a few weeks ago i noticed ichi had what appeared to be ich on his fins..now i'm not so sure. on both pectoral fins there are about 3-4 raised off-white spots; i treated with rid-ich for two weeks and they neither went away nor multiplied, so i went ahead and moved him back to his tank. he doesn't act ill at all..he's eating well, swimming around- he even built a bubble nest in his hospital tank. i had a goldfish once who had a similar problem; i'm thinking perhaps it's a viral infection of some sort? *shrugs* any ideas?

don't all males get that during mating season it's called stars, or is that just in goldfish?

Bettas dont get breeding tubercules. I agree that the only thing it could possibly be is some sort of viral infection. Usually they are not fatal, so just keep an eye on it and make sure it doesnt get worse. I was reading up on carp pox, which koi and goldfish sometimes get, and raising the temp to the mid 80s (slowly, of course!) helped that to go away.

First off, although Rid Ich+ is somewhat mild and tolerable, using it for more than ten days is very ill advised, especially since you were not sure it was ich. Treating anything without a proper diagnosis could be very damaging, if not fatal. So in the future, I would be wary about plainly medicating.

Before the white spots appeared, was there a hole or small tear in his fins? Or are they bubble like? Sometimes bubbles get stuck on a bettas body, and it'll eventually go away on its own.

Some of my other bettas have developed white spots on their fins where previously there had been a small pinpoint tear. IMO, just keep an eye on it. It should be nothing to worry about, unless your betta isi showing other symptoms.

What color is your betta??? (Mine has bumps the color of his fins on his fins which I've learned are just pigment bumps)

Jenn

Bethany- yeah i know..everyone i asked thought it sounded like ichi had ich; i'm very glad that the medication did him no harm. there weren't any rips or tears in his fins beforehand and they appear to be solid and raised ever-so-slightly, not bubbles


fisharenewtome- ..pigment bumps? i've never heard of such a thing..do you have a link to any sites that overviews them? anyways, he's an almost solid red color with pinkish/red fins

Hmmm - I would think that if your fishie had them they would be the same color. Not all of my bettas have them - my daughters dark blue one does - they're dark blue dots on the fins. I'll see if I can find the info about them again.

Jenn

edit: Here's one of the links (it's to betta talk which is a good site for bettas)

Link

Augustus has also had those bumps on his pectoral fins from time to time; I don't know what they are but I don't think they're dangerous (and they're not ich - I know what that looks like and these bumps aren't it) because they come up and then disappear again, usually within a couple of weeks. It never seems to affect his health when he has them - he is no different.

Hope this helps.