Betta Rubra w/Colorless Scales --> Death

I have a 29 gallon BioCube that I have been housing my Betta Rubras in since November 2012. I have had them for 2 years. They have always been healthy, breeding and such - I have never had any health issues with them. None have even died in that time period.

I bought 4 White Cloud Mountain Minnows and 8 Bloodfin Tetras last Saturday, 03/31/13, from a LFS. I performed a 25% water change before introducing them. Since then, 2 of the WCMMs and 4 of the Red-Fin Tetras have disappeared. I can only assume the bettas killed them and "something" ate them. Not sure if bettas ate them or if ghost shrimp and cory cats disposed of their bodies. I did notice that a couple of the bettas had rather LARGE stomachs after the disappearances.

Anyways, starting on 04/03, I noticed that one of my bettas was distressed and was white about the face. Her mouth was a little beat up, too. I thought that she gotten in a fight with another fish, so I decided to check on them again this morning. Well, the next morning, 04/04, she was dead. Her body had more loss of color - no fuzz, just colorless scales. Her stomach was also bloated. Right now I am kicking myself for not taking a photo of her before I disposed of her body.

Now, another female betta is showing the same symptoms, except the loss of coloration is not on her face, but are patches on her body. She does not appear comfortable and her body condition is not ideal. Her belly is bloated. I noticed 2 other bettas with a colorless patch on their backs. I have attached photos of the one female with the multiple patches. Has anyone seen this before? I honestly have no idea what this is. It looks like it kills them fast, which is upsetting me as I am highly attached to these fish. Could they have caught something this quickly from the new additions of minnows and tetras? What is the best treatment? I sincerely do not want everyone to end up dying.

The minnows and tetras do not have any sickly traits. There are 2 WCMMs and 4 Bloodfin Tetras left.

Please help!

authmal said:

So, no quaratine? Have you checked your parameters? Adding that many new fish at once, on a tank that's pretty small and lightly stocked can cause ammonia/nitrite issues. If you haven't checked, do so (so you know if that's the problem), and then do a water change, and do so again.

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No quarantine. I usually do this with the saltwater fish, but haven't run into a lot of issues with freshwater. Usually, if something was introduced, it was easy to contain and/or eradicate. However, I'm feeling as if I should have quarantined no matter what. I honestly feel quite terrible.

My husband stopped by the LFS this afternoon with a sample of water to be tested. He did not tell me the exact results but he said the store mentioned that the water parameters were within a normal range and that we do not need to worry about a water change at the moment.

platytudes said:

I would try treating with a broad spectrum antibiotic such as Kanamycin. I really doubt this is water quality related, but it's possible. You have lots of plants in there and the amount of fish you have is not excessive for a 29 gallon.

I would say it's something fungal, but that's just a guess....treat with something that goes after gram positive and gram negative bacteria, such as Maracyn 2, Furan 2, or Kanamycin.

The first thing that popped into my head was Columnaris. I sure hope it isn't that, because that's terribly contagious and hard to eradicate.

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The LFS seems to agree on a diagnosis of Columnaris. I have never fought this before, so I'm a bit frazzled. They sent him home with Triple Sulfa. Do you think that might work? I read an article that says the Triple Sulfa mostly effective early on, but I think this is in the later stages... Are the antibiotic suggestions you mentioned more appropriate for this issue?

UPDATE


After going through a combination treatment of Furan-2 and KanaPlex, my betta rubras seem to have recovered from their infection. After the first two fish died early on, I have not had any other deaths. The fish that started showing the colorless patches have regained their natural colors. I can tell that they feel a lot better because they have started displaying breeding behaviors.



Thank you to EVERYONE for the help and support with this issue!