HELP PLEASE!!!! (with pictures!)

[cwenger5]

POW has been laying on the ground of his tank and ignoring food.
I skipped feeding him for 24hrs in hopes that his appitite may improve but when I tried to feed him this morning he didnt want anything to do with the food. About an hour ago I found him like this, I took him out of his tank and in a small cup to get the picture. (I couldnt get it in his tank clear enough)

He has a 5gal filtered heated tank (its kept at 77/78) and is clean.

any ideas whats going on?! it looks like he has a bloody nose!

[newbie32]

It may be useful to fill this out for everyone:

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)?

[iheartmybettas]

Oh my goodness! I would PM OldFishLady. I haven't ever seen anything like that and it doesn't look good.

I hope either OFL or someone on here can give you good advice. I hope he gets better!

[Shotzer]

Perhaps he hurt himself some how. You might want to start treating him with an antibacterial and some salt so help keep out infection.

[cwenger5]

Housing
What size is your tank? 2 gallon
What temperature is your tank? 79-80
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? Top Fin, color enhansing betta bits
How often do you feed your betta fish? daily. usually a few pellets in the Am/PM

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? bi-weekly
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 100%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? none

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

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

not tested.

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? no
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? yes, he just stays at the bottom and open and shuts his mouth alot. He doesn't look distressed but he usually swims around and puffs out at anything that moves.He usually eat like a pig and lately hes just eating a pellet or two and ignoring the rest.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? last night
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? no
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no
How old is your fish (approximately)? not sure

[newbie32]

Is there anything in his tank that is hard and he can ram his head into? Once, my betta headbutted my snail and it looked like he scraped a scale off his face. Served him right and he never did it again. Maybe he ran into something and hurt himself? Looks awful. : (

[cwenger5]

His "snout" is bright red :( Theres his rock formation he swims around, hes never had a problem with hitting things... I didn't think he had been moving around enough to hit anything. Hes just been laying at the bottom. here is a picture of his tank

[Punki]

Oh my goodness :( I googled it and only found one other person with the same problem, they advised the salt water treatment to possibly kill gill parasites, but the girl didn't do anything except keep cleaner water and her betta got better so theres still some hope! What an odd thing though, i hope it goes away soon and hes back to normal :( Your water change schedule is good though =/

[Ajones108]

"What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? none"

Hey hey hey, do you not use water conditioner? :o

[Oldfishlady]

It looks more like an injury to me...to understand..bi-weekly meaning two times a week or once every two weeks....either way....in a 2.5gal filtered tank I would increase the water changes to 50% twice weekly...1-50% water only and 1-50% to include the substrate vacuum to maintain water quality

AS asked....what type of dechlorinator do you use if any....if not used what is your source water...

Filter media needs a swish/rinse in old tank water with a water change a couple of times a month.....

Right now I would start with 50% daily water changes for 3 days an get the temp down to the 76-77F range and see if this will perk him up and get him eating again....if not or he looks to be getting worse....I would start aquarium salt treatment.....

Aquarium salt treatment:
Place him in a small QT container that can be floated in the heated tank to maintain a water temp in the 76F range
Pre-mix the treatment water in a 1gal jug of dechlorinated water-Add 1tsp/gal aquarium salt and tannins (if you have a source) and use this water for the 100% daily water changes for 10 days

Nutrition is important-since he is not eating-I would try live foods like mosquito larva if you have any....hopefully he will start to feel better in a few days and start to eat his regular staple diet....high protein fed in small frequent meals

When you QT to treat for 10 days-be sure and make a 50% water change with vacuum in the display tank before you re-acclimate him back to the tank once the 10 day treatment is completed.....

Keep us posted.....

Edit-on a second look at the pic...the skin tag...are you sure this is not a parasite or is it flesh? I can't tell by the pic....