betta under theweather, has cut on head?

[shynepo3]

my betta has been hiding in his cave, only to come out and feed. last time he did this he had sbd from overfeeding. he seems to have developed some sort of cut or wound on his forehead. it's hard to explain, but it looks like skin peeling ? like a dry scalp?

I might've overfed him, and I recently moved his tank..... I also forgot his fast day this week. and didnt feed him his pea on pea day either. could be anything.

any tips? also should I be worried about the cut? i wish i could take a pic of his forehead, but he wont stop moving...ugggh

 

[librarygirl]

Anything else in the tank with him? If it's a wound it could heal on its own with clean water, just keep doing regular pwc to keep the water clean and watch it for signs of infection or spreading. You could also fast him for one day and then feed him a pea the next day and see if either/both of those things help. Good luck.

 

[LyndaB]

Is there anything with sharp edges in the tank? When I had bettas, I had to sand down parts of their decor so they wouldn't rip fins or injure themselves.

How much do you feed exactly?

His stomach is roughly the size of one eye.

 

[shynepo3]

Well I think he nay have snapped out of it. This mor, he was waiting for me to feed him, unlike the past few morns he was in his cave. Last night I had fed him some daphnia and a tiny bit of pea.

My concern now is the cut...is it a wound or cut? Is that what it would look like? Like dry scalp? The color is darker than his reg skin color - he's the generic blue veil tail kind u see everywhere.

Nothing sharp really, except for this one plant that I took out a few weeks ago

 

[shynepo3]

No tank mates either, just him in a 10 gal. Amm and nitrites are 0. Nitrates are between 10-20 ppm

 

[LyndaB]

Can you post a photo?

 

[shynepo3]

I will post a photo tonight...i caught him sleeping outside his cave last night and got a pic..

He's getting worse it seems. He had fin rot a last month, and it was healing, but yesterday, his tail has shirivelled up...even when he flares, the end of that fin doesn't spread out...it had red tips too...i checked all water params:

amm and nitrite 0, nitrate 5-10ppm.

i did a 50% pwc, and added 1 teaspoon of api aq salt per gal. I also took out some ial that were in there for a few months now. could that cause poor water conditions? I had left the leaves in there attached to a suction cup so he could float on it (like a hammock).

I don't think there's anything else that's causing him to damage to his fins. Unless it's the gravel itself?? It was changed a few mths ago, and come to think of it, he didnt have fin rot prior to to that...

It seems this betta has so much problems now, especially since he was moved to his 10 gal. My female has the same gravel, and more crowded tank of plants, but she never gets any fin rot at all..

 

[LyndaB]

Stop putting salt in, especially if he's getting worse.

Do some water changes, using only Prime (or your dechlorinator). Keeping water as clean as possible is the best cure of all.

 

[shynepo3]

can your water still be dirty if the levels are good? i always assumed the water was clean if you had good levels.

anyways, it seems that he's only active when he knows i'm around...the minute i leave (but watch him from afar), he rests at the bottom of the tank, not moving. i'm feeding him normally (1-2 pellet in mor, and night time is either frozen bloodworm,daphnia or brine shrimp). i figured it wasn't his diet once i noticed that is fin rot/fin tear is back.

about 2 weeks ago, i moved his tank beside the female, and let them stare at each other for a day or two. i wanted to see if he'd start building a bubble nest, but he didnt. he did flare, but he wouldn't build the nest like he did when i put them in the same tank (with a divider). so i then put a piece of paper in between them. im wondering if the stress of seeing her, and moving the tank into a more active area (he use to be in my computer room, which had little light, as opposed to now, he's in the dining room where he sees my ppll walking back and forth a lot) is causing his fin rot.

anyways, i've done pwc two days in a row, and plan on continuing daily. i saw the comment lyndab about the salt, but i haven't put a lot in tbh. however, i'll probably just put 1teaspoon per 3 gallons. if no improvement after a few days, i'll stop completely.

i have one more question about medicating..i have a s15 marina hob sponge filter. it takes these pads, made by marina as well, and they have carbon in them. if i have to medicate with marcyrn or whatever, how will i get the carbon out? will i have to cut a slit in the filter pads, and remove the carbon? it's a pain....

.also, if i wanted to replace these pads, do i just get some filter floss, and a media bag (with carbon in it), and put it in? i was thinking once this is done, i could do that, but place them in front of them existing filter pads for now (stuff them in the hob), and after a few weeks, just take the old ones out. by then the floss/media bag would have enough bacteria right?