Sick Betta

[Drift]

Hello, you can call me Drift. I have 3 male Betta's and one of them is currently sick. I kind of think he might have a weak immune system as he always gets sick. I've had him for 3 years now and he has caught everything under the sun from Columnaris to Fin rot.

He originally was in a 10 gallon to himself and he had fin rot. Treated him and it cleared up. I was getting ready to leave for vacation and my boyfriends grandpa was coming down to take care of them so I relocated him into a 2.5 gallon tank and moved him downstairs. I noticed a very small white fuzzy spot on his head. I can't really find anything that looked like it, I brought him to petsmart with me. The guy said it looked like the start of something but he wasn't sure either. So he said to use the Lifeguard tabs. I left instructions for his grandpa to go a head and do the course of anti-biotic. Came back from vacation, and it was still there. So I did a round of Tetracycline everything according to the box. It got bigger. During that time our air condition broke so the water temps did go up to 90. It doesn't look like Colmnaris. Air conditioning fixed, so I tried a course of Jungle Fungal tabs, and it did nothing. We've been feeding him anti-bacterial betta pellets.

It's between the area of his eye and gills. It's medium sized and look like an open oval shaped wound. There's kind of white gunk coming out of it. It's not fuzzy looking. He's eating well, still in his 2.5 gallon tank because i'm cleaning out the 10 gallon with new everything and going to allow it to cycle. He's not as active. He doesn't want to chase the lazer pointer around and won't go hide in his fake barrels. He will however make an attempt to "attack" me to get his food. :) I feed 2 pellets twice a day. Usually Hikari gold, but started the anti-bacterial pellets 3 days ago. Water is at 75 degrees. I do 95 percent water changes weekly in the little 2.5 gallons. I did a 100 % today to get rid of all the medications hanging out it the water.
My other two betta's are in perfect health.

Any opinions or advice? I know Bubba's getting kind of old, but I love him a lot and I'm willing to spend as much money and time as possible to make him better.

I tried taking picture but my camera has auto focusing on it and it likes everything but the navy blue he is. I'll try posting what I can get tonight after I get off work.

Thank you to everyone who takes a look at this.

I do use aquarium salt and API's stress coat with my water changes.

[Adastra]

I would do more frequent water changes during the week--the suggested water change schedule for a 2.5 G tank is every 4-5 days, and you've been pushing that a little--it might put a bit less stress on him to do 100% changes every 4-5 days and one 50% change in between.

Does he have a heater? 75 is a bit cold for a betta, he may perk up if he's allowed to be at around 80 degrees. Given that there has not been a response to antibiotic treatment, I don't think we can assume that the injury is bacterial--so I would allow him to be kept at a higher temperature and see if that helps bring him around.

Also given the fact that he is a weak fish, I think you should look into the possibility that he may have a chronic viral condition called lymphocystis--this involves white nodules developing on the skin and bursting. This may be an underlying reason why his immune system has not been able to stand up to other problems he's had. It's very common on the head of the fish. Because it is viral, unfortunately there is no cure, all you would be able to do for the fish is support him in fighting against the virus by giving him the best conditions possible. You should try looking up some pictures of infected fish to see if it's anything like what he's got.

It's also possible that since the fish has been sick so much, he has been overmedicated. The consequences of overmedication are a weakening of the fish--medicines can be extremely harsh, and if overused they can permanently damage the fish's internal organs. Overuse can also cause resistant superstrains of bacteria. What all has the fish had in the past, and what has he been treated with?

I would also consider changing his diet--hikari bio gold leaves much to be desired nutritionally. If you look at the ingredients list, you will notice that meat is not the first ingredient. Being carnivores, bettas derive most of their nutrition from meaty sources--no where in their native thailand would these fish be seen to eat wheat, and wheat is of no nutritional value to them. Hikari is a very poor pellet food.

