Can you circle what you mean? And embed as thumbnails so we can enlarge.

 

I’m sorry, I’m totally new and don’t know how to do the thumbnail thing, but I enlarged and circled and brightened a bit! Her mouth is underneath even though it totally looks like that’s her mouth there. It’s not. It seems so big and like there must be something wrong.
Thanks for reading and I hope these help!

 

Please fill this out for us *****PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Fill out this form so... You can copy and paste into a new reply.

The form gives us quick-reference to the information we need. Without it all anyone can do is guess.

Does her mouth ever close?

 

Her mouth closes all the time, we watch her eat and she kisses my son’s finger etc. We watch her eat her treats because she’s so cute. You cannot see her mouth in the pictures. Whatever the mouth-looking thing is that I circled, it’s not her mouth.

I understand the reasons for the questions and will answer best I can; I’m also a working homeschooling parent with a sick baby who just moved into our first house this week, so I’ll have to ask for grace if I can’t answer everything precisely, but here it is:


Housing:
How many gallons is your tank?
5 gallons
Does it have a filter?
Yes, Tetra Whisper 5-10 gal
Does it have a heater?
Yes, she stays at 80 F
What temperature is your tank?
80 F
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?
Yes and she loves to put her but in it and hang out. 😂
Does your Betta have tank mates? What kind?
No.

Food:
What food brand do you use?
Tetra Betta mini pellets, and occasional freeze dried bloodworms
Do you feed flakes or pellets?
Pellets
Freeze-dried?
Pellets no worms yes
How often do you feed your Betta? How much?
Twice a day 4 mini pellets, occasional bloodworm treats (never more than 1 at a time)

Maintenance:
Before your Betta became ill how often did you perform a water change?
50% every 3-4 weeks
What percentage of water did you change?
50%
What is the source of your water?
Tap, treated with Seachem
Do you vacuum the substrate or just dip out water?
Vacuum substrate
What additives do you use other than conditioner? What brand of conditioner?
Only Seachem Prime
Water Parameters:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
pH: 7
Hardness (GH): Closer to 3 (at one point it was too soft and I added some calcium rich substrate which fixed it but that was months and months ago and it stayed steady after)
Alkalinity (KH): 3.5

Symptoms and Treatment:
When did you first notice the symptoms? Yesterday we noticed the weird shape of her nose suddenly, as though she had a frowning mouth above her actual mouth.
How has your Betta’s appearance changed?
See above.
How has your Betta’s behavior changed?
She seems to be resting a little more but we just moved and sometimes after a journey she gets chill for awhile. Her habits are still steady. When she’s active she’s very active. She also likes to hide in her leaves and rest in her little Bridge.
Is your Betta still eating?
Yes; my son thought she had a slight drop in appetite last week but she seems better now. She does that sometimes.
Have you started treating your Betta? If so, how?
No.
Does your Betta have any history of being ill?
No.
How long have you owned your Betta?
15 months
Was he or she ill or suffering some sort of damage when purchased?
No

 

This looks like columnaris, specifically the disease known as cotton wool disease, which is an infection of the mouth area by the columnaris bacteria. It's typically treated with an antibiotic in the tetracycline family, which includes API Fin & Body or Fritz Maracyn 2. Although not in the instructions, antibiotics in this family are sensitive to light and it's recommended to wrap your aquarium in a blanket during treatment for the best results.

Of course, it's hard to tell based on the pictures if what I'm seeing is fuzz in his mouth or if there's something inside that is pushing his mouth open. Since he's eating, I'm assuming that this is not the case.

 

Thank you! It doesn’t look fuzzy and it’s not actually in her mouth. It’s above it, like completely separate. If I were to make a comparison to a human’s face I would say it a on her “nose” basically. Like if a person had a line running across the bridge of their nose. If that makes sense.
Is there any harm in treating with Fin & Body or similar if it’s not that?

 

Columnaris is also called "Saddle Back Disease." Some common symptoms can be lethargy, loss of appetite, skin lesions, and fin rot.

We all have our opinions and methods. As your Betta doesn't have any of the above symptom and is active and eating I would suggest holding off on the big guns. Would go the homeopathic route for now.

Indian Almond Leaves and plain Rooibos Tea have antibacterial and antifungal properties. You can either float a leaf or teabag in the tank. If the water stays clear, brew a strong tea of either, condition and add to tank until it is the color below.

You can also add Aquarium Salt @ one tablespoon per three gallons. If you have plants you may want to double-check the dosage.

Do you have any photos from when you purchased your Betta? Or before this happened?

 

So I got a pic from above that really shows it. I got a video too but I guess you can’t post those? Anyhow I was able to watch her little mouth opening and closing right at the top of her snout and this is definitely above it; almost looks like she has a little piggy snout! Her entire end of her nose moves when she moves and its clear this is A) not connected to her mouth, and B) is almost like a dent that wraps around the top of her snout.
I really appreciate the opinions; I totally get these are just the best takes you can give. I’m just so stymied!
My son did tell me today on reflection that he thinks she’s been a bit more inactive than usual and hasn’t had as big an appetite. He’s 9, so sometimes I have to really pin him down to get answers. 😅 But now he’s so worried.
I’m glad we caught this because we were just about to add 3 corys and a couple new plants to her 10 gallon, (they’re in quarantine right now), so I’m going to house them elsewhere til we see what’s up.
I’ll treat the water tonight and see what happens.

