Hello everyone! First-time fish keeper, I've had my aquarium for about two weeks now! I have a beautiful male black orchid super delta betta fish, two African dwarf frogs, and three blue mystery snails! I have them all in a 9 gallon Fluval Flex aquarium with all live plants. All seem to be doing good and thriving, but I've been recently concerned with my betta. Since I've gotten him, he has gotten so much more active and lively, and his colors are absolutely stunning! He's really brightened up and seems very happy and healthy.
The only thing that concerns me is that as of a few days ago, he has developed a spot on his head, I looked it up and thought it might be ich but he doesn't have white dots at all on his body or fins, and these seem more of like a case of a missing scale or maybe he scratched himself on something. He has been eating normally and swimming around the tank perfectly fine and active; he gets along swimmingly with his tank mates and they don't bother each other one bit. Instead of a tiny white dot its more of a... splotch... and isn't exactly super white or like a bit of salt. He also has a bit of fin tearing but I'm not sure if that was because of artificial betta leaves (I've replaced them since) or possible fin rot.
As for the tank specs, I have them in a 9 gallon with a heater and temp is at a constant 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Nitrates and Nitrites are both zero along with Ammonia (I've been on top of water changes), and pH is at 7.8 with a high KG and GH (due to water hardness in my area, but I have an Indian almond leaf to hopefully bring it down). My betta eats around 3 Omega One Betta Buffet pellets per day with either a freeze-dried bloodworm or a frozen bloodworm as a snack. He's been active with no signs of sickness or lethargy or cloudy eyes, and he seems healthy but the spots concern me and I want to make sure if its serious I get it taken care of.
I tried to take some pictures of him, but my phone camera has a hard time focusing and he's pretty active when it comes to swimming (he loves to explore the plants and say hi to the ADFs and snails). I would really appreciate any help or guidance you guys have, after all I've learned so much from the community about aquarium stuff and I love how helpful and informative everyone is!
The only thing that concerns me is that as of a few days ago, he has developed a spot on his head, I looked it up and thought it might be ich but he doesn't have white dots at all on his body or fins, and these seem more of like a case of a missing scale or maybe he scratched himself on something. He has been eating normally and swimming around the tank perfectly fine and active; he gets along swimmingly with his tank mates and they don't bother each other one bit. Instead of a tiny white dot its more of a... splotch... and isn't exactly super white or like a bit of salt. He also has a bit of fin tearing but I'm not sure if that was because of artificial betta leaves (I've replaced them since) or possible fin rot.
As for the tank specs, I have them in a 9 gallon with a heater and temp is at a constant 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Nitrates and Nitrites are both zero along with Ammonia (I've been on top of water changes), and pH is at 7.8 with a high KG and GH (due to water hardness in my area, but I have an Indian almond leaf to hopefully bring it down). My betta eats around 3 Omega One Betta Buffet pellets per day with either a freeze-dried bloodworm or a frozen bloodworm as a snack. He's been active with no signs of sickness or lethargy or cloudy eyes, and he seems healthy but the spots concern me and I want to make sure if its serious I get it taken care of.
I tried to take some pictures of him, but my phone camera has a hard time focusing and he's pretty active when it comes to swimming (he loves to explore the plants and say hi to the ADFs and snails). I would really appreciate any help or guidance you guys have, after all I've learned so much from the community about aquarium stuff and I love how helpful and informative everyone is!