Betta face swollen

[Emerald27]

Hi! I have a betta fish that was experiencing tail rot, he'd had it before so I treated him with the same medicine and he got better. Then a couple days later he suddenly had a swollen..forehead for lack of a better word.

He had always been a keen eater and very active swimmer, now he just sits under his bridge most of the time and only comes up for air now and then. The next morning after I noticed the swelling, it seemed to have a small blob of white cottony stuff on it, similar to that stringy stuff from fin rot but in a ball. I started giving him Kanaplex and the ball was gone by the next day but his face is still just as swollen. I've given him two doses of Kanaplex so far, he has one more to go. Since starting the meds he has stopped hiding under his bridge quite as often but is still down there most of the time.

I rescued him from someones house less than a year ago, he was in a 1 litre bowl that was so dirty you couldn't see him. He had fin rot when I got him home, treated him and he was fine within a week. He is now in a 3 gallon unfiltered bowl, I do partial water changes once a week and full water changes every 2 weeks. He does not have a heater but I keep my room warm and he has a thermometer that is consistently at 20 degrees C. I tested his water, my strips don't test for ammonia but pH, nitrites and nitrates were all good. Note his decorations look green from being slightly stained from the fin rot medication, it's not slimy algae or anything.

I got 2 pics of him last night. Any ideas? Couldn't find anything really on the web elsewhere. His head looks so swollen that his scales are starting to spike up a bit, almost like dropsy but it's just on his head. He looks like a dinosaur or something, the top of his face used to dip in not stick out! He hasn't eaten in 4 days, I don't know what to do for him please help!

 

[Emerald27]

Another pic

Can see what I mean about his scales better in this one I think, especially if you can zoom in a little. Also his gills maybe seem a bit inflamed?

 

[Jeknightica]

I'm not sure, but he may be allergic to the medicine. If he only has one dose to go, maybe you could see if it goes down any the following week of it. As for the not eating, one thing that I've noticed whenever I've had sick fish that are under stress is that they eat overnight or whenever they're left alone. This post is recent, but how is he doing?

 

[Emerald27]

Still swollen but trying to eat

Hi! His face looks the same, still swollen but he's much more active now. Swimming around, responsive to when I come near his bowl. He's also trying to eat now when before he showed no interest. He will suck up a piece of food, crunch it a couple times then spit it out. He's gone through this phase when recovering from fin rot in the past and eventually began eating normally again so I'm hopeful that it'll go like that this time. His face was swollen before i put the medicine in, that's why i started treating him so it wouldn't be due to him being allergic. The medicine i had him in previously that was specifically for the fin rot he has been in before and was fine so I don't think it would have been that either. Overall I think he is feeling better, just wish the swelling would go down.

 

[Emerald27]

Anyone??

Hi again. Does anyone have ANY idea about this? The swelling eventually went down and he started behaving and eating normally for about a week and then one morning his face was swollen again with another white cobweb looking chunk on the end of the swollen bump. Started him on another course of Kanaplex and 2 days later he's acting and eating normal again but his face is still swollen with what almost looks like a little whitehead or something sticking up between scales on his "forehead" where the swelling is. Hard to get good pics but I tried...any ideas?? Really confused!

 

[Emerald27]

Another attempt at a current pic of the weird white spot on the swollen area

 

[Autumnsky]

Not absolutely sure, could be a parasite.

Maybe Anchor Worm coming out.

Check hole in the head disease aka Hexamita. See if that seems to be the condition.

 

[Emerald27]

One more pic. Really hard to get a good one, it looks like a white tip of a toothpick or something sticking up from between his scales. Doesn't sound that much like hexamita as I haven't noticed his color getting darker or any stringy, mucusy like feces. He did go through a period of not eating for about a week during the initial swelling, then once he felt better was active and eating again. He didn't eat the first day I noticed the swelling was back along with the white chunk, but not he's eating and behaving pretty normal once more. He just looks weird.

 

[Autumnsky]

I would try some Praziquatel food flakes which to e is easier than trying to soak food in the liquid medicine.

Check your local fish store to see if they have the flakes.

I recently used them for /anchor worm outbreak from some plants I got from outside in my summer plant growing buckets.

And consider some kind of med like Seachem - ParaGuard. Be cautious if you have snails and or shrimp. Follow directions.