 

Sounds like a plan.

I use IAL or Rooibos most of the time but especially when I notice something a little wonky.

If you host a video on YouTube you can link. That's how I've done it.

 

Columnaris isn't also called saddle back disease. Columnaris is the same bacteria that causes saddle back disease, but it's called that when it affects their dorsal fin.

Based on the OP's picture, I thought that the OP was referring to his mouth being open constantly and the beginning of what looks like fuzz in his mouth.

I look forward to seeing the youtube video.

 

Dr. Betta - can totally see how that would seem the case. Nope, her mouth opens and closes fine. In fact just a few mins ago I was able to sit eye level with her under nice bright new tank lights, and when she’s facing you directly and you can basically look right into her mouth, you can’t even see the odd shape and it looks like nothing at all is wrong. She looks perfectly normal from a dead-on angle.
Anyhow here is the link to the video. You can see from above that her mouth is puckering in and out and opening and closing as she swims around, and it’s straight in front of her, and the lesion or whatever it is is set back farther. There doesn’t seem to be any fuzz or anything aside from the clear indents and discoloration. Also my kids are chatting away in the background and I didn’t even check to hear what they’re saying so…enjoy the peek into our home life. 🤣🤷🏼‍♀️

 

Can you post a pic of the entire tank? Is there anything she could have injured herself on?

 

We had the same thought but in her tank has been there for months and months. Here it is (she’s hiding).
After some research I am concerned it’s columnaris bur not totally convinced. I feel like if it is then we might be in trouble. But maybe it’s an injury that healed weird.

 

Oh also I don’t have a lot of pictures of her from before that are great quality, but this one is enough to see her nose structure was totally different just a couple months ago.

 

Ok, I haven't see this issue particularly before but here is my assessment.
So if you've ever watched a betta eat in slow motion, or open wide to essentially "yawn", you'll see the rounded lips aren't attached to the face, it's held on by a little extendable membrane. This is most likely the separation you're seeing, the 'lips' did not fully retract.
Why did it happen, I'm not sure, it could be damage or a growth around the face area. The first step is to treat the fungus (if there is still the white cottony growth). You can keep with the conservative route as I see in this thread, or try a fungus cure or a methylene blue dip (we can explain if you like). If she's still having issues, we can try some antibiotics for a possible bacterial issue, but if it's genetic, there's nothing to do about it.

I'm not familiar with the females as much but she does look a little too rounded which is concerning to me.

 

There was never any cottony growth or fungus of any kind. That seems to of been a misunderstanding from one of the posts. There is however still the possibility of Columnaris, which I am treating now as a precaution.
We are also concerned about how round her belly looks, although it looked a lot better this morning. But now she hasn’t eaten in over 24 hours and has been spending a lot of time hiding in her log. Now admittedly, we moved her to a new tank, (which we reconditioned as a quarantine tank while we figure this out), so it could very well just be the new environment. But we are keeping a very close eye on her right now, and I’m hoping the lack of appetite is just temporary.
Her face actually looks better today, but it’s impossible to get a picture because she keeps hiding and when she darts out we all run over to observe her until she hides again.
Basically, my current plan is to treat the water for bacterial in case of Columnaris, continue close observation, and potentially try salt baths.
If she isn’t eating by this time Wednesday thag will be 3 days on no food and we may have to think about what’s best for her. 😢 She’s our first but we’ve learned a lot and she’s been with us a year and a half with zero issues til now, so I feel confident if we decide to continue fish keeping.

 

Oh, Veloran, sorry I didn’t also say: thanks for the anatomy info, always very useful! The…gap, I guess? Seems notably smaller today which is interesting.

 

Just an update. After treating the water for two days her nose looks significantly better to me, which is great. She still seems lethargic and spends a lot of time on her logs but pops out frequently to take a spin around the tank. We kept her in the dark longer today than usual to let her rest.
She still won’t eat though. Looks right at the food and just backs away a little then swims off.

 

Thanks for the update.
As I mentioned, I'm not as familiar with the girls, but I get concerned when they won't eat. How long has she not eaten?

 

Me too. She’s gone a day without appetite before and then been fine, almost like sometimes she just isn’t feeling it. We’ve had her a year and a half so we’ve seen it a handful of times.
But this is day 3. She sometimes just looks at the food and then ignores it. But sometimes she actively retreats from it. Both her normal pellets and her bloodworms. I’ve even tried different brands just in case!
I upped our game to actual meds after the first two days and her appearance has improved now to the point where if she were eating I’d barely notice anything amiss. Everything else is progressing positively. 🤷🏼‍♀️

 

Oh weird sorry I thought I replied!

Today is day 3. She’s sometimes gone a day without appetite but never more. We’ve had her for 16 months. So enough to have established patterns.

I am worried. But everything else has been improving since medicating her water and starting epsom dips. If it weren’t for her lack of eating I’d think she totally on the upswing.

 

Whatever it was, treating it as columnaris and giving Epsom baths did the trick. After a scary week where she wouldn’t eat and trying several types of foods, she’s back to her happy active self and her shake is entirely back to normal. I’m so relieved!

 

Hello, I'm having the same issue with my betta. I noticed this weird indent on his upper lip and I'm thinking about ordering medicine as a precaution. Did you use api fin and body or some other med?

 

Glad she's back to normal.
One of the best facts about bettas are that they are very resilient. Whatever it was causing the bloating, she was able to take care of it.