Introduction
Many fish keepers or breeders usually want or love to keep health beta fish. Because they understand there are some beta diseases that are deadly to some fish. Even though some of these fish are Siamese fighting fish, they aren’t immune from being attacked by beta diseases. Most beta diseases are caused by bacteria, parasites and fungus. It is good to diagnose the fish in order to treat the fish well. The following are five common beta diseases for fish: itch, fin rot, gill parasites, Popeye and dropsy.
Common causes of beta diseases
Beta diseases are usually caused by parasites, fungus and bacteria, for example Itch is caused by a parasite which makes this disease very contagious. Itch can also be brought about by poor quality water for example very cold water conditions which can stress the fish if exposed. The disease that is brought about by bacteria infections is the fin rot. Gill parasites are also caused by parasite, which can be either internal or external parasites. This disease is also very contagious like itch. As compared to itch and gill parasite disease, fin rot is not contagious. It is also caused by poor water quality and ammonia. In this case the fish can be stressed, thus their immune weaken making the fish vulnerable to fin rot. This is one of the most common beta diseases in fish because of their long fins.
Some other diseases caused by bacteria include the Popeye and dropsy beta fish diseases. These two diseases are all contagious diseases. Popeye is caused by poor water quality while the dropsy is caused by live foods like the shrimp and black worms, it can as well be caused by the water conditions.
Diagnosis of beta fish
If your beta fish has white spots, it looks like it has been sprinkled with salt; faster breathing and rubbing on objects then the beta fish has itch disease. Also if the fish look raggedy, frayed then they have bacterial infections thus they have fin rot. Gill parasites can be detected if the fish, scratches itself on the objects, it does not breathe in a normal way, the fish opens the gills all the time and the fish appears to be red. In diagnosis of Popeye the fish will have protruding eyes as time goes by the fish will look creepy and bulging eyes, while dropsy betta disease is characterized by swollen belly in fish, bloated and scales sticking.
Treatment of beta diseases
The beta diseases that are caused by poor water conditions can be improved by changing the water conditions, for example if the water is very cold, you need to raise the water temperature by adjusting your heater. For example, the itch beta disease, also for the diseases caused by bacterial you can as well use the antibiotic to treat the beta disease, like the dropsy and Popeye. For dropsy you can as well isolate the fish from the community then reduce the growth of bacteria. For you to treat gill parasite you need to use the jungle parasite for ten days and you will clear the parasites. Remove carbon from the water tank in order for the med to function, also use APIs melafix to treat ring rot.
