# Shortly after red fish, Bubbles the yellow betta passes!



## Mari (Jan 24, 2005)

So I had mentioned how I lost my red betta after close to 4 years and he died of old age a few weeks ago. This, however, is a very different case that I'm baffled about

Bubbles was a young yellow betta- I had bought him maybe 6 months ago at most. Lively and healthy till about a 1 1/2 weeks ago. I started noticing a whitish red spot behind his gills. a day or so later it got bigger and it looked pretty bad so I immediately did a water change, used slightly warmer water to fill it up, stress coat and upped the aquarium salt to sick fish level in the tank. For a day or two he seemed better and he was still eating. Day three however I noticed he was moping...still eating though and I added some bettafix in the tank, though honestly by the look of his side I knew it wasn't going to help. Day 4 I noticed he got rather bloated(looked like a tumor actually) on the side that the red and white spots were and he was even more lethargic. His fins also seemed to be wasting away some...all within a matter of days! 

Today I get home and he is dead at the bottom of his tank. Bloated, bloody looking and with wasted away fins! The only changes have been that I added a new plant to his and my other betta tanks-clothy ones because I know the plastic kind can damage their fins. I wonder if it had something to do with him getting sick?

I've never had issues with my bettas before, as Ive said my first betta lived close to 4 years. I have been known to have issues with other fish like Tiger barbs etc in larger tanks but bettas I figured I could handle and so far i hadn't been proven wrong. What could have happened to my bubbles? could it have been prevented by something?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

3 things kill fish, water, disease, and trauma. A small spot that gets worse over time looks like disease. Disease is usually after several months in the same tank, but not impossible. New fake plants don't usually bring disease, but they are occasionally poisonous (anything from China could be, these days). Silk plants get sprayed with color or gloss and no one regulates "decorative" items. But in that case, its likely other fish who got those plants would show symptoms too. Fake plants or live plants that have been in other tanks can carry disease and disease-carrying snails. They should go through quarantine like a new fish. Trauma, for fish, usually mean another fish attacked them, but they can scrape themselves on ornaments or have stuff fall on them. Injuries can easily get infected. If the fish was alone, I would assume disease and bleach his tank, ornaments, and net to avoid passing it to any other fish.


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## Mari (Jan 24, 2005)

Thanks so much for your reply. I just really found it odd that all of a sudden he got sick and died within a week when I've been pretty good with them, doing water changes and keeping up with everything. I can understand in larger tanks adding new fish that may have been exposed to other fish and diseases can cause the tank to get sick etc. but a lone betta that I've had for 6 months just getting sick surprised me. I suppose stress could have been a factor or even the plant, perhaps he did scrape himself on it or something which caused the red spot and it got infected to finally cause him to die. Anyhow thank you so much again... I am glad I can always count on a reply from you guys when I'm stuck... you are all great!


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## Mari (Jan 24, 2005)

So it seems I discovered what may have happened to bubbles, though i discovered it late and unfortunately I wasn't able to save him. What bugs me still is that I don't know what the cause was... I now have two new healthy bettas and am hoping that they stay that way I am on the watch for any abnormal behavior. I found what seems to have happened to bubbles on this site http://www.fishjunkies.com/Diseases/furunculosis.php

The symptoms on those fish look exactly like what bubbles had on his side before he died. hope this can be of help to anyone in the future!


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