My Sweet Zeus Has White Spots That Won't Go Away!

Here is Zeus.

So my five year old's betta came to me sick. And while he's done some healing he has these persistent white patches on his body that refuse to go away. Any ideas about what this is and how to treat it?


Tank

What is the water volume of the tank? 3.5 gallon hospital tank
How long has the tank been running? 3 weeks
Does it have a filter? Yes
Does it have a heater? Yes
What is the water temperature? 78.8 degrees F
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.) One Betta

Maintenance
How often do you change the water? Daily
How much of the water do you change? One quarter to one half
What do you use to treat your water? Stress Coat Plus
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? Both

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish?
What do you use to test the water? API Test kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
(All numbers are right before a daily water change!!!)
Ammonia: between 0.25 and 0.5 PPM
Nitrite: 0 PPM
Nitrate: 5.0 PPM
pH: 7.4

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? Twice Daily, Fast on Sundays
How much do you feed your fish? 3-5 1mm pellets
What brand of food do you feed your fish? Ken’s Premium Betta Pellets
Do you feed frozen or freeze-dried foods? No

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? About two weeks
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? When he arrived
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? Fish had ragged tail and torn fins upon arrival. Also has spots on body.
Have you started any treatment for the illness? Yes, I have completed two courses on Kanaplex combined with Furan 2.
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? Yeah, much to my chagrin.
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? Fish is eating well, pooping. Since treatment began fins and tail are healing.

Explain your emergency situation in detail. (Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now)

It all started with three goldfish from the fair. We won them brought them home and put them in a 10 gallon tank where they proceeded to die one by one of ammonia poisoning (Like within 2 hours of going into a brand spanking new tank.) We got the tank cycled, ordered a betta. He came with ripped up fins and tail. He also had some strange spots on his body. I moved him to a 3.5 gallon hospital tank within a couple of days. Did daily water changes and checks on water quality and treated him with a combination of Kanaplex and Furan 2 as I thought we might have columnaris in addition to fin rot. We have done two rounds of medication. There has been great improvement in the fin rot. His tail is regenerating nicely and his color has improved. However, there are still some strange spots on his body. Seems to be flat not raised. Has worsened slightly but very slowly. I did take him to the local fish specialty store. They felt it was scale damage. I’m not sure, but I don’t want to keep treating him for something he doesn’t have. What do you all think these spots are and how should I proceed? (Pictures Attached - You can see it better on the second photo)

 

I wish I could say for certain what this is. It could be some fungus or bacterial infection. It can be hard to pinpoint what these things are exactly. Columnaris is my closest guess but I really recommend you ask others for advice too. I suggest you start another conversation in the forum to get lots of good information from others. I'm no expert. Zeus is a beautiful boy. And whatever this is, it doesn't look like anything serious yet to me. You've started him out in a hospital tank with meds that cover a variety of diseases. I think that puts him in good place to start healing. Good luck with the search on the diagnosis and treatment!

 

Aww thanks! I think you're baby is pretty awesome too! I know what you mean. I feel as though I need a degree in ichthiology! I will try putting a post out there thanks! Maybe somebody has run into this before. I originally though columnaris too but it hasn't really responded to treatment (although it did fix his tail and fin rot). I did find another possibility. they mentioned Saprolegnia. It's some sort of fungus that looks very similar to columnaris but rather than rapidly killing your fish it moves very slowly. Comes from poor water quality.

I hope you find something that works for your baby!

 

In my opinion he looks really good. Over time my betta has gotten a few spots here and there that never go away. Hes 3 almost 4 now. Anyway, if hes eating and pooping regularly I wouldnt worry too much about it unless it starts gettin worse honestly

 

What a beautiful boy! If the medication hasn't changed the spots at all I would assume that it may just be how those scales are. However it's best to keep an eye on them anyway. If his condition worsens and the spots spread I would suspect it to be ich.

I assume the daily water changes are for the hospital tank? If he has been in there for a while I would suggest checking the parameters of his home tank just to make sure the cycle is ok.

 

Thanks! Yes, the water changes at for the hospital tank. I do check the home tank regularly because the are two panda coryadoras in it.

I had wondered if they were just a weird blip in his color. When he flares he has two yellow spots. But when I look more closely it looks a bit crusty, for lack of a better word. I'll see if he won't let me get a better pic.

Here is a better pic. I got lucky .

 

I could be wrong but that I'm inclined to believe that it's just colouring or damaged scales especially if they were completely unchanged by his treatments. Again I would suggest to keep an eye on him to see if it spreads, changes, or his behaviour changes.

He may have a marbled betta in his family line which can cause the colour to change pretty drastically but you should be able to tell the different between that and the kinda crusty scales spreading.

 

I could be wrong but that I'm inclined to believe that it's just colouring or damaged scales especially if they were completely unchanged by his treatments. Again I would suggest to keep an eye on him to see if it spreads, changes, or his behaviour changes.

He may have a marbled betta in his family line which can cause the colour to change pretty drastically but you should be able to tell the different between that and the kinda crusty scales spreading.

Thank you. I'll do that. I had wondered if marbeling could show up in a mustard gas. He seems pretty contented at the moment and he eats and poos, greets you at the top of the tank so I don't think it's bothering him. But I will keep tabs on it just in case.

 

It's also possible it's nothing. My male betta had a grayish patch on his head when I first got him and a couple months later after he went through his color transformation, it was gone. I had been concerned about it too but since it didn't spread and he never acted sick, I didn't do anything about it it. And when it disappeared when he changed, I had my answer. My male Molly had suddenly developed a grayish patch between the dorsal and head as well but after several months in QT, nothing ever came if it. It seemed to regain color and heal, but I still don't know what it was; maybe an injury to the scales.
Hopefully it's just a color thing for yours as well.