Unknown infection of some sorts

[breeglet]

Stats:
5g planted tank
constant 78 temp
Parameters 0 across the board and 7.6 pH
Azoo Palm filter
Nerite snail for a friend
Dosing: Flourish equilibrium (soft Washington water), excel, comprehensive, iron
NLS food, doesn't have much of an appetite though
Unknown age, I have had him for 11 days and he was new on the shelf
Weekly 20% water changes
Tetra aquasafe plus conditioner, switching to API stress coat

I came home from class one day to find Felix had grown some gray patches, which I originally thought were fungal growths or fungal-related missing scales. I immediately QT'd him in my 2g bowl w/ stress coat/fish protector & jungle fungus clear. This bowl has better lighting than my 5g and upon further inspection I realized the patches were not fungal in nature and were actually more along the lines of his scales having turned gray and actually SORT of shiny in the right light. His fins are intact, though in the midst of paranoia I can see how his anal fin could be slightly raggedy....

His behavior has not changed, he swims around and is certainly active. He even built a massive bubble nest in the QT tank. He ate a single food pellet last night, but usually either ignores it or once or twice I have seen him spit it out - I believe he mostly just doesn't like NLS pellets and is adjusting to the new home but obviously it could be a sign related to the gray scales. Today, and I could just be paranoid, but it looks like the very beginnings of a white growth is occurring on one of the gray patches. I therefore rushed to the local petsmart and picked of maracyn 1 & 2 and some triple sulfa in case I have to begin battling columnaris.

After reading through some threads, I realized that what I thought was him being goofy and doing a little dance could have been flashing? I would have normally associated flashing with rubbing up against objects like the driftwood or the filter intake sponge. I always thought he was just chasing his reflection cause he'll go up to the glass and swim up and down while moving his head.

Last night I did as close to a 100% water change as you can get with a planted tank without uprooting everything and creating a mess (between 90 and 95%). I will be performing a 100% change on the QT bowl and add 2tsp/gal of aq salt, the stress coat & fish protector, and I will steep some garlic in hot water for a while and cool it down for the tank (garlic tea is also great for sore throats or general colds/flu-like things, just sayin'..)

I bought a little filter bag & activated carbon for the 5g because I figured I could go without it in a planted tank, but supposedly carbon keeps the columnaris away. And for future use in case I ever need to drop meds into the main tank I could use the carbon afterwards, who knows.

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[Krys]

Those pictures look almost exactly like what my old Amir (RIP) looked like when he had ick. I'd try treating him for that and stop the other treatments to see if it helps out. It'll take about a week for Ick to clear up completely.

[breeglet]

I didn't think of ich.. mostly because he doesn't have the salted look to him. It's so confusing which is why I decided to just go hogwild with naturals (garlic, aq salt, fish protector/stress coat, going to get a hold of some caffeine free black tea). If it doesn't improve by Sunday I decided I would do the maracyns, but if it developed into columnaris I'd use the triple sulfa I picked up. The patches definitely look like strange ulcerations more than anything, they have a kind of "depth" to them but are still scaly.

[Krys]

Yeah, ick doesn't always seem like salt, it can be in patches and look kind of thick.

[breeglet]

These patches aren't thick, they look like a shallow indent on the body. And they only appear on his head.

[Krys]

Originally Posted by breeglet

These patches aren't thick, they look like a shallow indent on the body. And they only appear on his head.

Maybe he's shedding scales?
That can happen if they get stressed out from a big move.

[breeglet]

It only happened in the last 1-2 days and he wasn't showing signs of stress before that. Isn't it supposed to look pink underneath their scales? This looks like his scales just turned gray with a slight metallic tinge.

[breeglet]

Bump

[breeglet]

The missing scales are starting to get small white growths. I'm not sure if this is developing columnaris or regrowth on the scales. Also he is now eating pretty well, before he was spitting out a pellet or two. His bowl smells of garlic (so nice) so I'm sure that has something to do with it. :)

[ANHEL123]

Small white growth. If it fuzzy , cottony like patches it fungus. If it white dots and if it spreading it can be ich. If his body looks like sprinkled with salt it ich. Is he darting around? Or is he trying to scratch his body on the walls or gravel? With ich he will also dart around,scratch on objects...
You already qt him right? And you do 2tsp/gall of the aq salt right? Make sure you pre mix salt first. Do daily 100% water change. Make sure you acclimate him to the new water temperature.
Both can be treated with aq salt. But if he is getting worse i would use 3tsp/gall. But give update on patches and his behavior. Because if it ich you need to raise the temperature. With ich preferable raise up to 86-86* which will speed up the parasites life cycle and help them to fall faster.
If it more fungal you need to lower temperature since fungus and bacteria will thrive and multiply in the warmer water.
Also if you have 5 gall you need to make minimum 50% weekly water changes with gravel vacuum and filter rinse if you have a filter.
If you don't have a filter you need to do 1-50 and 1-100% water changes a week.
Also do you know how to acclimate betta to the new water temperature so you don't stress him with sudden water temperature change?