If the lfs doesn't have the flakes, mine came from Peabody's Paradise from Jetajockey here on AA. Very reasonable price.

There are some other options too, but we will see if anyone else knows. Perhaps someone else can give you a better bit of info.

Oh yes, important how is his poop, clear and stringy or browish like his food?

 

[Emerald27]

So he recovered again, he stayed active and ate plenty the whole time he was swollen and finally the white chunk disappeared and the swelling went down. This morning he won't eat, no swelling but when I look reeeally closely I can see a couple little stringy white pieces of "cob web" coming from between his scales in that same forehead area. It looks like the white stringyness that comes with tail rot, but on his face. What the heck is going on?! He tries to eat one pellet, chomps it a couple times and then spits it out, then doesn't bother trying to eat anymore until hours later when I'll try again, but the same thing. Chomps one piece and spits it out. So confused. I expect his head will start swelling again within a couple days as this has become the pattern, if I'm correct it'll be the third time in a month. I'm not sure if the Kanaplex I'm giving him is what's helping him get over it but doesn't completely elliminate the problem so it keeps returning, or if it's having no effect and he's just getting over each, I'll call it "outbreak", on his own.

 

[Autumnsky]

Treat for internal and external parasites.

 

[AndrewRobbins]

Hello! I know that you probably won't see this, but maybe this reply can help other people in the future with the same issue.

My beta fish Bob had the same illness a year ago. Same exact symptoms. I thought I would lose him. However, the little guy never gave up and is still alive today. He is coming up upon his second 'gotcha' anniversary!

I had no exact idea on how to treat him, so I tried an array of things. First, I completely stripped his tank. Rocks and decor were all replaced. I also scrubbed the heck out of the walls of his tank with Dawn dish soap. I regularly changed his water and cleaned his tank after the initial strip. I also tried to keep his water warm (this happened in early December and he didn't have a water heater.) I would put his tank in the sun in hope that somehow the sunlight and vitamin D would do something. I also shined black light over him to see if his scales had changed color, but I have no idea if that would have an effect on the illness. I would also offer him a variety of food just to see what piqued his appetite. I used a little spoon that came with a beta treat pack and push the food down to his level. I can't remember if he ate it, but I remember doing it.

I never ended up treating him for parasites or gave him any medicine. After a stressful month and a lot of prayer, the illness went away and hasn't come back.

Throughout this time, I never saw anything emerge from the white tip on his swollen head or find a foreign life form in his tank. Throughout the ordeal, Bob was the only resident in his home.

Bob's only glaring lasting effect is a 'scar' on his snout from the bump pulling his scales up. He seems unbothered by it. He also seems to be mentally unaffected and is still mentally sharp. The only thing that he had issues with in his recovery is remembering the tricks I taught him, which was probably caused by a lack of reinforcement instead of brain damage.

I still have no idea what caused this problem. Before he got sick, I would give Bob ants that invaded my kitchen. I wonder if he picked up something from one of the ants that either had a preexisting condition or were contaminated with the ant poison I put out. Since then, Bob had been on a strict 'no ants' diet. I still occasionally give him a mosquito or a fruit fly if I catch one. I also introduced an aquarium snail to his tank to help with clean up.

I hope this helps! Good luck!

(and yes, Bob is the handsome fish in my profile picture.)

 

[m.j.gomez]

So he recovered again, he stayed active and ate plenty the whole time he was swollen and finally the white chunk disappeared and the swelling went down. This morning he won't eat, no swelling but when I look reeeally closely I can see a couple little stringy white pieces of "cob web" coming from between his scales in that same forehead area. It looks like the white stringyness that comes with tail rot, but on his face. What the heck is going on?! He tries to eat one pellet, chomps it a couple times and then spits it out, then doesn't bother trying to eat anymore until hours later when I'll try again, but the same thing. Chomps one piece and spits it out. So confused. I expect his head will start swelling again within a couple days as this has become the pattern, if I'm correct it'll be the third time in a month. I'm not sure if the Kanaplex I'm giving him is what's helping him get over it but doesn't completely elliminate the problem so it keeps returning, or if it's having no effect and he's just getting over each, I'll call it "outbreak", on his own.

Hello, have you considered he may have hole in the head (hith) or lateral line disease. I have no experience w/it but looked up on internet & found this. Hope this helps!!!!!