Betta sick? columnaris or fungus? treat w/kanaplex?

I’m wondering if my betta is sick. A week ago I noticed my betta’s chin was turning white. I think his chin was already lighter colored so it was hard to tell if I was imagining it at first, but now it definitely seems whiter. From the research I’ve done it looks like it could just be a natural color change, although I think he’s only about a year old so is that too young to change color? Or could the color change be caused by stress? The tank water quality could have been bad enough to stress him because I had been overfeeding and it was probably a bit dirty at least. I have done water chances since then so i don’t know what the parameters were. I’m wondering if you can tell from the photos if he is sick, and if so what disease does he have?
Do you think it could be columnaris or fungus? I heard you can treat columnaris with kanaplex so I bought it. Should I treat him with it? I don’t want to wait till it’s too late. But from googling around it looks like it’s a fairly heavy duty drug and it can cause kidney damage if you use too much, but if I don’t go over the recommended amount should it be fine? I haven’t read that it is dangerous or has side effects. I’m not used to using antibiotics with fish, so I don’t know how risky it is to use them. I was thinking I could treat him with less than the normal dose of kanaplex? Or should I just do extra water changes and keep an eye to see if he comes down with other symptoms? I was also thinking of treating him with table salt because I don’t have aquarium salt, but I heard it can be toxic because it contains yellow prussiate of soda so I don’t know if it’s worth the risk? From what I have seen he’s not acting strangely, I haven’t kept a close eye on him but I’ve noticed him opening his mouth a few times. And once it seemed like he might be gasping for air but I might be being paranoid. Also, maybe it’s not columnaris because from what I’ve read it usually kills ish in a few days, but maybe in some cases it takes longer? The photos aren’t great, I can add better ones later.

 

I think it's probably just color change, as long as he is acting normally. Does it look fuzzy at all?

 

I don't think so, if it is fuzzy it's not fuzzy enough to tell.

 

Hmm, has he been acting any differently? I think it's probably color change, I think a year is a good age for color changes. I've never heard of a betta being too young for changing colors.

 

I think he's acting normal. he is active and eating well. a few times I did notice him opening his mouth wide, so I'm hoping he's getting enough oxegyn. but maybe that's just normal? I'm not sure how often they usually do that. Also i actually caught him on video gasping for air, but that was the only time i saw him do it.
He's in a small tank without a filter, so maybe I should put him back in the big one if the filter will give more oxegyn? I moved him because I didn't know if he might be sick/contagious. also there are bubbles lining the edge of the top of his little tank, they're not in a cluster so it's probably not a bubble nest?

 

Gasping for air is usually related to ammonia poisoning, not a lack of oxygen. Betas are also labyrinth fish, meaning they can breath oxygen from the surface so I would imagine a lack of oxygen wouldn't really be the case if kept in a smaller tank for a only short period of time. I believe ForBetaorForWorse is correct, it's just color change. All of the betas that I've had that have some form of white on them usually have a whiter chin. Not sure if that's something to do with genetics, but in this case I'm fairly certain it's nothing to worry about. I'd go ahead and move him back to the other tank; keeping him in a small container will do more harm than good and seems uneeded in this case.

 

ok, thank you for the advice! I think I should just mention that when I checked the water paramaters it said the GH was at zero, while the ideal is apparently supposed to be at least 25, and the total alkalinity was at 40 while it was supposed to be at least 120. Is that something to be concerned about? do you think i should treat him for ammonia poisoning, if so do you have any recomendations for how to treat him? someone reccomended that I give him salt and methylene blue baths in case he's sick.

 

I would not treat him with anything- since he seems healthy to me. I didn't mean to imply that your fish was actually suffering from ammonia poisoning, as there will often be other symptoms. Good water conditions and frequent water changes would probably be enough if that were the case, which it seems it was not. Heavy breathing is also related to stress, which seems like a more likely cause if you just recently moved him over to the smaller tank.

As for the gh and kh, that is a bit out of my knowledge range, but from my understanding they will replenish with more frequent water changes, which you say you haven't really been on top of, which might explain why they are so low (or unless your tap is very soft.) Perhaps another member will have a better idea.

 

ok, great, thank you!