Small yellow spots, please help ID

[PurpleGem]

Hi all,

I've posted before about my betta having this strange grey coating around his gills. I've seen these small flecks before , there were only one or two but today I noticed a lot more of them around his left gill, the patch on his left side and in his right nostril. They aren't white, more of a yellow in colour but lighter than the weird large yellow lumps on his fins. I've been treating him with an aquarium salt bath in the tank but haven't seen any improvement.
Symptoms: just the small spots and big lumps (possible lymp?), can't close left gill cover. Yawns everyday. Rests a bit more often.
He's active, flares, makes bubble nests, eats everything.
Water parameters from this morning: NH: 0.5, NO2: 1.6, NO3: 20. Finally everything is being converted but hasn't finished cycling properly as ammonia and nitrites are still showing.
I'm using Prime to prevent deaths but every now and then I see ammonia burns.

 

[Jaro58]

It would be good to know how old the fish is. To me it looks like a fungal infection because of the lumpy type structure. Bacteria would coat a certain part of the fish (mostly injuries). I am not very experienced with betta keeping but a fungal infection is my best guess. Does it rub itself on objects in the tank? Also to me it looks like he has had a previous injury on his left side (3rd pic), which also makes it more likely to be a fungal infection.

 

[Jspigs]

Looks like velvet to me.

 

[Jaro58]

Looks like velvet to me.

Could be. It would explain the spreading across the whole body. Yet it would be a pretty extreme case.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

If it is Oodinium (velvet), treat it as you would Ich.

 

[the loach]

It looks more like ich, but it doesn't have to be, you would have to examine a scrape under a microscope to see what it is. Not a fungus though, and it doesn't look like velvet, that is much smaller, like a dust, that can even be hard to see depending on the light. My guess it would be Epistylis.

Salt bath isn't going to do anything. You would have to address the water first and foremost, with ammonia and nitrite present a sick fish is not going to get better. And what is the temperature and pH?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

If the loach is correct re Epistylis, this may help.

Epistylis and Heteropolaria

The protozoan parasites Epistylis and Heteropolaria are very similar. They are single-celled, but live in stalked colonies (Fig. 9). The branching stalks are rigid and do not contract; the cells at the ends of the stalks are called zooids. They contain cilia around the oral opening and contract when feeding. Epistylis or Heteropolaria colonies on fish resemble white tufts of fungus (Fig. 10), but can be differentiated from fungus by microscopic examination. These parasites are usually found on the skin and fins. The base of the stalk attaches to a hard, calcified surface such as scales and fin rays or spines.

Epistylis and Heteropolaria reproduce by budding and form a teletroch or motile juvenile stage. The teletroch produces a stalk and
uses it to attach to an existing colony. Epistylis is often an ectocommensal in that it simply attaches to the fish and feeds on environmental debris such as bacteria. Poor quality water encourages the growth of Epistylis on fish.

These parasites can weaken and kill fish. Ulcers caused by Epistylis infections may make fish more vulnerable to bacterial infections.
For example, red sore disease involves the combination of Aeromonas bacteria and Epistylis. The classic treatment for Epistylis and Heteropolaria infections is uniodized salt (sodium chloride).

from Protozoan Parasites

 

[fishorama]

That's a new to me disease. So PG was right to try salt but it hasn't helped. I googled treatments & saw a bunch of tx I don't recognize. Can anyone suggest something else for PG's poor betta? He looks to need help ASAP

 

[the loach]

No, salt does not help against Epistylis unless you use marine strength (that's about 115 grams per gallon...), and repeat that for a number of days, and I'm not going to recommend that. Cause it is important to realize that Epistylis is not a pathogen but a symptom on weakened fish. You would be fighting a symptom. Not that easy to remove, too. If it is Epistylis, the spots could be Lymphocystis, mucus, bacteria or something else? Microscopic examination is really needed to avoid a shot gun approach. Good water quality is needed first and foremost in my experience.

 

[PurpleGem]

No, salt does not help against Epistylis unless you use marine strength (that's about 115 grams per gallon...), and repeat that for a number of days, and I'm not going to recommend that. Cause it is important to realize that Epistylis is not a pathogen but a symptom on weakened fish. You would be fighting a symptom. Not that easy to remove, too. If it is Epistylis, the spots could be Lymphocystis, mucus, bacteria or something else? Microscopic examination is really needed to avoid a shot gun approach. Good water quality is needed first and foremost in my experience.

True, I know that's the root of my problem. I was worried because the ammonia didn't seem to be converting for a while until recently. Now I just have to get ammonia and nitrites to drop. Epistylis, that's an interesting one, most people have told me it's velvet but like you said, velvet is dust like and I've shone a torch on him a million times, nothing shines gold. Can't get a scrape done, so my shotgun approach has been to ask as many people as possible, though that hasn't really helped much as people either say it's a parasite like velvet/ich, a bacterial infection or a fungal infection. The spots around his gills aren't white and fluffy like in the description of epistylis.
Temp was sitting at 27 but is at 29 degrees celcius today, probably cause the house it a lot warmer and we don't have the air con on. I forgot to test the pH lately, it has been very stable, I think the water is good at buffering and preventing swings. It's been stable at 7.5 but I should double check it since I read recently that the high levels of ammonia, nitirites and nitrates can affect the pH.

Would he recover once the water parameters are more normal or should I treat him with something?