What is this on my betta's face?

Jungle Antiparasite medicated food is what you're talking about, and it would be a good choice, actually.
So you should get the crystals to put in the water, and feed him Jungle Anti-Parasite medicated food, then he'd be getting the complete treatment of Metro - inside and out.

You need to get him hungry, though; I don't think it tastes very good. You could drop the little pellets in some garlic juice, fish love the taste and it can really stimulate their appetite and their interest in the food you're trying to get them to eat.

I keep a jar of minced garlic in my fridge, I like it, too, lol, and I just use some of the juice from that. Or if you have fresh garlic, which is probably better, you could smash some of it and rub the pellets in the juice.

You're right, Furan 2 does hit your biofilter. I hate that for you. You could do Kanamycin, which is not supposed to harm the biofilter, but it's a little bit harder on the fish. You just have to be very careful with dosing, because it can be toxic if overdosed.
 
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So. Found the food. He won't eat it. No way, no how, nuh-uh. Wants to eat, comes right to the front, goes right after it, grabs it, rolls it around in his mouth, then promptly spits it back out. You can almost hear the fishy "YICK!"

Guess I'm going to have to mix it with bloodworms or something - but I don't know how to figure out the dosing??

I also got Seachem's Metro for the water. Have not yet added it - figuring I should do them together?

He has, for a long time now (couple months), had a white oval spot on his tail - it was almost as if a teeny oval just lost color completely and went white. Not fuzzy, not raised, just white. Well, now, it's got a hole in the middle of it. He's got some other white now (again, just color) and it's almost as if his tail has gotten REALLLLY thin and is just ripping. I worried this was tailrot, but I kind of don't think so. Here's what it looks like today - just sort of ripped and as if he himself went at it. And don't let the gray fool you into thinking definitely tail rot - he's pink and gray and does have gray metallic on his tail normally:
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That white spot is not as weirdly colored as you see it below. It's much more like you see it in pic #1 above.
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So. I have to worry about his tail now, or does it look like either he did this or it's a result of whatever is wrong etc?
 
Betta get that all the time. The bump on the head could be cancer (sorry, it's possible - I had one male develop it and live a long happy life until it completely covered his head). The hole-in-the-tail I believe is bacterial. Lots of 100% water changes, I still use a drop of Pimafix, salt and copper and hope for the best. Good luck!
 
Hairechest: Bettas get which thing all the time? The shredded tail, the hole in the middle of the tail, or the weird things on his head? (Shredding their tails, yeah I know - but is that what you meant?)

Yeah, I thought cancer too about the thing on his face, but then he suddenly got another one on the other side (exact same place!), and then other "pits" around them....

100% water changes how often? And for how long? Just until it's gone?

Thanks!
 
I wouldn't do 100% changes in a cycled tank, it's not necessary especially with your test readings. You never get anything over 10ppm for nitrates, and my tanks never get anything under that! If you're going to medicate for bacterial infection go with something like kanamycin or Maracyn 2 (obviously double-check first to make sure there's no interactions with what you're already dosing). And no copper since that's more useful for parasites (if I recall right anyways), which you're already treating for with another medication. The salt might not be a bad idea since it does have mild antibiotic properties (although there's several people on the forum that'll try to hunt me down and kill me for saying so ;)).

Personally, I'm always a bit leery of medicating for 2 different things at the same time.

Edit: something I found in Lupin's medicines sticky about copper: "Never use copper in tanks containing salt, invertebrates, with immunity-challenged fish and with drastic pH changes especially acidic water conditions."
Hairechest, you might want to rethink the salt and copper recommendation.
 
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It could be cancer, but because it seems inflammed, and there are other pitted areas appearing I am hoping it's only a bit of infection that has developed in a pitted area.

The following is from a pm I sent Saje last night. I'm including it in the thread so others can give us helpful input on my thinking on this:

I think Jungle Parasite Clear would be a good choice to drop in his water.

I feel like an idiot for not thinking of it. I think this combo, instead of hitting him with Kanamycin or Furan 2 on top of the Metro, would be a gentler approach.

He may have finrot, though I"m not sure of it. The hole and the way it developed is a little concerning.

His face, on the right side, does look inflammed and probably infected, but not too bad.I've been thinking about Buster's treatment, I worry about using Kanamycin because its potential for toxicity, and Furan 2 because of your biofilter. I've used both and like them both. We could go with one of those if needed after he's gone through this anti-parasite regime.

I hate to suggest this, because you've already done a lot of running around to get meds, but I think you should get Jungle Labs Parasite clear to put in his water. (WalMart even has it)

I think the Acriflavine in the Parasite Clear may be all it takes to address what appears to be some infection in the early stages.

Acriflavine has broad spectrum usage combining both antibacterial and antiparasitic properties. It has a low toxicity, and in fact is used by shippers to prevent infection of wounds during the transport of fish, so I think its inclusion with the other ingredients in Jungle Parasite Clear tank buddy would make that a good choice to drop in the water.

Getting the Metro into him orally is a whole other kettle of fish, (sorry, lol)

The instrutions say:

"to mix 1% metronidazole in fish food (25g food for one 250mg metronidazole)"


The metric thing was confusing but I think I have it figured out. I have a package of FBWs that says on the package that it is 1000g. It has 35 cubes of frozen blood worms, so each cube is 28.5714 g. (Basing this on the supposition that your package is the same as mine, if not let's recalculate)

The bottle of Metro instructions say 125mg/40L (10 gallon tank). I'm sure there's a little tiny measuring spoon attached to the cap.

The bottle will tell us how many of those are needed to treat a 10 gallon. If it says use one scoop for a 10 gallon tank then of course that means each measure is 125mg, so we would use two of those little scoops to make it 250mg, in a tablespoon of tank water. That should be just enough for a thawed cube to be pretty packed, put one cube in it and let it thaw and soak for about two hours (once thawed keep in the fridge.)

Also, since one cube of FBWs is a little more than 25 grams I'd slightly round one of the measure scoops instead precisely flat. Not much, but a tiny bit.

I would put the med in the tablespoon of tank water and mix it thoroughly before adding the FBWs, and I've heard that Metro is difficult to dissolve, but I believe Seachem made that less of a problem.
 
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Regarding water changes - I've done huge water changes in a cycled tank while treating sick fish, no problem. Even though the tank is cycled and params are not a concern, the idea is to remove as much dissolved organic compounds as you can to keep the water really pristine.

I think another consideration, especially when treating a sick fish, should be insuring that the water satisfies the fish's need for electrolytes, mineral cations such as calcium & magnesium. I would check out Seachem's Nourish which can supplement vitamins and minerals that can help boost his immune system.

Here's the product info:

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Nourish

Product Description

Nourish™is a comprehensive vitamin, amino acid, and trace element supplement developed to address nutritional requirements commonly associated with long term closed system housing of freshwater ornamental fish. Nourish™ contains potassium iodide in a heavy base of spirulina and chlorella. The nutrient iodine is essential for the biosynthesis of the thyroid hormones thyroxine and triiodothyronine. * Both spirulina and chlorella contain a rich assortment of amino acids and vitamins. Nourish™ can be used on marine ornamental fish; however, it is specifically designed for freshwater fish.

Sizes: 250 mL, 500 mL, 2 L, 4 L, 20 L

Why It's Different

Nourish's™ formulation is based on the most scientifically current information on fish nutrient requirements (National Academy of Science) while addressing specific requirements of freshwater fish. Nourish™ contains potassium iodide in a heavy base of spirulina and chlorella (see above for the unique benfits of spirulina and chlorella).

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I've never used it, but it's on my shopping list.
 
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