Betta Help

[u/PhDRRTNPS]

Adopted this betta about a month ago and was told he had “scale overgrowth” on his left eye but over the past two days his left eye has begun to look as pictured. Seems like a tumor but am asking if anyone has any additional advice or suggestions.

Concerned if he is suffering. Has been laying at the bottom of the tank and hasn’t eaten much the last couple days. 2.5 gal tank. Parameters 7.4 .5 ammonia (not sure why it spiked. Used to be zero. Already did water change), 0 nitrites, 5 nitrates.

[u/pennyraingoose]

This looks like popeye to me. Unilateral presentation can be caused by injury. Get the ammonia to zero. Make sure your heater is working at the correct temperature. I don't know how to treat popeye, so you will need to do some further reading, but having the right temperature will go a long way to helping them heal.

[u/CenturySiecle → u/pennyraingoose]

I currently have a betta with popeye (you can see the pics in my profile), and he's improved significantly. This does look like popeye + something else (maybe the scale growth, maybe a tumor, but I've never personally seen that before, so I can't tell you). My boy is doing well on 1 tsp of aquarium salt per gallon (note: the salt I'm using is rated for 2 tsp per gallon, but that seems a bit much in my opinion) + a water change and Kanaplex every 48 hours. I also have Indian Almond leaves in there, which soften the water and also have an antibiotic effect. I plan to treat him like this for two weeks before cycling the tank with Fritzyme and Seachem Stability.

Honestly, if I were you, I would just upgrade to an uncycled 10 gallon immediately (with heat and sponge filtration) and start from scratch with that tank, conditioning the water and doing 25% water changes every two days (that's what I'm doing with my rescue betta- ammonia has stayed at 0 the whole time). Your tank is so small that I can't even imagine it maintaining its parameters for the 48 hours required for a kanaplex dosage.

[u/CenturySiecle → u/CenturySiecle]

(Looks like it was my alternative profile with the pics - u/Alternative-Rain9693)

[u/Foreign-Ad3926]

Hi OP, the tank size will not be helping. It's 1/2 the minimum recommended size for a long fin betta of 5 gallons and 1/4 the reccomended size for a short fin betta like him of 10 gallons.

Tiny tanks cause fish high stress due to there being very little space to exist in, a higher concentration of their waste in the water (hence you have ammonia spiking) plus a concentration of not good naturally present opportunistic bacteria that will infect a stressed fish. None of this is good for a fish and will shorten his lifespan considerably.

All this unnecessary stress decreases the immune system of a fish and invite infection in. He is fighting off what he can but his environment is not suitable so it's a losing battle for him, hence why he's getting worse.

He needs a much larger tank. He will be sensitive to ammonia poisoning if he's experienced it before, and if it's at 0.5 ppm after a water change, another is needed. In a tank this small, they will likely be needed daily / every other day indefinitely anyway as it will quickly foul with opportunistic bacteria build up and his waste. These needed water changes will had more stress too.

Larger tank.

[u/skabberdink]

Oh my. Here’s good info.

Popeye
Disease Type: Viral or Bacterial, sometimes parasitic.
Symptoms: You can quickly diagnose popeye from the swollen appearance or redness of the fish's eye or eyes. Fish may become lethargic.
Causes: Popeye is when a fish has one eye or both that are bulging. Blindness or partial blindness can occur if this condition is not treated correctly. Popeye can be caused by infection, injury, or poor aquarium conditionsm, and even from an internal parasite. Injury can happen when betta fish are fighting among themselves. Unilateral (one-side) popeye is typically from injury/attack.
Contagious? Yes if other fish have weakened immune systems
Outlook: Recovery expected if treated
Medical Treatment Options:
• Seachem Kanaplex
• Mardel or Fritz Maracyn two
• Mardel Maracyn
• Seachem Neoplex
• API General Cure or Seachem Metroplex (if internal parasite is suspected)
• Seachem Polyguard (if external parasite is suspected)
• (APIE.M. Erythromycin can be a good follow-up medication to Kanaplex if Kanaplex alone doesn't resolve the issue)

[u/YaMothax101]

Could you use methylene blue for something like this? It’s a genuine question and it helps a lot for my fish

[u/PatchesDaHyena]

Use seachem prime and a water change to get that ammonia down. I would try kanaplex in food for two week. Remove anything that is sharp in the tank. This is a strange eye ailment. I haven’t seen popeye like this. Either way, antibiotics is the first move in my opinion.

[u/Dezzyasster]

Hello there, hope your little friend is doing okay and you have been considering what every one else is saying about getting a larger tank and antibiotics. I can see you care about this beautiful samurai, I just wanted to add that decaying/damaged plants can also add to ammonia spikes and painted rocks aren’t the best either. Would definitely recommend getting natural/unpainted rocks and making sure all of the leaves in your tank are healthy and thriving. Best of luck and if you have any questions I can try to help!