Potential injury on fish not improving

[librarygirl]

Hi everyone,

My male crowntail Betta, Dickens, showed some odd injuries about 10 days ago. I'm not sure what happened; the only thing in the tank with him was a ramshorn snail (that I saw him bump into but not sure if that's the cause) and some driftwood branches in the tank (not many and there's plenty of open swim areas in the middle of the tank).

Due to his coloring (burgundy) it's hard to tell whether the injuries were infected. I did not notice any fuzziness or yellowing of the area, so I figured I'd start treating with aquarium salt and stress coat. This was 10 days ago and his injuries don't look too much better today (the one on his body looks like it improved some, the one on his head has maybe started to close a bit but not enough for my liking). So I'm wondering if I should continue with this treatment or if he needs something else, and if so what?

Pics below and here's more info as per the forum sticky:

Housing
What size is your tank? 10 gal half-moon
What temperature is your tank? 78-79 degrees fahrenheit
Does your tank have a filter? Yes, marina S10
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? Yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? One ramshorn snail removed a week ago due to the addition of aquarium salt

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? New Life Spectrum, Hikari or Omega One Betta Pellets (rotate between these); frozen bloodworm once every week or two
How often do you feed your betta fish? Twice per day, 2-3 pellets each time, fast on Sundays

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Weekly
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 30-50%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Seachem Prime
Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5
pH: 7.2
Hardness: 3
Alkalinity: 2

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
Two noticeable injuries, one on his body and one in between his eyes
How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
Fish's behavior is normal
When did you start noticing the symptoms?
10 days ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
Yes, two tablespoons aquarium salt for one week. Then 100% water change over two days, redosed with a half dose (one tablespoon) aquarium salt. Added Stress Coat every few days as well.
Does your fish have any history of being ill?
No
How old is your fish (approximately)?
Unsure of age; purchased him last February but he has grown since then

If I can provide any more info to be of help please let me know. Thanks in advance! :)

[Basement Bettas]

your fish has mycos lesions. please read the thread I just created on the subject. The link I posted has pics of my fish with similar lesions.

I am sorry.. there is no cure.

[Basement Bettas]

get the proper chemical to disinfect everything or your future fish will have it too

[callistra]

Are you talking about the reddening of his skin? That looks like normal coloring to me.. but you see more in person. Is it actually like.. pitted/rotten legions?

There are so many causes of those.. Basement Betta has gone on a mass hysteria spreading tangent and I would not be so quick to assume. Your betta will have other symptoms and act sick. Is he eating? Is he clamped? Is he losing weight? I don't even see a gray beard..

[Basement Bettas]

Originally Posted by callistra

Are you talking about the reddening of his skin? That looks like normal coloring to me.. but you see more in person. Is it actually like.. pitted/rotten legions?

There are so many causes of those.. Basement Betta has gone on a mass hysteria spreading tangent and I would not be so quick to assume. Your betta will have other symptoms and act sick. Is he eating? Is he clamped? Is he losing weight? I don't even see a gray beard..

mass hysteria? that pitting IS mycos. I saw it on WAY too many fish to NOT know what it is. What part of me destroying over 500 fish with these symptoms do you not get?

Go ahead and stick your head in the sand. That is NOT normal coloring. I spend hours EVERY day looking at bettas and have a pretty good idea of what is and IS NOT normal in these fish.

Again.. I see more bettas in a day than you will in your life. I know what I have seen in relation to this. You can blow me and all my experience off.. or you can carefully consider the warning and act accordingly. That fish may last for months.. getting leaner and more lethargic. You can destroy him then. But take precautions NOW not to spread it by getting the proper disinfectant. Or just keep a disease you can get yourself hanging around your house. Down your drain.. on your counters..

[Reefing Madness]

Treatment looks pretty good to me. The scrape behind the head is already gone.

[librarygirl]

Thanks....now I'm more confused though lol. I have to say I was shaken by the initial diagnosis....I really hope that isn't what it is.

The fish is acting normally and eating well. The coloring on his back may just be normal splotches, it's hard to say (he's never been one true color, almost like he can't decide whether he wants to be burgundy or blue so he's sort of both) but the "pit" in between his eyes looks new and yes it does look indented/pitted, like a few layers of skin have been taken off, but it's hard to tell. I tried to find a pic of him when I first got him to see whether I"m losing my mind but I can't find a good head-shot of him that would show whether or not the mark was there before (I don't think it was though).

Should I take out the salt since it's been about 10 days (7 with a full dose, about 3 with a half-dose) and see how he does or should I try some sort of antibiotic?

[callistra]

Well if it's actually pitted it's not normal coloring then. It does look like the one spot is gone though.. confirm it has improved but not totally gone? Not gotten any worse at least?

Is there any way he might have scratched himself on anything in the tank? It looks like one of those pieces of wood may be pretty pointy.. can't tell.

[librarygirl]

Originally Posted by callistra

Well if it's actually pitted it's not normal coloring then. It does look like the one spot is gone though.. confirm it has improved but not totally gone? Not gotten any worse at least?

Is there any way he might have scratched himself on anything in the tank? It looks like one of those pieces of wood may be pretty pointy.. can't tell.

I had to take an anxiety pill last night and I keep checking my hands. I'm buying those aquarium gloves and I'm not touching either tank (I also have 40 gal community) again until I get them. I had small cuts on my hands too and I had my hands in Dickens' tank last weekend (I always wash them thoroughly afterwards but still), so now I'm convinced I have gangrene or something lol

So now I'm not sure what what to believe. So far he's acting OK and wants to eat so I'm going to see what happens. The marks don't look worse, no. The one on his body looks better (although in some light it still looks there and in other light it looks better but it looks like more surface discoloration than an actual lesion but with his odd coloring it's hard to tell) but the one between his eyes doesn't seem to be improving much. It looks like it did close a bit near one eye but I was hoping for better results after 10 days in salt.

I did see him bump into the snail a few times and then noticed the lesion right after that, so I thought maybe it was just an injury but not sure bumping into a snail would cause an injury like that----it looks like a few layers of skin were scraped off. Then I thought maybe it was the wood.....I moved it near the edges of the tank more but I think I'm going to take it out all together; he tends to get excited and jerk around so maybe he hurt himself on it. Still, if it were an injury I would think it would be healing more by now?

Once I get the aquarium gloves I'll do water changes to get the salt out (it's only at half-dose now) and keep the water clean and see what happens. If it gets worse or he starts showing other symptoms then I guess I can panic more. Unless someone else has other advice?

[callistra]

Please don't buy into basements drama and mass hysteria. He seems to have a need for attention. Mods have shut him down in the main thread and his thread about this for going around telling almost everyone that their fish has this.

It could just be an injury that is taking time to heal. In this case stress cost at 1ml per 1 gal can speed up healing.

As long as its not getting worse and he's acting ok I wouldn't be too worried.. But if you wanted to try an antibiotic if go kanaplex maracyn plus or furan 2 in qt.

Instead of removing all that great wood you can sand down sharp edges