A hole in his belly!? {PLEASE HELP!}

[bigtimetyler]

So I just went downstairs to check on my fish. I dropped the two pellets in and leaned in to watch him eat, but then I noticed his stomach (more on one side than the other) was completely huge and swollen. And then I noticed that on the swollen side it had a little tear/hole?? It looks TERRIBLE. It made me cringe looking at it. What happened to him?? I'm so freaking scared, I feel like I did something wrong now and I feel like a terrible fishy mommy. :/

help, please.

[Bladezero]

Need a picture and
Housing
What size is your tank?
What temperature is your tank?
Does your tank have a filter?
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?
Is your tank heated?
What tank mates does your betta fish live with?

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?
How often do you feed your betta fish?

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change?
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
When did you start noticing the symptoms?
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
Does your fish have any history of being ill?
How old is your fish (approximately)?


He's bloated might be many reasons.. Need more info first..

As for the scale damage its 90% just something he did to himself from something but need to find out from what..

Waiting for a update!

[bigtimetyler]

Housing
What size is your tank? - 1 gallon
What temperature is your tank? - I'm not sure what the actual temperature is, but I have a thermometer that has a green zone and if it's the green zone, it's good.
Does your tank have a filter? - yeah
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? - yeah
Is your tank heated? - I do have a heater, but I don't need it, so I don't use it.
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? - None.

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? - pellets from petsmart
How often do you feed your betta fish? - twice a day. (2 pellets each time)

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? - about once every two weeks
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? - all of it
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? - conditioner and medicine for damaged skin (he had a fungus and even though it's gone, he has a cut from it)

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

I don't want to test it because today is actually the day to change him and I'm low on the little testers. But I'll change today and test if you want, but they'll be normal.

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? - He looks pretty much normal other than the bloated tummy and hole on it.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? - He isn't swimming around as much, but there's not too much change.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? - Yesterday
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? - I gave him two drops of open sore medicine. I'm not feeding him breakfast today.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? - Yeah, he had a bladder thing/constipation (that thing where he floats on one side) and he also might have had a mild form of dropsy (I was able to treat it successfully)
How old is your fish (approximately)? - about 9 months.

My other fish (in a separate tank) is fine. And I'll try to get a picture, but it might not be that great. Am I allowed to use flash? Or will that hurt him?

edit: another way to describe it is like a tumor/some kind of lump on one side of his tummy that stretched his skin open.

[Bladezero]

Once in two weeks is way to long.. and 100% changes ain't good if you got a filter..
Do weekly 40% will be better I think.

Other then that try fasting him, about the lump I can't really tell without a picture, the Flash might scare him but not hurt him.

[bigtimetyler]

Okay, I'll try to get a picture after I come home from school. And I guess he'll just have to be scared, I'm trying to help him... :/

[aokashi]

Well.. technically a 1 gallon cannot be cycled... so 100% is still ideal

And you should definitely test the wayer NOW before it gets changed. so you can know what the levels are Before you change his water. That is more important...

[bigtimetyler]

UPDATE -
Sorry for the late reply. I gave him a 100% water change yesterday because I needed to clean the gravel. He is swimming around fine and acting normal except he won't eat. It might just be me, but his stomach looks just a tiny bit less swollen, but he still has an open sore there. I gave him some medicine with the water change, too.
I think I'm gonna just fast him and then maybe on Saturday I'll give him a pea. Anymore tips?

[lvandert]

dont give him a pea. It does more harm than good. The general treatment for bloating is epsom salt. Have you given that a try?