columnaris? or just discoloration?

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athenaisfishy

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jun 18, 2018
Messages
10
sick betta?

yesterday, when I woke up, I checked on my 5g betta tank and saw there was a small indentation on my betta, Casper’s head. I just shrugged it off and thought maybe he hit his head on something and it would go away. today, he looked the same, I went to the movies for about 3 hours and when I came back, the discoloration and indentation got bigger. It is a dark brownish/gray color and I’m really worried. this past week he has been flaring at nothing, and he has been moving his gills rapidly. if someone more experienced could look at these pictures and tell me what’s wrong with my betta?

I have a 5g heated and filtered tank. It's not cycled because i received this fish as a present for my birthday without prior knowledge of how to take care of him. I did a recent water change yesterday, 75% and added 1 tablespoon of aquarium salt because he has fin rot. the tank has been set up for around a month. I have 2 (adding two more) ghost shrimp in the tank with him as well as a mystery snail. I recently just added a new plant and decor from the pet-store after soaking them in hot water from my sink. I switched to a new water conditioner last week: Seachem Prime because i heard that it gets rid of ammonia for 48 hours. I have always kept my fish's diet balanced with both freeze dried blood worms and pellets (he loves it). as you can tell i took the time to do a lot of research and am trying to do my best to give my betta a long, happy life, so if someone was kind enough to help me with my problem i could do so:)

edit** also, im new to the forums so if i posted in the wrong place or did something wrong im sorry.
 

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A few more water changes. 50% at a time. I'd do a couple a.s.a.p. Vacuum the bottom of the tank to get waste build up cleaned out. And don't clean the filter/or change the cartidge right now. There's ammonia in your tank, gotta do more water changes more often. Get a test kit and test the water. Your tank is probably not cycled yet. You'll kill him if you don't do water changes specially while in cycle. Research fish in cycle. Ammonia should never go over .50 with fish in cycle. You should keep it at .25 think I read you have 2 tanks if I understand right. If you do. Take your filter cartridge out of the other tank dunk it in the betta's filter shack some good bacteria off into his filter and then put the cartridge back to other tank. It will help cycle. Almost Instantly. Test water. What ever your ammonia is at, you need to change water to twice that at 50-60% at a time. Sometimes you'll have to do a few back to back. ( one right after another one) to get it down to zero. Don't zero it out if your not cycled. Research will help you understand a little better.
 
I just did 2 water changes about an hour ago, and I have the API freshwater test kit. I did do a ton of research on how to cycle your tank with a fish, most of them state that it takes a while. whenever i test for ammonia, it comes up at 0 (i see clear 0 on the test kit and so does my dad, but my mom sees .25 so i dont know who is right). also, whenever i try and siphon my tank, it also sucks up gravel? does anyone know how to fix that? thank you so much for the quick reply:fish2:
 
And it's not what your test show after a water change. It's before the water change. And changing to prime probably helped out. If your zeroing it out and it's not cycled completely, your slowing the cycling system down. It's gotta have .25 ammonia and no higher than .50 to be able to cycle and gain your nitrate.
 
nitrite and nitrate are both at 0. i see what you mean, thanks so much for helping me out, ill try not to slow down the cycling process by bringing everything to 0. Nitrate should be at 5-10ppm, right?
 
The pictured blemish might simply be a minor abrasion with a fungus attached or as Angel suggested the blemish might be an irritation caused by unstable water parameters.
Columnaris has four strains: AJS #1 - AJS #4. Strain #1 & #2 are absolutely lethal, and kill very rapidly, potential tank killers. Strain # 3, also lethal, a slower death. Strain # 4, not necessarily lethal. Treatable w/antibiotics, or salt W/ lower temps.
My initial impression; the problem is "not" Columnaris.
Just keep the fish eating, and pay special attention to water quality. Hopefully the wound will heal up soon.
 
The pictured blemish might simply be a minor abrasion with a fungus attached or as Angel suggested the blemish might be an irritation caused by unstable water parameters.
Columnaris has four strains: AJS #1 - AJS #4. Strain #1 & #2 are absolutely lethal, and kill very rapidly, potential tank killers. Strain # 3, also lethal, a slower death. Strain # 4, not necessarily lethal. Treatable w/antibiotics, or salt W/ lower temps.
My initial impression; the problem is "not" Columnaris.
Just keep the fish eating, and pay special attention to water quality. Hopefully the wound will heal up soon.

Thank you so much! i was getting really worried, i will try and maintain good quality water and keep testing with my API!
 
Was thinking as above that looked like an injury (on phone screen though), but good news you picked it and one to watch doesn’t get worse.

Chemical burns like ammonia I have seen tended to be several patches or around gills (very bad dosing error of H2O2 on my part). But if say lost a scale and had a ammonia spike, could be a combo or one / other.

Good news you have a test kit.
 
Was thinking as above that looked like an injury (on phone screen though), but good news you picked it and one to watch doesn’t get worse.

Chemical burns like ammonia I have seen tended to be several patches or around gills (very bad dosing error of H2O2 on my part). But if say lost a scale and had a ammonia spike, could be a combo or one / other.

Good news you have a test kit.

ok thanks so much for telling me! yeah, i think he had a minor injury yesterday and i was gone the whole day so i couldn't do a water change so the ammonia spiked.
 
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