White spot turned red. Help!

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

ltnxh

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Mar 4, 2021
Messages
4
Hello! I noticed that last week, around Tuesday, my betta fish started turning white on his belly (he’s always been blue/dark). I used the Tetra Lifeguard medication for a week to try and combat any disease as I waited for medication to restock at my pet store. Then, the white spot cleared on his belly but all of a sudden on Wednesday this week, he had a pretty big spot of white on his side.

From the way it looked, I thought it was ick, so I bought that medication and treated the water yesterday. It’s been a little over 24 hours and the white spot has now turned red.

Is this normal? Or is this a sign of something else, something more serious? I’m a newbie when it comes to fish so I’m at a huge loss. Please help :(
 

Attachments

  • D69CA06C-30E2-408F-B344-8C8F7735AA43.jpg
    D69CA06C-30E2-408F-B344-8C8F7735AA43.jpg
    168.6 KB · Views: 19
  • 526BE85E-C064-46E0-A64E-9F4ED7FDBF40.jpg
    526BE85E-C064-46E0-A64E-9F4ED7FDBF40.jpg
    209.3 KB · Views: 16
That doesn't look normal at all. Poor fishy! I'm not familiar with the medication you mentioned but have you tried a parasite and bacterial infection treatment?
 
That doesn't look normal at all. Poor fishy! I'm not familiar with the medication you mentioned but have you tried a parasite and bacterial infection treatment?

That’s what the Lifeguard was supposed to do but I don’t think it worked very well :( I’ve got ick medication and bettafix that focuses on bacterial and fungal infections, should I use both?
 
Looks bacterial. Hard to see without being there. Google saddle back disease for fish and see if it looks similar

THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT IT WAS! That’s how the white spot looked before turning red oh god I cant believe I mistook it for ick I’m the worst :( I’ve got bettafix for bacterial and fungal infections arriving tomorrow will that work? Will it be too late? What should I do? Sorry about all the questions I’m panicking :(((
 
No, your doing good. Bacterial infections are really hard to diagnose until they are advanced in physical appearance. They progress very rapidly. Don't know if you or anyone you know has ever had a staph infection, but you know it just pops up, and progresses very rapidly.
Unfortunately they are also very difficult to cure and have a higher than average mortality rate.
Bettafix is the same stuff as melafix. It's more of an antiseptic than a curative. Antibiotics are the only thing that will cure columnaris. This link will help on making medicated food but there are plenty of other recipes on line
https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/10-3-5-saddleback/
 
Back
Top Bottom