What's wrong with my little guy?

[Armani33]

I noticed that my black ( with some iradescent blue ) HM male has a gray patch on his head and it looks almost like he scratched off the scales in that area or something. A small part of his tail looks frayed or shredded So I first thought fin rot but then in the descriptions I read it said nothing about gray patches. Then I thought fungus but he didn't match any of the pictures I saw. He is swimming around normally. I feed him like 2 pellets 2 times a day alternating between Aqueon color enhancing betta food and Hikari betta bio gold and today I got him some aqueon freeze dried blood worms. Last night he didn't seem to want to eat but he ate that morning and this morning he ate with no hesitation and he is swimming around normally. I just added a snail today so I don't know if that's a problem if he is sick. What could be wrong with my little guy?

[Armani33]

I think this may be hole in the head disease.

[Pataflafla]

Don't panic about it.

Chance his water more frequently for a few days to see if that helps him out.

If it looks as if he's doing worse, then remove either him or the snail and start with 1 tsp/gal aquarium salt. Treat for 7-10 days. If he isn't responding or getting worse by days 3-4, then go ahead and bump it up to 2 tsp/gal.

Be sure to dissolve the salt completely before adding to his water. Salt crystals can and will hurt him.

[ANHEL123]

How big is your tank ? How much and how often you do water changes?

[Basement Bettas]

Originally Posted by Armani33

I noticed that my black ( with some iradescent blue ) HM male has a gray patch on his head and it looks almost like he scratched off the scales in that area or something. A small part of his tail looks frayed or shredded So I first thought fin rot but then in the descriptions I read it said nothing about gray patches. Then I thought fungus but he didn't match any of the pictures I saw. He is swimming around normally. I feed him like 2 pellets 2 times a day alternating between Aqueon color enhancing betta food and Hikari betta bio gold and today I got him some aqueon freeze dried blood worms. Last night he didn't seem to want to eat but he ate that morning and this morning he ate with no hesitation and he is swimming around normally. I just added a snail today so I don't know if that's a problem if he is sick. What could be wrong with my little guy?

My guess is columnaris. And it is a real bi^ch to get rid of. Kanamycin and nitrofurazone with feed laces with oxolinic acid. Keep water clean. Do salt dips daily [ http://www.ukda.info/library/discus-.../salt-dip.html] or even a few times a day. If that don't knock it out net him and use a q-tip and apply some peroxide. Do not get in gills as that will kill him. Lay on a wet paper towel or I just hold them in the net cupped in my hand so they can't flop around. Dab some peroxide.. give about 2 seconds to bubble then back into clean water. Keep water clean and feed a well balanced food so imune system can fight it back. Make sure you feed till his belly is slightly rounded. You want some fat reserves if he is fighting something off. This stuff is always present in water.. stress weakens fish and they become a target for stuff like this. If you get fin rotting you can get other things going on so go after this aggressivly.

Good reading..
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Columnaris.html

http://www.jnfkoifarms.com/symptomso...=1329738671217

[Armani33]

My tank is 2.5 gallons with a filter,heater and thermometer and I do water changes usually 50 to 75% once a week sometimes sooner but no later than once a week. My snail died but I currently have Armani in a "hospital tank" which is really just a big glass vase but it's nice and wide and is I'm guessing 1 gallon. I have his heater and thermometer in with him and this morning he ate with no hesitation. He does have fin rot and after more research I don't think he has hole in the head. I think the gray patch on his head is from a fungus or some kind of bacteria. I put some solution in his water that is completely natural and kills any kind of bacteria and can't hurt him and it seemed to help. earlier last night he was staying at the bottom of his vase and only swimming up for air and then going strait back down but a little bit after I put the solution in his water he perked up and is now swimming around and acting completely normal. Last night he ate 2 pellets and a blood worm. when he ate the pellets last night he wouldn't come up to eat them he just ate them when they sank but when I put in the blood worm he swam up and ate it. This morning he ate 3 pellets with no hesitation what so ever and is acting like I said normal. His fin rot has not worsened since last night and neither has the patch on his head. I am going to get some treatment for fungus and fin rot today and continue with the solution and see if that helps. I am also going to clean out his 2.5 gallon tank entirely and rise the gravel and plants and change the filter cartridge and rinse the filter and wipe the acrylic and everything to make sure it's totally clean.

[ANHEL123]

Basement Bettas sound interesting. I will keep your instructions in mind to recommend . I don't know how easy is to hold the fish and apply peroxide but i guess when you need to do it you do it.

Also i saw people recommending Kanamycin. Is it easy to find in the stores? Or need to order on line?


Also Armany how is your fis?. And it very important to also find out why he got sick. How big is your tank and how much , how often you do water changes.

Basement Betta you gave link about salt dips . Not sure if you know about other instructions which is also very effective. All learned it from Oldfishlady who does it for life.
Aquarium salt (unscented) use (1tsp/gall up to 3 tsp/gall, depends why you treating) with daily water changes. Better to pre mix in one gall jug for the right dosage. Shake make sure it dissolve. Nee to do 100% daily water changes.

Also i want to say i think if it columnaris it spreads wary fast if i am not mistaken . So if you can treat him asap.....Also when fish has columnaris lower the water temperature since fungus grow and get worse in the warmer temperature.

[ANHEL123]

post at the same time. For 2.5 gall i really recommending to do 1-50% and 1-100% water changes a week. Rinse the gravel when you do 100%.

I am wondering what kind of solution did you use. If it fungus i would really recommend aquarium salt . Treatment is 10 days with daily 100% water changes. And aq salt has anti fungal/bacterial effect.

If it really fungus like i wrote lower the temperature. Since he still have something going on it can get worse.

Don't know what you decide but it it was fungus you need to do more frequent water changes for now.

You saying that you going to clean his tank. I would disinfect it and put betta back only when you 100% sure he recovered .

I know for love plants you just quarantine them in the water NO conditioner for 2 weeks or even 3 weeks. Chlorine will kill bacteria, well it also may kill the plants. Some plants die though. But i am not sure if quarantine kills fungus though. BTW cold water is better. Fungus don't like cold water.

I would recommend to disinfect 2.5 gall tank with 10% bleach. Do you want me to write instructions for that?

Also i can write instructions how to disinfect the gravel and ornaments with vinegar and water.

Don't know how to disinfect the filter? Is it safe? I guess you have to run water through it make sure no disinfection solution left.

Now when you disinfect the gravel i would do it only if stones don't have ridges.It they are smooth.

[Armani33]

ANHEL123 I used silver solution. How come it is better to leave him in his hospital tank? I would think the water would stay cleaner with the filter running and would help him get better. I don't need to use water conditioner because I have a whole house filter that gets rid of a good amount of chemicals and a separate one for drinking water that literally filters out ALL the chemicals and I use the drinking water for Armani. I did a 100% water change this evening and added a silver solution and a couple drops of API bettafix. Tomorrow I am going to clean out his 2.5 gal and put him in with like one or 2 of his small silk plants and keep a super close eye on him.

[Armani33]

Pataflafla, What is the diff between aquarium salt and natural sea salt? Not table but like the sea salt I use for my hermit crabs fresh water it's called celtic sea salt.