bad luck streak...what is going on???

[Mari]

3 days ago I lost my last original fish. Pacific had started developing some lumps all over his body, on his head, under his head, on his body...

Here he is a week before his death... for a few days he would eat, then he wouldn't then he finally stopped eating fully 2 days before he died. he had lost some weight and with all those lumps it looked like his mouth was kind of swollen too...
Bad pictures but its a bowed tank it was kind of hard to get good ones.







At this point I'm just at a loss as to what is going on with these fish. 3 dead, 3 different symptoms and no change in feeding or water change schedule, no change in water temp. nothing. here is keeping my fingers crossed that my new buddies don't end up with the same fate.

[emc7]

multiple dead fish in the same tank? Wash everything with a diluted bleach solution before the next one. Get the next fish from a different place.

[Mari]

nope not the same tank. 3 different tanks. the tanks with the first two dead fish were bleached rinsed air dried and every precaution was taken. the two new fish occupying those seem to be doing ok its been 3 weeks. I added some cycle to the tanks since they were completely devoid of bacteria after the bleach. what has me confused is the different diseases all of a sudden in different tanks. Thanks for taking the time to check out my posts though! I appreciate it.

[emc7]

check the water (ph, hardness, ammonia, call the system and ask for a report). Your water system could've switched sources or additives. It sounded like disease symptoms, but disease can be touched off by any stressful change. Were the 3 fish the same age? Bettas are one of the few tropical fish that actually are as short-lived as the stores tell you and all elderly are more prone to all sort of health issues.

[Mari]

Thanks I thought it might be something with the water, I know I haven't changed anything I've been doing. The fish were 3 different ages. One was 3 years old the one in the pictures above. The other was new, I actually know he was a youngun because I watched him grow in the 6 months I had him. The third I wasn't adding to the death count because I had assumed he died of old age (no visible disease) and he was 4 yrs old already but considering the fact that the other 2 died shortly after it may have not been old age afterall.

[mousey]

well 2 of the fish were old! You are lucky to have had them for so long.
I never get much more that 18 months -2 years from them.
Bettas are prone to tumors. the first betta I ever got died at age 2 with a mouth full of tumors- he basically starved.
I have also read that they are prone to lympocytic disease as well as tumors.
remember things tend to happen in 3's. I know it sounds silly but I can tell you that from many years in nursing when 1 patient died we always expected 2 more.
Things tend to go amiss in tanks one right after the other for no apparent reason.

[Mari]

Originally Posted by mousey remember things tend to happen in 3's. I know it sounds silly but I can tell you that from many years in nursing when 1 patient died we always expected 2 more. Things tend to go amiss in tanks one right after the other for no apparent reason.

Thanks for the reply- you are probably right I've noticed before that in other things there is a tendency for things to happen in 3's so it may just have been one of those things. I haven't filled the 2.5 bowed pictured above yet, I've been weary of doing it after all those deaths but I did fill 2 of the others and they are doing well (apart from my first bout of constipation-which is fixed) so it may be that time to find another betta for my empty tank. Thanks again for putting things in another perspective as well I appreciate it.

[Candymancan]

Do you have well water ? Or city water.. If you have well water i would get it checked for bacteria.. I once had a well that had bad bacteria in it that could cause problems in humans that we didnt even relise... We had a whole filter system in the basment too and that doesnt stop organisms

[Mari]

No well water, just city water though I partially still believe the water was somehow to blame I am just glad to see that my new bettas are doing well so far. Thanks for the reply