Betta with swim bladder issues, lifting scales on face

[Morainy]

Wow, you have sharp eyes and an excellent camera, Bullfrog.

I know that there are many experienced betta keepers on the forum and I hope that they can help you out. I think your idea of giving him another round of Tetracycline is a good one, but I don't really know what's wrong with him. Good luck.

[BullDog]

I appreciate your support Morainy

Did some googling, and found this, which sounds very similar:
Killifish Australia :: View topic - IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY FIGHTER?

Even the same colour betta, which is freaky...
They used something called "Para-cide"
Aquamaster Para Cide Tablets :: Medications :: Fish & Aquarium :: Pet Supplies Online | Products | Accessories | Discount Prices

Never even heard of that before... At Petsmart, they had Coppersafe and Maracide, and I went with the Coppersafe.
If I see no improvement with the Coppersafe, I'll try the Maracide instead.

[BullDog]

I'll just keep updating this every couple days.

He's a bit more responsive now, but his left side is looking as bad as ever. The whole left side of his face is "puffy" looking. The spot on his back has shrunk a bit, but still looks a bit like his face, with about 4 scales white coloured and lifted up.

It seems so weird that this is only affecting one side of him... The other side of his face looks totally normal.

I keep wondering if it could be some sort of fungus, though I don't see any white stuff hanging off of him.

His belly is looking a little bit bloated today too. He didn't eat last night. I put in a pre-soaked blood worm, and he went after it a couple times, but I guess it was too big, so he gave up after a couple tries. I tried breaking it in half, but by that time it sunk, and he wasn't interested. Today he happily ate a pellet though.

Light and filter are still off. Just turning the light on for about 10 minutes/day to feed him and have a look at him. There's other ambient light in the room though, so the tank isn't pitch black. The heater is doing a nice job keeping the water at a steady 80*F.

It's the 3rd day of the second round of Tetracycline. And keeping up with the proper concentration of Coppersafe when I do partial water changes.

[InfraredDream]

Good luck, BullDog. Hopefully he'll respond to the treatment fast and will recover soon.

[BullDog]

Thanks InfraredDream.

I'm having a hard time figuring out if he's getting better or worse...
The left side of his face still looks pretty nasty, but it almost looks like all the scales are dead (they're all white), and I'm hoping there's new ones growing underneath.
Hard to explain, but also hard to capture with a pic.

Here's the best I could do:
This is from yesterday, and it looks a bit different again today. But you can see how near the bottom of his gill it looks sort of white and wispy, like dead skin.


Finished his second round of Tetracycline. Since the water level is low, I can't run the filter, so I won't be able to get rid of the meds with carbon, but I did a 50% change today, and will do a couple smaller water changes in the next couple days. If he's still looking the same, I might even do a third round of antibiotics.

He's still pretty responsive, does a little bit of begging, and is still willing to eat. I've just been feeding him one pellet per day. Tried pre-soaking the pellets, but they tend to sink, and he doesn't see them. His belly looks a little big, but he's definitely pooping, since there seems to be a lot of waste on the bottom.
Still no improvement with his swim bladder though.

[Scholz]

He's got a fungus of some type! I don't think the tetracylin is going to help the fungus out. It may help with whatever the swim bladder issue is but it looks like you've got two problems. The swim bladder and the fungus......

You could treat the fungus with a salt bath or a fungus treatment. Or Methylene Blue etc...

Good luck!

I hope he pulls through...

[BullDog]

I was wondering if it could be a fungus!
From what I read of of fungus didn't really describe his condition though.

I think I'll add a bit of salt right to his tank tomorrow, after a water change.
Should I continue with the coppersafe?

Edit: To get the ball rolling, I did a 50% water change, and added just a small amount of salt to his water, 1/4 teaspoon for the 1g of water he's in. Did not add any extra coppersafe after the water change.
Tomorrow, I'll probably do another partial water change, and either up the concentration of salt, or get a fungus med. Suggestions?

[Scholz]

You'll have to up the salt to fight the fungus.... He's got two conditions right now. And what is pictured is fungus for sure! go to 1 tsp per gallon. I've got an indian almond leaf too! If you want to try that... but it takes a while to be affective and if you change the water you prevent it from being useful! Salt is a good wat to treat fungus. You could try a fungus medication too. But pick one method and stick with it. Unless you aren't seeing any improvement!

[BullDog]

He's looking a little better already.
Upped the salt to about 1/2 tsp for the gallon.
He's got red/bloody spots on his gills a bit again, so I'm wondering if I should do one more round of the tetracycline, or try a different a.b. When he was on the tetracycline, the bloody spots seemed to clear up, so I think I might go for a 3rd dose of that.

I think you're right Scholz, he's probably got several things going on with him right now. One thing probably lead to another.

Still keeping my eye on him

[Scholz]

really 1 tsp per gallon is not going to hurt him. It'll really help fight the fungus. It's treatment level salt for betta's. For preventive measures you can add 1 tsp per 2.5 gallons. But for "treatment" you need to up it. So the fungus dies and his slim coat gets good. As for his gills.... maybe he has flukes.... I'm not sure if betta's get flukes... or what the treatment for them in betta's is.... but it could explain the fungus infection and the gills....