So to preface this, I made a post recently about his fin problems and basically figured out that he's been biting and has some fin rot from it. So I have ordered a back up heater to use in a hospital tank so I can treat him with antibiotics and aquarium salt (my current heater is too strong for the smaller tank) and it should be here by tomorrow some time, or early tuesday morning. I've been keeping the water super clean in the meantime.
But a couple of hours ago he started rubbing himself against the substrate over and over on one side of his tank and he hasn't stopped since. I've caught him 3 times now seem to tire himself out and just lie on his side looking dejected, only to start rubbing himself again a few minutes later. One of his gills sticks out a bit, and I'm pretty sure this is a new thing as I probably would have noticed it but can't be sure. He's got one scale that has been white for a while on the same side (but he seems to shed a scale or two from time to time and they turn white for a few days when this happens, so I didn't pay any attention to it. But when I took a closer look at it today it looks like theres a little bit of stringy stuff (maybe?) attached to it. I tried to take a picture but he's moving around too much so its not working.
He's in a cycled 5 gallon, and like I mentioned earlier I've been making sure the water quality is extra good (been using the API tests to confirm that).
Does anyone know what could be wrong? I've tried googling and it seems like it could be a ton of different things and I don't know where to go from here. Should I stick to my plan of treating him with the salt and antibiotics for the fin rot and see if his other conditions improve?
But a couple of hours ago he started rubbing himself against the substrate over and over on one side of his tank and he hasn't stopped since. I've caught him 3 times now seem to tire himself out and just lie on his side looking dejected, only to start rubbing himself again a few minutes later. One of his gills sticks out a bit, and I'm pretty sure this is a new thing as I probably would have noticed it but can't be sure. He's got one scale that has been white for a while on the same side (but he seems to shed a scale or two from time to time and they turn white for a few days when this happens, so I didn't pay any attention to it. But when I took a closer look at it today it looks like theres a little bit of stringy stuff (maybe?) attached to it. I tried to take a picture but he's moving around too much so its not working.
He's in a cycled 5 gallon, and like I mentioned earlier I've been making sure the water quality is extra good (been using the API tests to confirm that).
Does anyone know what could be wrong? I've tried googling and it seems like it could be a ton of different things and I don't know where to go from here. Should I stick to my plan of treating him with the salt and antibiotics for the fin rot and see if his other conditions improve?