Worried My Betta Might Have A Fungal Infection.

I keep him in a 5 gallon heated and filtered aquarium by himself. A while ago I was worried and pretty sure he had velvet so I started out with aquarium salt. Didn't do anything so I stopped using it. Then I tried treating with seachem paraguard. So far i don't think that had helped and and this morning when I examined him to see if there was any improvement I noticed he had a very small white fluff on his head. It's very small and hard to see but it is definately there. It's on the left side of his head. I have a habit of over worrying about him but if this is something serious I want to know asap what to do. I'm sorry for bothering and thank you in advance for any replies

 

I'm aware and ashamed of the possibility that I might have stressed him with the paraguard.

 

I don't think that's anything but if it grows you might want to treat for velvet. Your betta does however have a pretty bad case of inflamed gills if he is not flaring in the picture. My betta got inflamed gills and to treat it i just took the carbon out of the filter and treated the tank with Marineland all in one remedy. API general cure would also work I think .

 

thank you for reply. They arent inflamed, hes flaring them or starting to.

 

Hi, how long did you treat with paraguard? Did you dose it daily like it says to on the bottle? He does look like he has velvet or possibly costia and the fungus is probably secondary. Do you have a pic of him before he had whatever is going on with his skin?
Paraguard should help the tuft of fungus too, though if you're using it at full dose then you may need a different medicine.

Also, have his eyes always stuck out like that?

What is your ph? Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates in this tank?

 

Yeah his eyes have always been like that. I've been doing what the bottle says daily for about 2 weeks now. I'm pretty sure he does have velvet. Yes his eyes have always been like that. The ammonia is 0 nitrite 0 nitrate is approximately 10. I'll have to get back to you on the ph. It's been a little bit since I've tested ph but the water where I live tends to be around 8 -8.2

 

here's him from a few months ago

 

I don't have an older face on pic comparing his eyes but now I'm worrying about that. :S

 

In looking at his older photo, I am not sure its velvet as much as natural marbling of color. Two weeks of paraguard would have treated the velvet and you definitely would have seen a difference.
If his eyes have always been like that and are not worse, Its possible thats just the way his eyes are.

For the fungus I'd treat with nitrofurazone and stop the paraguard for now. You can find it in API Furan-2, Tetra Fungus Guard, Hikari Bifuran, or Jungle Fungus Clear tabs (Walmart).

 

Ok thank you so much. Will it react with the paraguard in the tank? I know the paraguard neutralizes after 24 hours but better safe than sorry.

Also, I've never really outright treated a fish with medicine other than using paraguard for a while. I tried googling this but I was unable to find a definitive answer: do I take the filter media out? Or do I leave it in? I use those bio ball things (not sure what they are called but they look like little cereals and they came with my aqua clear filter ) and aquarium floss. I read the medicine can kill off bb but also that the media would re infect the tank after anyways when I brought it back. Should I just leave the media in the tank and deal with a mini cycle?

 

update: i went ahead and bought the tetra fungus guard. I dissolved half a tablet into his tank and i just left the media in the tank.

 

I'd leave the media in the tank and remove carbon if its been put in there in the last 30 days. I've never personally had an issue with TFG doing any harm to my cycle.

 

update: not sure how fast the medication is supposed to work but today when i checked on him the fluff was completely gone. I treated his tank yesterday.

 

If it had just started, its possible for the medication to work that fast.