Betta With White Patch

[myenigmaself]

A friend of mine has a Betta with a white patch right behind its gills.

I haven't seen it in person, but based on the picture I've never seen anything like it in my years of fish keeping. I'm thinking some sort of fungal infection, but I'm not really sure. Based on the picture it also looks kind of like a run-in with the side of the tank, but they said it looks to be protruding a bit.

She works at a vet's office and they were thinking about surgically removing it. They don't treat fish at the vet's office so I told them to hold off on surgery as it will probably just stress the fish even more and most likely won't solve the underlying problem.

It's been described as looking like a "patch of cotton."

Any ideas and/or suggested treatment?

Thanks!

 

[kelly528]

That is totally 'cotton fungus'. Just search it-- there are tons of resources available on the web. The picture isn't showing but let me guess... they have the betta in one of those dreadful bowls with no filtration/heat, don't they? If this is the case, they will NEED to get the betta a proper tank. Otherwise they are just wasting time and money treating the fish.

 

[pippoodle]

bettas are ok without filtration as long as they have daily water changes

try myaxzin treatment - if it is fungus

 

[myenigmaself]

Thanks to the both of you. Here's what I recommended:

There's a split consensus on what your fish has based solely on the picture. It's leaning towards fungal infection (my initial guess), specifically something known as "cotton fungus." There's also a good chance it's an infection with the bacteria Flavobacterium columnare. Both are pretty common with Betta's, and they both look very similar. As such, they commonly get misdiagnosed.

The recommendation at this point is to do the following:
Increase the temperature to 76F.
Before you do a water change grab a sample to have tested at a local fish store. The consensus is this condition is almost always caused by stress, which is almost always caused by sub-par water conditions. The water may be clean, but it may have a build up of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, copper, or an improper ph/hardness. The fish store should be able to test for all this for a nominal fee (if any fee at all).
Perform 50% water changes daily.
Add some marine salt (I'm not sure how much, if you want to do this let me know and I can find out).
Try to find a fungal and bacterial treatment (I've heard of one called Simply Betta that might be good. I've used PimaFix before, but lots of people say it's not good for Bettas).
If you can't find an all in one treat for both separately but simultaneously.
If you can, try adding an air stone. The fungal and bacterial treatments tend to suck oxygen from the water (they're typically organic compounds that ultimately get eaten by natural bacteria in the water. these bacteria consume O2 when they metabolize the meds), so the air stone will help put O2 back so your fish can breathe more easily.

Any further suggestions or corrections are welcome.

 

[kelly528]

Pipoodle would probably know better than me, but an airstone may do more harm than good... the bubbles and strong current tend to freak bettas out. One alternative is a sponge filter, which isn't too much more than an airstone (the cost of the air-pump makes up the bulk of the cost of either type of aeration). Also, what size tank is the betta in? With enough surface area you may be able to get by without any extra O2.

 

[myenigmaself]

It's a 1.5 L tank. I didn't realize it was that small so I've advised against an air stone. I've also recommended upgrading to a larger tank.

 

[pippoodle]

it's not marine salt you need its api aquarium salt (or similar) and only use this is the fish has no problems breathing other wise leave the salt until the fish is healing and can breath properly

they need to add an anti fungal/bacterial treatment - myaxzin (spelling) works perfectly on both
during the course need to still have daily 50% water changes - the water replaced should be dechlorinated or SAFE water - not from the tap

They can add an air stone even in a small tank -- the tank is no where near suitable for a betta though and this is more than likely the cause of the illness - due to no filtration , stress , unstable temp and dangerous amount of ammonia , nitrites and nitrates

WITHOUT a filter a betta need daily changes of 50% to keep it healthy - and a small tank of 1.5 l will have unstable water stats

 

[myenigmaself]

Thanks pippoodle!

I'll pass all that along, thanks!