Are small, clean, round holes HITH? Also, am I treating properly for velvet?

Tank

What is the water volume of the tank?
2g

How long has the tank been running?
Two weeks

Does it have a filter?
Brand new sponge filter, it's a hospital tank so I will be doing large water changes

Does it have a heater?
2 of them

What is the water temperature?
82° for velvet

What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.)
1 powder blue dwarf gourami

Maintenance
How often do you change the water?
Will be doing every day

How much of the water do you change?
50%-100% plus prime and stability, I will see how it goes
What do you use to treat your water?

Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water?
No substrate

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish?
Kind of. Had a fry I shuffled out in here before, but I started a new sponge filter anyway

What do you use to test the water?
Master test

What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Idk right now, I'm doing large water changes with prime and not letting more than 24 hours between them

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish?
Just got it to eat some frozen bloodworms and repashy ipago. I think it was starving

How much do you feed your fish?
However much it wants at the this point

What brand of food do you feed your fish?
Do you feed frozen or freeze-dried foods?
Frozen and soak anything dry

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish?
Just got it last night

How long ago did you first notice these symptoms?
Last night, in PetSmart

In a few words, can you explain the symptoms?
Gasping despite intense aeration. Troubles swimming. Clean, small, and round holes in the head, and on upper gill plate. Either the eyes are sunken or the gills are swollen. Shimmery gold which has now gone. Was very close to death when I brought him home

Have you started any treatment for the illness?
First thing I did after acclimating is add methylene blue and a little aq salt. Then dosed prime. Oxygenex. Then research paid off, discovered velvet was part of the problem. 1 drop of super ich cure had the velvet swimming off immediately. Then I noticed the holes...

Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase?
Oh yea that's why I bought him

How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all?
Since the velvet treatment, he's gone from gasping and half dying at the bottom to swimming around and eating, but still gasping and still looks sick

Explain your emergency situation in detail.

okay so I was at PetSmart last night NOT to buy a fish, but while I was waiting for someone to help me I couldn't help but notice this poor dwarf gourami. He was clearly suffocating but too weak to swim to the surface. All the other Gouramis in his tank seemed fine, but I knew he would die by the end of the day if no one helped him.

****, even waiting my turn to get him he seemed close to croaking. I'm amazed he made it home, but I think he's stabilized now that I got the super ich cure onto him. And the food seemed to help.

I've never dealt with velvet or hith before, so I don't know if I have the right meds (plus I have no idea what I'm doing). His tank got pretty dirty trying to feed him, so I want to do a 100% wc today. Would this be okay even with meds in the tank?

If it is hith, treat with Metroplex?

I just wanna give this guy a shot at life, he deserves it

 

I, unfortunately, dealt with HITH with a betta I had earlier in the year. I believe he scraped himself on a plant and got an infection afterward. I wasn't able to properly treat him, as I think I realized too late. Since your buddy is eating, I think that's a good sign. I was using a bacterial/fungal medicine from API, but that usually takes 2-3 weeks to help clear the fish up, and he only had a week in him.

I would say that clean water and sticking with Prime is your best bet for now since he's already so weak. Any medicines that could even slightly agitate him might not be worth it. I would also refrain from a 100% change so you don't have to move him too much. I tried that when my betta had his lesions, and getting him out only agitated the lesions and ripped off the scabs, so I'd try to avoid completely removing him from the tank. 75% water change may be your best bet.

Hope someone else has some good advice for you. Good luck!

 

I, unfortunately, dealt with HITH with a betta I had earlier in the year. I believe he scraped himself on a plant and got an infection afterward. I wasn't able to properly treat him, as I think I realized too late. Since your buddy is eating, I think that's a good sign. I was using a bacterial/fungal medicine from API, but that usually takes 2-3 weeks to help clear the fish up, and he only had a week in him.

I would say that clean water and sticking with Prime is your best bet for now since he's already so weak. Any medicines that could even slightly agitate him might not be worth it. I would also refrain from a 100% change so you don't have to move him too much. I tried that when my betta had his lesions, and getting him out only agitated the lesions and ripped off the scabs, so I'd try to avoid completely removing him from the tank. 75% water change may be your best bet.

Hope someone else has some good advice for you. Good luck!

Thanks for the advice. He's doing a lot better since this post. He's coloured up a bit, is more lively, is eating more actively. Still has holes in his head though, but luckily there doesn't seem to be any secondary infection, if this is hith. It's strange they're perfect little holes, like someone used a tiny hole punch.

Was it Pima/melafix you were using? I hate those, they made my betta VOMIT even with a half dose. Yea like actually vomit, I didn't even know fish could do that

I tried mixing a little Metroplex with food and putting some in the tank, I'm still not entirely sure it's hith but what else makes holes in fish I guess. Otherwise im going to refrain from medicating, unless he needs a follow up dose for velvet

Good point about moving him. I'll stick to 75% wc at most

 

Yes, it was Pimafix. Worked great for my tetras that had pet store fungus for a few weeks, but it did nothing for my betta.

And yes, bettas can vomit! My betta that I had through college (he lived for 5 years ) loved being in the car whenever I'd need to bring him home on break, but I realized I couldn't feed him the morning I'd be driving because he vomited the first time! Apparently, he got sea sick.

Glad your little guy is doing better. Wish I had the experience to rescue fish. Maybe one day!

 

Yes, it was Pimafix. Worked great for my tetras that had pet store fungus for a few weeks, but it did nothing for my betta.

And yes, bettas can vomit! My betta that I had through college (he lived for 5 years ) loved being in the car whenever I'd need to bring him home on break, but I realized I couldn't feed him the morning I'd be driving because he vomited the first time! Apparently, he got sea sick.

Glad your little guy is doing better. Wish I had the experience to rescue fish. Maybe one day!

I think bettas are sensitive to it in particular. Are you in Canada? I am and finding meds was SO tough. I have a good resource now though I can share over pm if you want cause what we legally sell here is pretty much garbage and snake oil imo

I'm sorry but that story is adorable! Poor little guy getting seasick haha

Thank you! I'm crossing my fingers he gets better and pulls through. I don't have any experience either but my Betta did get sick over the summer and I swear he contracted like 5 different illnesses I had to diagnose and treat right after the other, I'm glad hes healthy now but that one little fish cost me 100's of dollars and left me with a huge fishy medical kit LOL.

Honestly I never thought I would buy a fish just to save it, cause I'd be buying a lot of fish if I was to save all of them. But something about this guy, I just knew all he needed was someone to actually give a heck about him and that if I didn't step up he'd die a pointless death.
It was weird too, he went and hid under a decoration in the store and all the other fish started checking on him and keeping him company. He seems like a nice fish X)