Need help identifying ...

[silvercat151]

Interestingly no actual sign of a worm on my fish, just the white spot inside the red lesion but I have some Parasite Clear which I intend to use. It says it is for Anchor Worm and to use one tablet for 10 gallons once a week for 3 weeks for anchor worms and lice with a 25% water change each week. Contains Metrnidazole, Praziquantel,
Diflubenzuron and Acriflavine.

Here where I live, no specialist fish shops for medication and just Petco and Wal-Mart for fish. i regularly have 'discussions' with the management of both about how they keep their fish, many of which are often sick or dying. In fact this is how I came to have fish in the first place, as I got so upset seeing so many dying there. Yes, I know, not the brightest thing I have done, but I do love them and this little guy is a real character, as they all are. I have rescued Bettas and goldfish, (not in together, of course!) and am running out of room for tanks!!! I have told them they should have more respect for the living creatures they make money from and I'm disgusted by the way Bettas are kept and some of the things sold to keep them in too - those miniature double tanks should be banned for a start. Also ... oh don't get me started ... :>)

 

[geekboy]

Don't feel bad about your limited local resources. Similar to your situation, I have just a Wal-mart and a small pet supply shop to choose from in my town. Just when I thought that Wal-mart staff had to be the worst fish keepers ever, about 6 months ago they drained their tanks and abandoned live fish sales altogether. In retrospect, it was a blessing in disguise.

I hope you can get a handle on that lesion problem. It certainly can be easy to feel despair when diagnosis is uncertain -- I recently struggled with a mysterious infection on a pair of my goldies. I got some good advice here that helped me determine it was bacterial, and manage it. It's been about 2-months, and resilience has seen both fish through the illness, mainly with the strength of their own immunity. My only thought on your case is that it certainly sounds parasitic, given how it spread to the other store stock. A bacterial infection might still be possible if all the fish were stressed and weakened, which I suppose is almost a safe bet at a Wal-mart, but seems unlikely given the appearance of the lesion. I wish you luck with your rescue.

 

[silvercat151]

I took a Betta with fin rot out of there, another with a small hole in a fin, another two over time that were slung in with other (unsuitable) fish in tanks because the pots got knocked over by children and the rest because they were the last reasonable healthy looking ones among many sick and dying ones which, I learnt from sad experience, rarely survived by the time I tried to rescue the ones that were suffering with clamped fins and dirty water. One day I took 7 dead Bettas off the shelf at Petco, and put them in a stack on their counter, and called the manager (once again) and said that their fish should be checked daily, and that their customers shouldn't have to be the ones that kept an eye on what they had on their shelves. In fact I regularly check their shelves, making sure the not so happy ones aren't buried at the back, neglected, and the sickest are the most visible. It has got to the stage that I actually hate going to either store, but do so to get food for my 4 (rescued) cats. Now I am running out of room for more tanks too, so I am having to try to harden my heart and not come home with more fish along with the cat food!

Unfortunately, I don't have room for a lot of 5 gallon tanks for the Bettas, and they are having to make do with 1, 1.5 or 2 gallon tanks right now, but my reasoning is that they have to be better off with me looking after them in something bigger than those awful cups they are sold in. The staff all gave conflicting advice, and one even said that Bettas don't need heat, and they don't like swimming as they all died when they were put in the big tanks!!!

I do have some beautiful healthy fish now, all have live plants, somewhere to hide if they want and some controlled heat. I have two more tanks of goldfish, real characters, two of them not unlike yours Geekboy.

 

[Reframer]

Bless your heart, hope he pulls through.
In the future, IMO, I would stop buying fish and just insist on bothering the manager everytime you see sick and neglected fish, eventually they will feel pressure to change something.

 

[silvercat151]

Bless your heart, hope he pulls through.
In the future, IMO, I would stop buying fish and just insist on bothering the manager everytime you see sick and neglected fish, eventually they will feel pressure to change something.

:grinyes: Yes, I have got to that point!

 

[silvercat151]

OK so I took your advice and went and photographed the fish in Wal-Mart with what seems to be similar things going on. So, further ideas, suggestions etc., please?

And yes, after I took the photos and put my camera back in the car, I got the senior manager there and showed him the problem and explained to him the ramifications of the problems in his tanks; the consequences of Wal-Mart selling people sick fish to put in their tanks with other healthy ones; that they should sort out their suppliers who were obviously selling them infected fish; that these fish needed treating and they should stop selling fish until the tanks were clear, as I think all the freshwater fish tanks have had fish in with this problem at one time or other when I have been in there. I also told him that they should have trained staff who understand how to look after their fish properly.

The shelf where the Bettas are normally kept were sadly empty - sadly as I remember how sick the remaining ones looked and I guess they met their inevitable fate. Some of the goldfish with fin rot were gone too, and they had also looked generally unwell. The coldwater tanks had new supplies in - now infected with parasites no doubt.

please note that there are two fish affected, one has a more advanced version near its dorsal fin, the other a developing lump near its tail. I noticed last night that my red goldfish has a lump like this starting on its tail too