Need advice with a betta ulcer

[SOB]

Thank you for your patience with spelling/grammar mistakes.
Feel free to ask any questions you feel are necessary.

I have had my betta for a year. 5 days ago, I noticed he had a lump/red spont on his side. Now it's an open sore and after researching I'm 99% sure it's an ulcer or abcess. 2 days ago, I did a water change and added 1tsp/gal. of salt (not aquarium, but non iodidzed). I haven't had a chance to buy antifungal medication, nor do I have any on hand (I plan to buy some tomorrow). Today, I did a small water change adding 30% more salt, as that did seem to make him more active than he had been.
My main concern is about 4 days ago he stopped eating and moves occasionally/when disturbed, otherwise spending all his time on the bottom of the tank.
Does anyone have any advice? Should I euthanize him? I don't want him to die of starvation, much less with a wound on his side.

 

[GaryE]

All too often a sudden lesion like that is the result of an incurable, untreatable Mycobacter infection. Don't put your hands in the water with open cuts and wash them well after contact.
It's a chronic disease a fish can carry for years, and it spreads rapidly when the sore appears. The sore is the final stage, I am sorry to say.

 

[Colin_T]

Pictures of the fish?

Ulcers are caused by bacteria, and fungal treatments won't do anything to treat them.

 

[SOB]

Pictures of the fish?

Ulcers are caused by bacteria, and fungal treatments won't do anything to treat them.

 

[Colin_T]

Can't tell much from the pictures (not in focus). But if it's the big brown patch on the rear half of the body, that could be a physical wound caused by the fish getting caught under or behind something. Clean water and salt usually fix minor issues like that.

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Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Add some salt, (see directions below).

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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

When you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water (1-2 litres) and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.