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Betta with Head Injury?

shangman

Member
Joined
13 Jul 2020
Messages
1,153
Location
London
Hi Guys,

Once again I come to you with my varied fish problems.

Today my dad was feeding our betta and noticed this injury on one side of his head. To me it looks like a scale has come loose somehow and is coming off, but I thought I'd ask you guys what you think and if you have any advice. Just incase anyone thinks it's a parasite or something idk.

This tank is shared with chili rasboras, amano shrimps and a few rabbit snails.

My plan is to just do a big waterchange with parameters & tempurature the same so not stressful, and to add more dried leaves.

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It's always hard to tell across the Internet but by the looks of it I think that you are right and it's a scale that's been knocked loose. The damage looks the same shape as the the scale and it's quite common for them to bash themselves.
Some would recommend a water change but if you keep up with normal maintainence, and I know you do, I don't think you'd benefit much from doing another unless it's due. I'm a more leave it in peace, don't stress it, and give it a chance kind of guy so just watch and intervene if you really have to. The leaves and some nice food, I'm sure wouldn't go unappreciated.
 
Would agree with mort, it certainly looks like a physical injury.
Just keep an eye on it and watch for any secondary infections (around the wound site) which may need treating.
 
Thank you both! That's a big relief, my dad is new to this stuff and was really worried so I wanted to make sure my hunch was about right. He's already on a diet of mosquito larvae and other waterbutt livefoods so will just continue with that, good maintenance and keep an eye on it.

Would agree with mort, it certainly looks like a physical injury.
Just keep an eye on it and watch for any secondary infections (around the wound site) which may need treating.
If it gets a secondary infection, how would I treat that? Just wondering in case of issues.
 
Well I can only comment on things I've done, might not necessarily be the same in your situation, but...

I had to move my fish tank recently after a pipe burst in the house, this involved dropping 80% of the water. During the move one of the dwarf rainbow fish got spooked and bashed itself against a rock, causing a lesion on its side; within a few days a white cotton wool like substance appeared at the wound site, I assumed this to be some kind of fungal or bacterial infection and treated the tank with esha 2000.

That was about 2 months ago and the fish responded well to this course of treatment.
Obviously you'd have to see how, and indeed IF, any secondary infections manifest themselves, but esha 2000 is usually a decent go to med in these situations.

** my snails (nerite and assassins) survived this treatment, but couldn't say for sure how the rabbit snail would fair.

Hopefully the beta will be ok and further treatment won't be needed rosie.
 
I’m probably a little defensive, but i would do a course of melafix for an open wound. It certainly won’t hurt, you never quite know what’s in the water and preemptive treatment for me has best outcomes.
 
Thanks guys, I'll keep an eye on it in case things go badly. This morning the bit sticking out is gone and it's just a little dark patch so hopefully he can just heal now. I added lots of boiled magnolia and oak leaves to help. Bit wary of adding anything else until things get worse in case I end up doing more harm than good!
 
It sounds like things are healing. Bacterial infections can be seen by reddened areas, if you consider fin injuries they often show up as red streaks but with the damage yours has it can be harder. I think you will be fine but look for red areas like the begginings of a spot but that's hard to see because of the colouration.

I'd be careful with melafix and bettas/labyrinth fish. It does work if you are very careful with the dose but because it's oil based and these fish breathe air, it is always more risky. It's is generally recommended to use a slightly lower dose when treating these fish.
 
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