Injury or External Parasite?

I'm not sure if my betta injured his gill plate or if there is an external parasite on it. I'm leaning towards some kind of parasite since I've dealt with scrapped scales before and it looked different. What do you guys think? So far all I've done is a 50% WC and added 2 tablespoons of salt. I ordered some Gordon's Malachite Green just in case but I figured I would try the salt first because it's a less intense treatment. More info below.

Tank size: 5 gallons
tank age: 2.5 years
pH: 7.8
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 0-5 (cycled, planted tank that gets lots of water changes)
kH: 7
gH: 8
tank temp: 80

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): Acting normal, just physical symptom is present. He has something that looks exactly like a pimple on his gill plate. It is red rimmed with a small tuft of white in the middle. The scales around the spot also appear to be slightly raised. I have not noticed any flashing and he has no other marks anywhere else.

Volume and Frequency of water changes: 3 gallons once per week always, and a partial water change of 10-15% if I have time. Hob filter cleaned monthly, filter media rinsed every two weeks or so.

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: Easy green fert, prime

Tank inhabitants: 1 male betta (he is around 3 years old)

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): none

Exposure to chemicals: N/A

Digital photo (include if possible):

Does anyone know what is on his gill plate?

It's not a parasite.

The red mark on the gill cover looks like a scratch.

The white spot between his eye and mouth is one of his nostrils and it is inflamed. He might have a virus or an injury to his face that has caused inflammation.

Clean water and salt should fix both issues in a week or two.

Colin_T said:

It's not a parasite.

The red mark on the gill cover looks like a scratch.

The white spot between his eye and mouth is one of his nostrils and it is inflamed. He might have a virus or an injury to his face that has caused inflammation.

Clean water and salt should fix both issues in a week or two.

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I don't think the white spot between his eye and mouth is inflamed, it's a scale. You'll notice similar white/iridescent scales around his head area. Most of his scales are very iridescent. I guess I'll try with the salt and water changes first before doing anything else. It just reminds me of a parasite because the the white spot coming out from his gill plate surrounded by an almost perfect red circle. It just started as a red spot then the white thing started to protrude. If it was an injury I would expect scales to be scrapped off and there aren't any. I've dealt with minor bodily injuries before with him and they have all had pink flesh underneath and looked nothing like this. I just wish I knew exactly what kind of possible parasite/infection etc this could be so I could target treat it.

This is the specific area I'm talking about by the way:

It's not an external parasite. There are none that are that shape or color.

Colin_T said:

It's not an external parasite. There are none that are that shape or color.

Click to expand...

A white protrusion from his gill plate doesn't sound like a parasite? Not even an anchor worm or something similar? So far the salt hasn't done anything to help improve the spot.