Starting over due to bacterial infection… start tank over?

No, it’s not coloring. They are like divots.

 

Anything in the tank he could have wedged himself between or scraped himself on? If it divots then it's more than likely an injury imo.

 

Its always hard to tell from pictures. But that doesn't look like a disease I am familiar with.

My money is on an injury. If that's the case, then the salt will help prevent infection while it heals.

And maybe remove anything from the tank he could be hurting himself on.

 

Thank you JTW and FoldedCheese!! The only thing he could have hurt himself on would be the rock caves, which I’ve never seen any of the 3 guppies use. I’ll take them out and put more plants in. Thank you!

 

Thanks. What you said is exactly my plan. The guppies aren’t looking good at all this morning (get got rocks from the sick tank), so I think they’re goners, too. So I’ll clean both the tanks and cycle them properly.

Thank you!!!!! Giddy-up…….…
(after cycling). LOL!!

No need to clean, the point of cycling is to build up a colony of healthy beneficial bacteria, so there is no need to wipe/wash them off. It might seem dirty, but you want the "gunk" to build up from decaying food/organisms. It will smell really bad initially but will go away in a few days.

This might seem very counterintuitive to a new fishkeeper but it is essential for aquariums.

There is no point diagnosing the guppies right now, because in an uncycled tank they will always have problems due to ammonia and nitrite toxicity. Just feed once every 2 days very small amounts (1 bite each) and 50% water change at signs of stress from the fish. The guppies CAN survive the cycling process but there will be some luck involved.

 

Fae
Thank you! So please let me see if I’m hearing this correctly….. even if I bleach the tank and all it’s contents, columnaris bacteria will still eventually make it’s way back into the tank. The differentiating factor in new fish contracting the infection or not is their immunity and stress level?

Yes, absolutely. You understand me perfectly. Healthy fish carry harmless amounts of a variety of different bacteria and other microlife, and still others come in with plants or even just drift in in the air.

Some fish are genetically weaker which is a problem exasperated by poor breeding practices aka inbreeding. Live bearers and bettas are notoriously bad for this. I just won't keep them anymore, too much heartache (I do have a Betta imbellis though which is a wild type I bought from an ethical breeder in Thailand and he's much healthier). Since you are keeping them, just make sure to sort out any sources of stress as soon as possible, and if anyone gets an open wound to separate into a hospital tank for treatment.

Editing to add: oh also I would dose prime every day to detoxify ammonia and nitrite while your tank cycles, not sure if that's been mentioned.

Also I wrote a little basic guide on betta care, I'll share the Google doc feel free to take a peek at it I try to cover all the basics briefly. I get the feeling you are far more advanced than most beginners are and have probably done a fair amount of research, but it might be nice to have the information collected for you in one short guide to refer to

Betta care beginners guide.pdf