one you were putting in for a week, and then took out the old pad... or that you have some other method of conserving the bacteria.
>> Anonymous
>>328509
is that necessary/effective with an activated carbon filter?

It's a topfin 10...like this little waterfall filter where you slide the filter into place...it doesn't seem like there's room to put 2 at one time.

what's the correct way to go about doing this? Educate me!
>> Anonymous
get a uv sterilizer
>> Anonymous
>>328519

To be honest, if he's eating/acting normal, I wouldn't be alarmed. He could be 'flaring', when a Betta flares, they poof out their gill cover and it looks a little scary but that's the point. He's just acting like a badass.

I'm not>>328509but maybe I can clarify.

If I understood you correctly, you probably are using disposable filter cartridges correct? The kind you yank out throw away and cram a new one in.

When you do that, you're throwing out your "good" bacteria too. But you can do a couple things about that. You can get filter bags and buy filter media to make your own. Cut out a chunk of the coarse fiber of the old filter and smush it in with the new, or cut out some filter sponge and smush it in there.