Help identifying dark gray fuzz around gill.

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PurpleGem

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Nov 18, 2020
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Perth, Western Australia
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Canon Eos 450d, GoPro and my phone camera
30L tank with indian almond leaf extract water to treat fin rot. 26°C .
Tank has male betta x1, 2x male endlers and 4x female tiger endlers.
First set up in the first week of August 2020 but have been having trouble cycling it so ammonia levels are high, been using Prime to try and make it safe. Been adding sechem stability at a more accurate dose lately and stopped over vacuuming the sand.
The betta is the fish in question.
Diet: hikari bio gold pellets, frozen brine shrimp, frozen bloodworms, freeze dried blackworms.
Usual behaviour he's still exhibiting: greeting me, eating everything I give him and looking for more even when he's full. Flaring, exploring the tank, begging.
Unusual behaviour and symptoms: has been resting a bit more often but is still very active. Has recently started clamping his left pectoral fin, sometimes uses both, sometimes uses just his right. Doesn't close his left gill cover completely, possibly has gill curl. Gray fuzz (circled in yellow on image) started appearing around his left gill, then covered the top of his nose and there's a patch of it on his left side. He doesn't scratch and there's no wriggling movement in the patches. Recently noticed a yellow looking cyst or lump on his left fin and on his tail (circled in red on an image). I've tried shining a torch on him multiple times and there's no shiny golden flecks.

Whatever he has is slow, took probably two months to get to the stage it's at. I thought it was damage from the ammonia spikes I've been having but I'm not sure. Please, I want an accurate diagnosis so I can treat it properly. I've had people tell me it's white spot, gill flukes, velvet (might be velvet?) but he's been declining slowly. What are your thoughts?


IMG_9903 (2).JPGIMG_9853 (2).JPGCircled areas (2).pngDSC_0677 (2).JPG
Circled areas 2.png (Left: purple circles a small white dot which I noticed today on his right. Yellow circles the dark gray fuzz on nose.)
 

FreshyFresh

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Doesn't look bad based on the pics, but it's tough to diagnose.

I'd be more concerned with doing water changes and keeping nitrates as low as possible, than adding meds or additives at this point.
 

PurpleGem

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Nov 18, 2020
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Perth, Western Australia
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Canon Eos 450d, GoPro and my phone camera
Yeah, I guess so. It kind of looks bad though, I feel guilty whenever I see him. The areas seem like they're getting a little bigger over time...
Thanks for replying and the advice, I'll focus on that and hopefully it won't get worse.
 

the loach

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Aug 6, 2018
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Even with the circles and the pics, I can't make out anything. You say it is fuzzy, it is not just a discoloration that developed with aging?
It's not white spot, gill flukes or velvet though. It sounds more like a bacterial infection.
 
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PurpleGem

AC Members
Nov 18, 2020
66
25
21
25
Perth, Western Australia
Camera Used
Canon Eos 450d, GoPro and my phone camera
Even with the circles and the pics, I can't make out anything. You say it is fuzzy, it is not just a discoloration that developed with aging?
It's not white spot, gill flukes or velvet though. It sounds more like a bacterial infection.
Yeah, it's kind of hard to photograph properly. It looks different when photographed with a camera than by the phone (plus the lamp light is rather yellow). I was thinking it's more of a bacterial infection too, I've asked some groups if it's a chronic strain of columnaris (I heard that's slow and that apparently starts around the gill and can be grey) but people seem to think otherwise. It does look sort of fuzzy but not super fuzzy or fluffy, it's like an extra layer that's building up and getting thicker, it has a certain texture to it so it can't be a discoloration from aging.
IMG_0258 (2).JPG Also do you think he has diamond eye? I've noticed that lately.IMG_0306 (2).JPG
 

the loach

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Those pics are excellent, I can clearly see it now. It does look like it could be Columnaris but the only way to be sure is to have a scrape examined. When you can't do that what I personally would do is try Artemiss and see if that does anything. It might not work but at least it has no negative effects on the bacteria and other inhabitants of the tank as it's a herbal product.
 

PurpleGem

AC Members
Nov 18, 2020
66
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25
Perth, Western Australia
Camera Used
Canon Eos 450d, GoPro and my phone camera
Those pics are excellent, I can clearly see it now. It does look like it could be Columnaris but the only way to be sure is to have a scrape examined. When you can't do that what I personally would do is try Artemiss and see if that does anything. It might not work but at least it has no negative effects on the bacteria and other inhabitants of the tank as it's a herbal product.
Thanks, yeah they're recent photos. I don't have a way to scrape and examine them that way, I haven't seen Artemiss in any of the stores (I'm in Western Australia) I'll have a look at trying to get some, it sounds great. Currently, I have aquarium salt and blue planet tri sulfa on hand. I tried catching him for an aquarium salt dip before I posted on here but he's impossible to catch. I was holding off on the tri sulfa since I'm still trying to get the aquarium to finish cycling (which should help with the root of all my problems with it). Thanks again!
 
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