[Aria]

The past couple days I've noticed small 'divits' forming on my betta. I did a little research, and I came up with Hole in the Head Disease - I was just wondering if anyone here could confirm?

Attached is a picture of my boy, as well as information about his habitat - I do about a 40% water change weekly, and my tank is heated between 70-75 Degrees. Also he is still eating twice daily - and building elaborate bubble nests.

Tank size: 5G.
Filter: Tetra 5-15G Whisper Filter
Filter Pads: M Whisper Cartridges

Food:
Tetra Betta Pellets
Tetra Betta Safe
Acurel F

I don't have the means to do water tests, however I have tested my tap water in the past and it's always had a healthy balance. (I used to own cichlids and I hardly ever had to fuss with PH levels, my water is just naturally very balanced)

By judging by the above information about what I'm using does anything seem like a red flag that I should not be doing, or that I'm not doing that I should be?

Sorry for the bad quality image - but as you can see he has some sort of gash like hole just behind his eye. There is also another along his back. The off color by his gills has always been there, it's just an oddly lighter colored spot, and not another one of these random divits that formed recently. What should I do? I don't really have access to a fish store nearby where I could purchase medications. I plan to do a 100% water change tomorrow at the very least.

 

[MollyJean]

You use plastic plants in your tank, correct? I don't think it's hole in the head. But it's hard to be sure, I would like to see more angles of the injuries. In my opinion it looks more like missing and damaged scales from a plastic plant. Is he hyper? That looks like a plastic plant behind him, and while it isn't sharp, if he where to run face first into an edge, it could cause some damage.

It could be hole in the head, but it looks more like damaged scales to me. Does he have any other symptoms?

And what does he eat? And how often do you switch up his foods?

 

[Aria]

The spot on his back may be missing scales, but the spot on his head is definitely indented - literally a hole. I do use plastic plans, however they are very rubberized, not so much the hard sharp plastic of typical cheap plants. I've run then over panty hoes as the usual test, and they never catch. I have two of those plastic plants in different colors, and one fabric like plant. I've had them in his tanks for months without issue, I can't imagine how he'd do such substantial dammage on them but I suppose it's a possibility.

I listed and linked to both his foods in my first post, and I randomly switch them up. Sometimes I do pellets in the morning, bloodworms in the evening, or bloodworms morning and evening, or pellets etc. No real rhyme or reason, sometimes he goes a couple days on just one or the other.

No other symptoms as far as I can tell, but I'm not really sure what to look for either. The newest thing I can think hes started doing, is laying in the leave about an inch fron the top of the tank and resting now and then. He doesn't lay on his side, just perches and hangs out, but he's always done that in different places in the tank. Recently he built a massive bubble nest, took up the whole corner of the tank, but hes always built nests. I suppose nothing really out of the ordinary or concerning about his behavior.

More Pictures, hes not being very photogenic:

 

[Aria]

Also, I know the photos make the water look hazy, it's not, it's just the fluorescent lighting reflecting off the plastic edges of the tank.

 

[MollyJean]

Hmmm.. Yeah, now the one over his eye looks a lot worse then it seemed in the first picture. And I think his eyes are a little off even. Is this right?

I've never had to treat HitH (But have dealt with lots of scale damage, which is what I still think the damage on his back is) but I think medication for external parasites is used for treatment.

 

[Aria]

I think the way the plastic skewed the image what what illusioned his weird eye! Haha I had to double check in person, but his eyes seem fine. Maybe one slightly larger than the other, but I think hes always been that way.

Having fed him just now, he's still eating fine, so I'll clean his tank and see if I notice any improvement within the next few days.

 

[Armani33]

I am so glad this was posted! I think this is what my betta Armani has!!! I looked up more pictures and this seems to be his problem now I just need to find out how to to treat it.