fungal or ick...?

[kinbari]

Housing
What size is your tank? 3 gal
What temperature is your tank? 76 degrees Fahrenheit
Does your tank have a filter? It does, but I removed it last night to reduce the flow.
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Betta bio-gold pellets along with a small amount of bettamin tropical medley and occasionally blood worms.
How often do you feed your betta fish? 3 pellets a day and sometimes a small amount of one of the other foods.

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? I just put this betta in his tank on 11/27. Last night I did a 100% water change. I'm planning on doing 100% water changes once a week with 50% changes in between.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? Just said
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Tetra bettasafe water conditionier

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? no, I have not bought a master test kit yet.

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? He has a white spot on his head and discolorations on the right side of his body that look similar, as well as some underneath his chin. At the very least I am sure the one on his head was not there when I got him on 11/27.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? I haven't had a chance to determine what his normal behavior is. He seems active, still has interest in eating, but sometimes he whips his tail at items in the tank. Occasionally he will go to the bottom of the tank and rest there vertically with his head towards the bottom and his tail up.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? He has been whipping things with his tail for a few days now. I noticed the white spot on his head last night (11/30).
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Last night I did a 100% water change, rinsed everything in the tank with the hottest water that would come from the faucet, and wiped the inside with a warm washcloth. I then added new water from the faucet, added water conditioner, and three tsp of aquarium salt to the tank, added the heater, and acclimated him.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? I just bought this fish. He appeared fine when I bought him.
How old is your fish (approximately)? I don't know, it depends on how old he was when I bought him.

pictures: the last two, taken with flash, seem to make it look worse than it actually is.

[Sena Hansler]

The last picture shows deterioration in the spot... Ick is a parasite that looks like powder of salt over a betta. This is definitely not that :)

Does he look to have a gold dust over the gills, face, etc?

Did he always have the odd shape on his forehead, or would that be from the "wound"?

Is there anything he could have scraped up against?

Is there fuzz around his mouth? (which in the pictures there is a discolouration on the right of his mouth)

[kinbari]

There doesn't appear to be gold dust on him. Like I said, he did not have the whiteness on his head when I purchased him. I'm pretty certain all the objects in my tank are safe for my fish. His mouth does not appear to have any discoloration.

[Sena Hansler]

What ornaments are in the tank? Just out of curiosity :) I would just in case, grab medications beforehand such as maracyn and maracyn 2 combo, aquarium salt, etc. if he is acting alright I would do daily water changes without removing him, make sure to add tap water conditioner, and see if you can snag Indian almond leaves :)