Oscar again. Scale?

[Bettawolf19]

If its not one thing its another with him. Anyways I was watching him yesturday and today and I noticed he had a dot on his side. Just a random white dot so I kept my eye on him just in case. Well today I looked at him and his side where the cursed dot was was just off. To check and see how his fins were I use a flashlight to help see better and he was facing a different direction then normal and I noticed when I was look at him with the flashlight there was a spot on his side that was reflecting a bright green. So instantly I was thinking the hell is that?! When I took him out of the water into a cup I looked closer and it was almost if something got stuck between his scales but it wasn't green really more of the shade of is scales but a slight different color. Kinda like when you eat popcorn you get the shell stuck in your gums.

Soon I put him back in the tank and I noticed he would rub that one spot almost as if it was irritating him. I just glanced over and I seen that a bit of it had gotten off and was kinda hanging off him by like a thin line and it broke off when i scooped oscar into the cup. After it fell off and I put Oscar back in the tank I looked at it and it looked like a scale. Is it normal for a scale to shed off? I'm starting to think he scraped himself on something in the tank because it looks like theres a bit of redness next to it like he did and it scrapped off his scales. I took out his rocks and anything with a rough surface out just in case so all he has in there is his plant and a terra cotta pot now. Help anyone? Is this serious or am I just freaking out over a small cut like a mama?

Housing
What size is your tank? 10gal
What temperature is your tank? 80ish
Does your tank have a filter? Yes
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? Female guppy on the divided side.

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? He gets frozen brine shrimp everyday and once every few days a guppy fry.
How often do you feed your betta fish? Once a day.

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Every week or week and a half
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 30-40%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Water Conditioner and Aquarium salt

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

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 20-40ppm
pH: N/A
Hardness: N/A
Alkalinity: N/A

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Read above
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? eats the same, swims around still. Caught him once dash around rubbing against his pot and rock on the side
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Yesturday/Today
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? No, wanna know what it is first
Does your fish have any history of being ill? Finrot mostly
How old is your fish (approximately)? Year and a half + or - a few months

Here's a picture its the green dot on the side below his dorsal fin:

[turtle10]

Originally Posted by Bettawolf19

If its not one thing its another with him. Anyways I was watching him yesturday and today and I noticed he had a dot on his side. Just a random white dot so I kept my eye on him just in case. Well today I looked at him and his side where the cursed dot was was just off. To check and see how his fins were I use a flashlight to help see better and he was facing a different direction then normal and I noticed when I was look at him with the flashlight there was a spot on his side that was reflecting a bright green. So instantly I was thinking the hell is that?! When I took him out of the water into a cup I looked closer and it was almost if something got stuck between his scales but it wasn't green really more of the shade of is scales but a slight different color. Kinda like when you eat popcorn you get the shell stuck in your gums.

Soon I put him back in the tank and I noticed he would rub that one spot almost as if it was irritating him. I just glanced over and I seen that a bit of it had gotten off and was kinda hanging off him by like a thin line and it broke off when i scooped oscar into the cup. After it fell off and I put Oscar back in the tank I looked at it and it looked like a scale. Is it normal for a scale to shed off? I'm starting to think he scraped himself on something in the tank because it looks like theres a bit of redness next to it like he did and it scrapped off his scales. I took out his rocks and anything with a rough surface out just in case so all he has in there is his plant and a terra cotta pot now. Help anyone? Is this serious or am I just freaking out over a small cut like a mama?

Housing
What size is your tank? 10gal
What temperature is your tank? 80ish
Does your tank have a filter? Yes
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? Female guppy on the divided side.
Guppies require ten gallons to themselves minimum and need other guppies as they are very social fish.

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? He gets frozen brine shrimp everyday and once every few days a guppy fry.
]I would buy a pellet as well, he is probably not getting all the nutrients he needs from just shrimp and guppies.
How often do you feed your betta fish? Once a day.
I would split the meals into two meals per day.[/color]

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Every week or week and a half
In a ten gallon you need to change 50% (minimum) of the water every single week.[/color]
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 30-40%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Water Conditioner and Aquarium salt
Aquarium salt should only be added during the treatment of disease, not as a regular additive.[/color]

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

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 20-40ppm
Nitrates should always be under 20, above that is high, you aren't doing enough water changes
pH: N/A
Hardness: N/A
Alkalinity: N/A

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Read above
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? eats the same, swims around still. Caught him once dash around rubbing against his pot and rock on the side
The chemicals could be irritating his skin.[/color]
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Yesturday/Today
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? No, wanna know what it is first
Does your fish have any history of being ill? Finrot mostly
How old is your fish (approximately)? Year and a half + or - a few months

Here's a picture its the green dot on the side below his dorsal fin:

He also looks like he has very bad fin rot, he doesn't even look like a male any more. His fins are the length of a female's and his anal fin is almost gone. If you don't treat for fin rot soon, it will turn into body rot.

