White or clear dot/patch on my betta, possible dropsy also or just fat?

[FractalUniverse]

Hey everyone, i thought i would join the site see if anyone knows what this might be. Heres some pictures of before and after ( Camera phone quality so not a close up on the dot =\ ) Lately he has been not himself and hes getting a bit fat and his scales are sticking out a tiny bit with black edges? From research this may be the starting of mild dropsy from old age, ive had him for a year now not sure how old he was when i got him from the LFS though. Anyway just want to know how to go forward with medication or what i have to do. He is in a 2.5 gallon tank with 2 ghost shrimp and 2 amanos with a mini hob filter and led+cfl lighting no heater. I use water conditioner every water change plus bio additives to keep nitrates down between water changes (3 days 50% , 95% every week). etc. Ph 7.7 a little bit high i know.. ammonia usually under 3 ppm at most.




And here is pictures and a video after adding marimo and some nutrients for the live plants. ( Getting some brown algae here though, added 2 amano shrimp today) The spot is on his left side just before his tail.





And the video.


Thanks for any suggestions any info appreciated. I tried to keep him healthy im hoping its not dropsy..

[earthworm88]

Hi, welcome to the forum!

Thanks for including the photos, unfortunately they are not clear enough to see the issues in question. Just want to clarify, did you say ammonia is usually under 3ppm? or is that a typo for 0.3ppm? With your water change schedule, I am a bit surprise that it could be anywhere near the single digit ppm level. What is your current temperature for the water? Would you be able to take a close up top view photo of your betta (looking down into the tank) to better gauge this questionable dropsy? What bio additives are you using currently for the nitrates?

I am sure other more experienced members will come along to give you advice.

Good luck!

[FractalUniverse]

Yea it was a typo usually under 0.3ppm, ill test again tomorrow not sure what the readings are at the moment. I have a Hagen full master test kit for my 35 gallon so i can test pretty much anything you guys want to know.
TDS pen IS reading and usually at around 225ppm. Tomorrow he is getting skipped a day for food and the day after getting peas to maybe help unclog whats going on inside him, hoping it will help.

Im quite suprised im having problems the balance IS out though from what the brown algae is telling me maybe phosphates/silicates may be high, the tank is in a window with curtains and a background plus a led light and 23 watt cfl so is this maybe overkill as far as algae goes?. Now that i think about it and it just hit me. Some research when i set up the tank is telling me the gravel i grabbed from the playground might have a lot to do with why im having algae problems, i did vinegar test, slight fizz but im thinking the silicates or possible high in calcium.. hmm maybe someone heard of this.?

Every water change i use aquarium salt, Tetra florapride. Im using Big als bioclean with Tetra cycle brand stuff with nitraban. Ill get full names of everything i add to the water tomorrow with clear pics tomorrow hopefully, gotta find a camera. My betta really hates the camera from what i can tell, weird.

The video however you can see the dot every time you see his left side, but it is bad quality lol.