Hi,
So this is my first time asking any questions on here, so if I placed this thread in the wrong location, sorry.
Anyways, about a week and a half ago, I saw a female betta at the pet store (one of the big commercial ones), who was looking not so great. I purchased her because I wanted to help her, or at the very least, she wouldn't die in a small cup. Around her face, the scales were a different shade of white and they appear to be ever so slightly raised. It doesn't look fuzzy, so I don't think it's a fungal infection. The area around her gills also looks a little pinkish, as if the scales/skin is irritated. When I first got her, it sometimes looked like her spine was a little crooked, but it was so slight that I thought it might just be the way she was swimming and kept a close eye on it.Overall, her energy levels are good. She was always swimming around and seemed genuinely curious about her new home. I added some bettafix to the water and aquarium salt (I know there is always debate on adding aquarium salt to a bettas tank, but I have only had success when using it), hoping that would improve whatever was infecting her scales. I saw no improvement, but she also still seemed fine. She is eating and moving around just fine.
Just a day ago, when I went to feed her two pellets in the morning, I thought she was dead. She wasn't swimming and she was lying on her side behind the driftwood. It all seemed out of the blue, seeing as she had been doing so well. I reached my hand in to touch her, and to my surprise (and relief) she was still alive! But she was swimming in tight circles and spiraling. She couldn't seem to swim a straight line, and she tended to stay at the bottom of the tank. Even while she was resting on the bottom, her back was very curved. Anyways, I quickly went to the pet store and got some of API's E.M. Erythromycin and treated her water. Honestly, with how bad she got overnight, I didn't think she was going to make it. Luckily, I was wrong.
This morning she is doing much better. Although sometimes her back seems a little crooked, she can swim mostly normal. Her scales still show no improvement, but I wouldn't expect them to heal overnight. Does anyone know what this is? Some of the few things I've seen on the internet suggesting TB because of her spine, but that's rare in fish and since the antibiotics seem to be working, I don't think that's it. I'm going to continue treatment, but I would really like to know what it is I'm dealing with. Any thoughts? I've posted some pictures down below, but she is very active so they are a little blurry.
Since I know this is going to come up, she is currently being housed in a gallon tank that I had set up, but no fish currently living in there. It is a fully cycled tank, with a heater and a filter (although the filter is not on right now so the medicine can do its thing). I have an air stone in there right now so the water isn't stagnant. It's also planted tank with Mopani driftwood. I know, its a bit made up to be used as a quarantine tank, but she was an impulse buy and I had this tank set up from a betta who had been moved into a 20 gallon with some corys a few weeks prior. Water parameters are as follows:
pH = 7.8
Ammonia = 0 ppm
Nitrite = 0 ppm
Nitrate = 0 ppm
pH is a little higher than I would like, but that is the pH of my tap water and I've read its better to just slowly adjusted new fish to the higher pH than to constantly try and treat it.
So this is my first time asking any questions on here, so if I placed this thread in the wrong location, sorry.
Anyways, about a week and a half ago, I saw a female betta at the pet store (one of the big commercial ones), who was looking not so great. I purchased her because I wanted to help her, or at the very least, she wouldn't die in a small cup. Around her face, the scales were a different shade of white and they appear to be ever so slightly raised. It doesn't look fuzzy, so I don't think it's a fungal infection. The area around her gills also looks a little pinkish, as if the scales/skin is irritated. When I first got her, it sometimes looked like her spine was a little crooked, but it was so slight that I thought it might just be the way she was swimming and kept a close eye on it.Overall, her energy levels are good. She was always swimming around and seemed genuinely curious about her new home. I added some bettafix to the water and aquarium salt (I know there is always debate on adding aquarium salt to a bettas tank, but I have only had success when using it), hoping that would improve whatever was infecting her scales. I saw no improvement, but she also still seemed fine. She is eating and moving around just fine.
Just a day ago, when I went to feed her two pellets in the morning, I thought she was dead. She wasn't swimming and she was lying on her side behind the driftwood. It all seemed out of the blue, seeing as she had been doing so well. I reached my hand in to touch her, and to my surprise (and relief) she was still alive! But she was swimming in tight circles and spiraling. She couldn't seem to swim a straight line, and she tended to stay at the bottom of the tank. Even while she was resting on the bottom, her back was very curved. Anyways, I quickly went to the pet store and got some of API's E.M. Erythromycin and treated her water. Honestly, with how bad she got overnight, I didn't think she was going to make it. Luckily, I was wrong.
This morning she is doing much better. Although sometimes her back seems a little crooked, she can swim mostly normal. Her scales still show no improvement, but I wouldn't expect them to heal overnight. Does anyone know what this is? Some of the few things I've seen on the internet suggesting TB because of her spine, but that's rare in fish and since the antibiotics seem to be working, I don't think that's it. I'm going to continue treatment, but I would really like to know what it is I'm dealing with. Any thoughts? I've posted some pictures down below, but she is very active so they are a little blurry.
Since I know this is going to come up, she is currently being housed in a gallon tank that I had set up, but no fish currently living in there. It is a fully cycled tank, with a heater and a filter (although the filter is not on right now so the medicine can do its thing). I have an air stone in there right now so the water isn't stagnant. It's also planted tank with Mopani driftwood. I know, its a bit made up to be used as a quarantine tank, but she was an impulse buy and I had this tank set up from a betta who had been moved into a 20 gallon with some corys a few weeks prior. Water parameters are as follows:
pH = 7.8
Ammonia = 0 ppm
Nitrite = 0 ppm
Nitrate = 0 ppm
pH is a little higher than I would like, but that is the pH of my tap water and I've read its better to just slowly adjusted new fish to the higher pH than to constantly try and treat it.
