Weird White spot?

[GienahClarette]

Housing
What size is your tank? 5 gallons
What temperature is your tank? 78 degrees F
Does your tank have a filter? Yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No, the filter.
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? Alton Betta Pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? 1-2 pellets 3x a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Every three days. Every other day more recently, I’ve been trying to get some algae under control.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 40-50%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? A tiny bit of aquarium salt, NovAqua Water Conditioner, Seachem Prime, Leaf Zone plant food once a month.

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

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
pH: 7.2
Hardness: 75 soft
Alkalinity: 80 moderate

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? I noticed a small white spot on his tail. Recently he has been tail biting, and I see pin-head sized holes in his tail every once in a while. This one looks white, blurry, and almost swollen on one side. But, there is only one.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Not much, if at all.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? I noticed the pinhead sized holes a few weeks ago, but thought it was just him biting. I noticed the white spot today.
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Not yet.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No.
How old is your fish (approximately)? 7-8 months old.



I noticed a weird white spot on my fish today. It looks too big to be an ich spot, and there is only one of them. Thoughts? I'm really worried about Sir Crispin.

[Sakura8]

Have you been able to get a very close look at it, possibly with a flashlight? I ask because I wonder if it's a parasite, like a fluke.

[GienahClarette]

I tried to get a look at it with the flashlight, and I can't really make anything out. It don't help that Sir Crispin is an unapologetic wiggler, and the flashlight is reflecting off of the glass.

[Sakura8]

Probably the best thing right now is to add a little more salt and watch it closely. If it's a parasite or the very beginnings of fin rot, the salt should nip it in the bud. You might want to put him in QT for a salt treatment, I hear it can kill plants. Dosage is 1 tsp per gallon so if his QT is smaller than that, it will help to mix a gallon up separately and store for the daily water changes. I hope it turns out to be nothing serious.

[GienahClarette]

I'll do that! Thank you for the advice. :)

[Sakura8]

Sure. I hope he gets better quickly. He's a very handsome fellow.

[GienahClarette]

Thank you! I was trying to wean him off aquarium salt after reading that it was dangerous in the long run. I'm remembering why I add it (in a smaller dose) as a preventative measure all the time. :(

[Sakura8]

Some people do use salt as a preventative in their tanks all the time, especially breeders. I think the danger is that they can build up an immunity to it so it stops working as a standby treatment.

[GienahClarette]

I think I'm going to be one of those people. Now I'll just have to find a different standby cure for things.

[Sakura8]

It's always up to the individual aquarist to decide what's best for their fish. And I haven't yet found scientific proof the fish develop an immunity anyway.