Betta emergency?

[PheonixKingZ]

Hi, so I have a betta named “Blaze”, in a 10 gallon tank, shared with 1 bushy nose pleco, and some snails.

Yesterday I say he was missing a lot of scales on the top of his head. Please help me, and tell me why he is missing those scales!!

(P.S. all water parameters are in order.)

 

[Colin_T]

He probably got his head stuck under something and scratched them off.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a week. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank. The water changes will dilute disease organisms in the water and should allow the fish to heal itself.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, don't clean the filter if it's less than 6 weeks old. A clean filter will have less harmful microscopic organisms in and that will also help him heal.

Feed him 3-5 times a day with a variety of foods including live and frozen (but defrosted). Do this for a couple of weeks to help him build up some strength and increase his immune system.

Monitor him for infection.
White and fluffy is fungus.
Red and inflamed is a bacterial infection.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Watch him closely. Don’t add aquarium salt with the pleco. I’ve heard of plecos sucking the slime coat off of goldfish but never experienced it myself.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

He probably got his head stuck under something and scratched them off.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a week. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank. The water changes will dilute disease organisms in the water and should allow the fish to heal itself.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, don't clean the filter if it's less than 6 weeks old. A clean filter will have less harmful microscopic organisms in and that will also help him heal.

Feed him 3-5 times a day with a variety of foods including live and frozen (but defrosted). Do this for a couple of weeks to help him build up some strength and increase his immune system.

Monitor him for infection.
White and fluffy is fungus.
Red and inflamed is a bacterial infection.

Ok, thank you. So it’s not like hole-in-the-head? Or something like that? I do have dragon stone, so maybe he swam next to one and scratched his head?

 

[Essjay]

Bettas will try to squeeze through the tiniest of gaps. There was a thread the other day about a betta that got stuck in the hole of a terracotta plant pot cave.
https://www.fishforums.net/threads/betta-emergency.453997/

 

[Colin_T]

So it’s not like hole-in-the-head? Or something like that?

No it's not hole in the head disease or anything that resembles a disease.

 

[Kritastrophe]

If your Betta is harassing the Pleco they can become defensive. Bristlenose pleco’s have spines they can flare out near their gills if they feel threatened or crowded. Typically they are used in the wild to keep other pleco’s away. If your Betta is nipping or chasing your pleco he may well be flaring his spines defensively and scratching up your Betta.