I highly suggest switching to OmegaOne betta buffet pellets, Atison's betta pellets, Ken's betta crumbles, or New Life Spectrum. These offer a variety of whole meats as their primary ingredients and are of much higher quality. Your fish would also likely benefit from adding some frozen foods to their diet, I use Hikari's frozen brine shrimp and frozen blood worms a couple of times a week. This will give your fish more protein and nutrients to help boost his immune system and more energy.

[Drift]

His water is usually warmer, but because I thought it was columnaris I let it cool down a little bit and may be a contributing factor. I can put the heater back in no problem.
I'll try adding a water change during the middle of the week. Monday mornings is fish tank day as I call it.
I looked into Lymphocystis and don't think that's it. Though I'm glad you mentioned it as I have never herd of/ come across that before.
I'm going to have to order one of those foods off the internet as they don't sell any of those brands around here. :(
Around when I first got him he had Columnaris, and it took me a week to finally figure out what it was. I used Tetracycline and Medicated Jungle Anti-bacterial pellets to get rid of that. He get's fin rot every once in a while, the last time I had a crazy algae stuck to his plants that I can't seem to scrub all the way off so it grows back in a few days. I just ended up buying new ones. I usually use the Jungle Tabs for it and never had a problem. I've also used Melafix once before but it seemed to take longer than the tabs that die his water a lovely aqua. That's really about it. He's not as sickly as it may seem, but none of my other Betta's have gotten sick before. (My one crowntail was constipated before and a pea helped clean him on out. :))

[Adastra]

I would let him have a medication break since you just finished with a tetracycline treatment and see what happens. If it starts getting worse and you see changes in the fish's behavior, you might want to try something very different from tetracycline--because your fish has been treated with it before it's possible that the bacteria is more resistant to that treatment. Perhaps API's Triple Sulfa would be helpful in that case--Petsmart usually stocks that product. Most fish stores or fish sections of pet superstores have a freezer where frozen foods are kept--you could probably get a pack of frozen bloodworms or brine shrimp if you can't find the pellet brands I mentioned. Although I do believe I've seen Atison's at Petco and Petsmart.

[Drift]

I just ordered some Atison's and some OmegaOne pellet's offline just a moment ago. :) I know I can get the frozen foods, I just never tried them before. Someone else recommended flightless fruit flies to me for them before. Actually, I believe it was a new product of a little culture they where coming out with, the guy had one at the Pet Expo in Baltimore, MD last spring. I need to find the website again.
I'm going to give him a little bit of a break, get his tank heated up more, and see how it goes. If he's not getting any better I'll post again. :)
Thank you for the advice. I find it amazing that 3 years ago Hikari was what everyone recommended for me to feed. I'm going to get some frozen foods for them tomorrow morning as soon as the stores open. :)

[Adastra]

They recently changed their formula--I used to use it also a few months ago when it still had decent meat content. :) Frozen daphnia would probably work in a very similar way to fruit flies--they have a very good fiber content, great for keeping the boys regular while still giving them some protein. I use that instead of blanched peas.

I thought about going to that Pet Expo since I live in Northern Virginia, but eh--usually there are things at those that ruin it for me. Like the people trying to sell sugar gliders or baby red-eared slider turtles as if they were Sham-Wows. That kind of thing makes me rage, lol.

[Drift]

It was Timberline, i think they called in Betta Bug Bites, or something of that sort.
The only pet's sold their was by Timberline who on the last day sold their leopard gecko's. You should have gone. :) I love that's it's not open to the public, it wasn't nearly as packed as other expo's. I met some very nice people down their, and my co-worker got a lot of info on different Organic foods as she want's to start an Organic pet food store.
It was more so aimed at retailers than the veterinary field so we where kind of outta place. Haha. :)
I think the bag of Hikari I have is the old formula, it says Min 38% protein. It's one of the larger size bags that I got a couple months ago. Funny how companies can change their ingredients and don't have to change the label for another 4 months.

[Bettacaleb]

hey i dont know much about bettas but that sounds like ick

[Drift]

I'm 100% confident it's not ick, I can say that much.