betta has noticeable skin rash- what to do?

[boothbrave]

Hi folks.

I noticed my betta has what looks like white specs on one of his gills. It comes and goes. Sometimes it's not specs but at times it looks like he's shedding ? Could this be ick? The tank is new to him. I've added aqua salt too.

He's quite healthy and he's not tryin to scratch himself from this symptom.


thanks

 

[An t-iasg]

Hi,
I don't know if it's ich. There is an excellent article on ich in the articles section. Go to the homepage, (I think) and click on articles over on the left. If it is ich, I don't think it would come and go. It would get bad fast.

This is kinda what I'm thinking: you said it's a new tank. What size tank, how often are you doing water changes, what are the water parameters, and what is the ammonia level? When I got my betta, I really didn't know about ammonia (the lfs doesn't really tell you!) and due to some high ammonia levels, his gill area got burned. The betta was blue, and his gill area turned brown. It never healed or regained its color. He lived to be over a year old, though, after I figured out how to take care of him! Maybe you are seeing some ammonia burn on your betta's gills. While he may be like my betta, and this discoloration won't go away, try getting an ammonia test, if you don't have one already, and do water changes to keep the ammonia at 0. Is it just a bowl, or is it a cycled tank? If it's just a bowl, you may have to do water changes twice a week, of about 50 %.

If frequent water changes and 0 ammonia don't help or you think it's getting worse, he may need some medicine. I have BettaMax on hand at all times. It's a good general med for bettas. I would try that if you think he needs a medicine after a little while -- 3 or 4 days, maybe. But if it ends up that he does have ich then you'll need to use ich meds or the heat/salt treatment discussed in the ich article. Hope this helps!

 

[boothbrave]

thanks An t-iasg,

Based on the photos from the link, he doesn't look to have ich. Maybe some sort of fungas. I'll continue to monitor and add a bit more aqua salt with the standard betta fix remedy.

 

[An t-iasg]

Hi,
I hope your betta is getting better! I have not used Betta Fix. I have used BettaMax (in a green box) and Jungle Fungus Eliminator successfully on my bettas. Is Betta Fix in a little bottle with a dropper? Does it contain melaleuca (tea tree oil)? Be careful when using it. Melaleuca is a very effective remedy for fish. But bettas, with their labyrinth organ, are sensitive to it.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't use it, just watch your betta carefully for signs of distress. I used Melafix (also a tea tree remedy) on my betta once, and I didn't give him the full strengh dose, and he still looked stressed (plus it smelled real bad!) so I changed the water to get it out. I think (not sure since I never used it) that BettaFix is already diluted; just follow the directions and don't use too much or use it more frequently than directed, and change some water if your betta gets stressed. My betta was constantly swimming rapidly, not scratching on anything, but not like his usual self. Hope this helped a little!