Eros is sick, difficulty diagnosing

[viyahn]

My celophane betta fish, Eros, has a slowly spreading black colouration creeping around the edges of his scales. It's been about 2 weeks since the first grey-ish tint appeared, and I noticed today that he's also begun to display small dark brown-to-black pin prick specs on his forehead, between his eyes. Because of his colouration, I am having difficulty determining what the illness might be. Most of the pictures available on the internet are of brightly pigmented bettas, not celophane.

Initially I believed that the black mark was from him brushing up against some of the new decorations I had purchased for his tank, but now I am concerned that they may have been returned items that previously lived in an infected tank. Luckily he still seems to be in good spirits -- very active and still hungry.

I've removed him from his 5 galon tank and placed him in a 1 galon, undecorated bowl with no substrate to thuroughly clean his old tank, get photos and begin treatment, but I'm not sure what route to take. Any help the community could provide would be greatly appreciated by both of us.

Thank you!

Housing
What size is your tank? 5 US gal
What temperature is your tank? 78*
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? yes
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? Hikari "Betta Bio-Gold" pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? daily, 6 days on 1 day fast

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? 2x weekly
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50% and 100% changes, respectively
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? "Water Conditioner" by Sera

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Black colouration spreading around edges of scales, small black dots recently appeared on forehead
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Still very active and alert. Still eating well.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? ~2 weeks ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Removed from large tank
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No
How old is your fish (approximately)? I bought him 2 months ago. Not sure of his age.

[Pearl2011]

I was thinking it was its natural color reading the post, but that is odd.
My female betta with the same body color has the black around the front of her body but I have though nothing of it. I've had her since August.

I hope its just natural pigments. Maybe now that he's gotten used to his tank hes become relaxed and more colorful? He is a gorgeous betta, just to let you know.

[xShainax]

Originally Posted by viyahn

My celophane betta fish, Eros, has a slowly spreading black colouration creeping around the edges of his scales. It's been about 2 weeks since the first grey-ish tint appeared, and I noticed today that he's also begun to display small dark brown-to-black pin prick specs on his forehead, between his eyes. Because of his colouration, I am having difficulty determining what the illness might be. Most of the pictures available on the internet are of brightly pigmented bettas, not celophane.

Initially I believed that the black mark was from him brushing up against some of the new decorations I had purchased for his tank, but now I am concerned that they may have been returned items that previously lived in an infected tank. Luckily he still seems to be in good spirits -- very active and still hungry.

I've removed him from his 5 galon tank and placed him in a 1 galon, undecorated bowl with no substrate to thuroughly clean his old tank, get photos and begin treatment, but I'm not sure what route to take. Any help the community could provide would be greatly appreciated by both of us.

Thank you!

Housing
What size is your tank? 5 US gal
What temperature is your tank? 78*
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? yes
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? Hikari "Betta Bio-Gold" pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? daily, 6 days on 1 day fast

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? 2x weekly
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50% and 100% changes, respectively
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? "Water Conditioner" by Sera

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Black colouration spreading around edges of scales, small black dots recently appeared on forehead
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Still very active and alert. Still eating well.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? ~2 weeks ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Removed from large tank
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No
How old is your fish (approximately)? I bought him 2 months ago. Not sure of his age.

I think it is his color coming through, if he stopped eating then I would be worried. :)

[viyahn]

The black colouration has continued to spread and now has worked under most of the scales on his right side. They've started to lift, and two days ago Eros stopped eating. He just drifts listlessly around his tank and sleeps all day/night. It looks like little granules of dirt are trapped under the edges of his scales.

I started treating him with a fungicide yesterday. When I went back to his bowl this morning he was still listless and refused the food I had offered him, but the black spotting had visibly diminished, and there was a little chunk of what looked like a black web floating in the water with him. Maybe it had fallen off of his body? I'm mystified.

Did a 100% water change to get rid of the floating debris and treated him again as per the bottle instructions.

Is there really no one on the forums who has any idea what it is? It's definitely not just 'natural colouration'. My fish is sick.

[ZackyBear]

I'm guessing it was a fungus/parasite. If it fell off the body then the medication is working. Just keep up the treatment so it doesn't build an immunity to the medicine!

Ignore my previous edits. I hadn't fully read through the posts until now x.x

[viyahn]

Zacky -- I started the medication as a last resort when he stopped eating. The pet store recommended it when I described the symptoms. I haven't tried AQ salt.

If I were to switch to AQ salt, how long do you think I should try it/let Eros go without eating before going back on the Pimafix? This is his 3rd day refusing food. :C I'm a very concerned fishy mommy.

[ANHEL123]

It is external pirisites. I will give you full instructions how to treat it. I just helped 2 people with that. And their bettas cleared.

How is his poop? It not white or clear stringy like?

You need aquarium salt and water if you can rise to 85-86*. Would you able to do it?

I will write for you instructions.

EDIT:
i actually can give you a link where someone on this forum was treating external parasites. There is a full instructions and day by day updates.

[ANHEL123]

raising the water temp will speed the life cycle of the pirisites and it will help make the parisites fall off the fish faster so you can manually remove them. from the tank.
Temp over 86* and parisites is said to stop reproducing and some even say it will kill them.

You need to treat for at least 3 days past the last day you could see the them on the fish to make sure you got the ones that may be hiding in the gill area.

[viyahn]

Oh wow, thanks so much! I will do exactly as you say and keep you posted.

What about the big tank and plants? The black colouration started appearing 3 days after I moved him to the new tank. Is there a special way I have to clean that so it's safe for him to go back in? Should I treat him IN that tank? I moved him out to a glass one when I was afraid it was the new tank decorations that were making him ill.

As for his feces, they are a little paler than usual, but still stringy. He didn't pass anything today, probably because he hasn't eaten in 3 days.

[ANHEL123]

You will need to pre mix 2tsp/gall of the aquarium salt in one gall jug for the right dosage.

100% water change every 24hrs

Temperature 86*

Take everything out of the tank. Live only heater and thermometer to monitor the temp.
You will need to wash everything with hot water and salt and air dry it. By air drying it will kill parasites (no host it will die)

When you do water changes wash his bowl really well with hot water and let it dry.

Use another small container when you change him and every time when you put him back in his tank, make sure you wash that container and a net and let it dry out for 24 hrs to kill pirisites.

posted at the same time. I will also tell you about plants.