You need to quarantine the betta and do 100% daily water changes for ten days straight, using one teaspoon of aquarium salt per gallon.

[Canuck Fins]

If you QT him as Turtle suggests for the fin rot, maybe just keep an eye on that spot. The clean water and salt may take care of both. Aside from his sad fins, he's got great colours. :)

Were you adding aquarium salt to his regular tank for the fin rot or just as a regular thing? It shouldn't be a regular thing. It's hard on them to be exposed to salt long term.

I hope he gets better.

[Bettawolf19]

Thanks for your help may I first say he's recovering from finrot he is currently in the healing stage. Sorry I had forgotten to mention it. He's been QT just 2 weeks ago or so in Oak Leaf water from 4/03/2011 to 04/13/2011. He's been fed the frozen brine shrimp and guppy fry since then for a high protein. He's now being fed pellets, guppy fry, frozen brine shrimp and freeze dried bloodworms.

Basically I got the Female guppy from my brother's tank to get the guppy fry. When I got her she was about to give birth and 3 day's later gave birth to around 20 guppy fry. She gave birth on the 18th and orginally I was just gonna take her back to my brother's but I ended up falling for her. At first she wasn't alone but had a 2 month old female guppy in there as well but she passed away. So I was planning on putting her in the 5 gal with my other guppy(1 male to 2 females) but both of the females ended up dying(Well one of the females did the other ended up becoming a male and got stuck under a rock while I was at school so I decided not to put her in there so instead just went and got some males to put in instead. So she's in the 10 gal until I can get another 10 gallon because I discovered Walmart had one going for $30 bucks. So when I get that I would put the males on one side and the female (as well as other females) on the other to control over breeding. Basically that's taken care of just waiting to save up enough money.

As for the salt I shall stop but 50% on a 10 gal every week? Wouldn't that pretty much restart the cycle taking out that much water? As for the nitrates I think there's something wrong with my tests or I'm doing it wrong because I went to petsmart and got the water tested last week or so and everything was fine but the test still comes up as 20ppm+ when I tested it with API's Freshwater master kit. So I don't know what's up with that. Going tomorrow to test it again and see what went wrong.

[turtle10]

Guppies need more than five gallons.

[Bettawolf19]

Fine when I get the 10 gallon I won't divide it. Is there anything else that I can do to help Oscar? All anyone mentioned was the salt and the QT for his fin rot that we already discussed. Is there anything else that I can do to help him? Meds? Different foods? Anything?

[Canuck Fins]

Originally Posted by Bettawolf19

As for the salt I shall stop but 50% on a 10 gal every week? Wouldn't that pretty much restart the cycle taking out that much water? As for the nitrates I think there's something wrong with my tests or I'm doing it wrong because I went to petsmart and got the water tested last week or so and everything was fine but the test still comes up as 20ppm+ when I tested it with API's Freshwater master kit. So I don't know what's up with that. Going tomorrow to test it again and see what went wrong.

The bacteria in your cycle aren't in the water as much as they are in the filter, in the gravel, on the surface inside the tank. With the nitrate test, are you shaking up the second bottle for 30 seconds before you do the test and shaking the test tube for the full minute before you wait 5 minutes to get the results? If you are doing all that correctly, then I would trust your own results. The API kit is a good one.

Having a fish really is about being a good water keeper. Clean water makes all the difference. :)

For the food, since you ask, I'd add a good quality pellet. I use Topfin (2-3 pellets twice a day). There are other good brands. I like pellets bc they are high protein and it's easy to consistently feed the same amount. Also try fasting your fish one day per week to aid his digestive system.

[Bettawolf19]

Thank you Canuck. And yes I do shake the 2nd bottle for 30 secs and the full tube for 1 min after. I ahven't tried taking out more water because I was under the impression that it would shock my tank. :) I'm glad to know it won't though. I am feeding him TOPFIN Color enhancing Betta bits and he loves the crap out of them. :) He's being fasted every sunday now even though he begs for more food.

[Blazer23]

Whats up with his fins he looks like a female, you need to treat that finrot.

[Bettawolf19]

Blazer if you read my post after that it states that he has been treated for it. He is in the healing stage