Urgent - Scale Discoloration and Peeling

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RedSarah

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Mar 28, 2019
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Location
Baltimore, MD
Hi! Last week, I noticed Queenie had a grey patch behind her left eye. This seems to have developed while I was on a week-long vacation. A fellow betta owner fed her twice a day, and I performed a water change the day before leaving and the day I returned. I couldn't tell if Queenie had scraped herself, lost scales, or is marbling more, so I left her and kept a close eye.

Now, she has an opaque looking patch on the top of her head, but it does not look like fungus. She also has a tiny patch of peeling scales on her right side. I've had her for 4 months. She has never injured herself on hardscape, filter, heater, etc. and she has never been sick.
Behavior wise, she is acting the same as usual. Very active, swimming around the tank and in plants, color is good, and fins are not clamped.

I'm worried, especially since I am moving to a new apartment in two days and will be breaking down the tank to transport it. The only change in the tank are new plants that I acquired last week, but the grey patch was present before I added them. Also, nitrates are higher than usual (20 instead of 5-10), so I'm not sure if she is producing excess mucus as a result of this change?

Thank you!!

Tank size: 5.5 gal
pH: 7.0
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 20-40 (higher than usual, could this be the issue?)
kH: 40ppm
gH: 120ppm
tank temp: 79-81 F

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):
Queenie has a flat, grey, discolored patch behind her left eye. She recently developed a, opaque patch on the top of her head, slightly raised but not fluffy like fungus. Maybe excess mucus/slime coat? Now, 3-4 scales are peeling off her right side above her pectoral fin.

Volume and Frequency of water changes:
60% once every week

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:
niloCG macros, micros, and liquid Co2, and prime water conditioner

Tank inhabitants:
1 betta, 3 amano shrimp, nerite snails

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):
added more live plants last week

Exposure to chemicals:
none

peeling scales above pectoral fin:
IMG_0825.JPG

peeling scales, directly behind gill/above pectoral fin
IMG_0826.JPG

grey patch behind eye:
IMG_0829.JPG

light patch on top of her head, look directly up from her gill plate
IMG_0835.JPG
 
I can't tell anything from the pictures due to the colour pattern on the fish. You can try doing a big water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a few weeks and see what happens.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Stop adding fertilisers for a few weeks and see if that helps.
 
Water changes are your first line of defense. Do as Colin instructed. If the water changes don’t improve things you may need to treat for a bacterial infection. Good luck. Please keep us posted.
 
Water changes are your first line of defense. Do as Colin instructed. If the water changes don’t improve things you may need to treat for a bacterial infection. Good luck. Please keep us posted.
Hey, just an update -- Queenie still has some scale discoloration, but she made it through the move and has been doing great!
 
Hey all,

Sorry for reviving this old post. The scales on Queenie's head definitely look weird, and the patches I posted originally have continued to progress and are now more noticeable over the entire top of her head. Her head looks... lumpy? I still occasionally notice the "peeling" of single scales or small patches of scales, which is happening right now (see photos).

She is as active as ever, her color is good, and she has a hearty appetite. As you can see from the photos, the scales on the rest of her body are well defined and completely flat to her body (also sorry about the photos, two were taken with an iPhone because I don't have a macro lens).

I worry that these are scale tumors or some odd irritation, but I have no idea. This has progressed very slowly since I posted in August, so I don't believe it is fungus or columnaris. Any suggestions are welcome, thank you!!!


Irregularly raised/peeling scales on the side of her head:
IMG_4190.JPG


Lumpy scales on her head:
IMG_4192.JPG


Normal scales on her body:
queenie2.JPG
 
I'm sorry I cant help with what's going on, I've never experienced this before but i just want to compliment you on your photography! I can absolutely not get good photos of my fish
 
I'm sorry I cant help with what's going on, I've never experienced this before but i just want to compliment you on your photography! I can absolutely not get good photos of my fish

Thank you! Usually 1 out of every 20 photos turns out well for me lol—Queenie is always in motion
 
Try Jungle Fungus Clear. It looks fungus to me. Keep us posted.
 
Try Jungle Fungus Clear. It looks fungus to me. Keep us posted.

Thank you! I'll pick some up today or tomorrow. Do you know if Jungle Fungus Clear is shrimp/snail/cycle safe? I have a quarantine tank that I can treat her in if that would be safer.
 
Thank you! I'll pick some up today or tomorrow. Do you know if Jungle Fungus Clear is shrimp/snail/cycle safe? I have a quarantine tank that I can treat her in if that would be safer.
I have had it mess with my cycle before. Then on another occasion it didn’t. I would QT just to be safe. :)
 

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