Betta who has raised scales now has a small cottony growth???

What is going on with my poor Betta?
He has never been the healthiest of fish as I rescued him he seemed to have something wrong with his gills, but for a couple of months he seemed to get better but always showed signs of strange gill movement. Not something I'd seen before. I assumed it was because he had been kept in a cup of dirty water with a lid on top and that had damaged his gills.
Anyway, about a week ago now he began having raised scales out of nowhere. His water was fine so I was very confused why this happened. Now today as I was changing his water I noticed he has a cottony growth on his head, not on his mouth, and his colour is faded and losing his fins.
What is this? I've been doing some research and it does sound like something called Columnaris or a Fungal Infection.
Is this contagious to humans at all? My other fish are kept in another tank all together so I'm not worried about them catching whatever my Betta has.

 

It's a fungus and he needs to be treated. One of my fish died from having that... got so bad he lost his scales, got what looked like ammonia poisoning in clean water, then he started to look better... I woke up one morning and he'd died overnight.

Now, when you say his water is fine, what do you mean? What are your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels? Temp? What's your water change schedule?

I'd do a large water change right now and get an anti-fungal medication for him as soon as possible.

 

You might want to research dropsy. It sounds like his immune system has been compromised from the beginning. Sorry he doesn't feel well.

 

It's not harmful to humans what he has though right? Just so I know if I should be extra careful when handling him and water ect.

 

Doubtful. Our immune systems are a lot better than his Just get him some medicine and he should be fine. Something stronger than pimafix would be best though

 

We don't have some of the stuff that you guys have in the states though, I've never seen the medicine that's been listed.
I did a large water change this morning. I suspect he's got dropsy and now he's got the cotton stuff growing from him, so will the medicine help him at all or will be pass away from dropsy?
I'm sad for him because I rescued him when he was unhealthy so I was hoping that he'd be a miracle fish, but it just seems like he's getting sicker and sicker

 

My understanding is that dropsy is almost always fatal. So sorry that I can't give you better news.

 

To me it also sounds like dropsy.. and as Lynda said it's usually fatal because you only see the signs once it's too late (bloated, raised scales). Sorry to hear.

 

We don't have some of the stuff that you guys have in the states though, I've never seen the medicine that's been listed.
I did a large water change this morning. I suspect he's got dropsy and now he's got the cotton stuff growing from him, so will the medicine help him at all or will be pass away from dropsy?
I'm sad for him because I rescued him when he was unhealthy so I was hoping that he'd be a miracle fish, but it just seems like he's getting sicker and sicker

Proper water ventilation is super important for those with dropsy. Columnaris can be treated with maracyn.

 

If you think he is gone too far, you may want to euthanize him with clove oil and vodka.