I think Fafner might have an anchor worm, but I am not sure. That's the best guess I have right now. I will post some pix later but they are not as close-up as I would like them... (I need to be on my computer to do it).

A few days ago he started to get a lump on his nose, right where the nostril is. I did not know waht it was but hoped that his coming water change would help resolve it. His water change was only delayed by two days (guests) but I did it today. He has only been in this tank for a week and a half - new set-up, new tank!)(I got him on 15 July). I had given him some brine shrimp - once - and some FD bloodworms - once - since he has been in the new tank - with the staple Diet being Hikari Betta food. (When he was in with the frogs, they all at FD bloodworms together). I thought it might be an ulcer from debris from the brine and bloodworms (but it has only been a week and a half)!

But, as the weekend went on, it looked less and less like a sore or irritation and more like a bump, like something under his skin. It looks like - excuse me, a blemish with one of thos ittle white pustule heads. There is no trailing worm like the pix. I have seen of lernaea... but today I changd the water and added some salt to see if it would help.

I looked at him a few hours after the water change and I saw a whitish (but with some color to it - like the color of his head) string trailing from the part of his head where the bump is! ( Al ot like your mystery string, Kissy! http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...howtopic=33385). Then, I saw in the tank, caught on some leaves, a big mass of stringy white stuff... I cleaned this out as well as the the strand that fell from his head. The bump looks no different - whatever came off his head did not come out of the pustule/bump... The lump is skin colored with a grayish-white round thing sticking out form under his skin -

like, if you took a ping pong ball and shoved it up under your skin and a little bit of it was still stciking out so you just see a bit of white round sticking out...

I have Dimlin - but have to figure out how to dose that form pond size Rx.!

What on earth is going on? He is eating, acting healthy and fine - for now... Thanks for your ideas!

I added a small amount of Dimlin last night for good measure.

I accidentally put too much salt - decided not to remove it as he looks like he is handling - will start with small water changes everyday to dilute the salt conc.

I gave him Melafix about two hours ago and now he has another white string trailing from his head! Coming off the back end of the pustule/bump. I guess it was the Melafix that gave the reaction yesterday and not the salt as I thought...

Does this mean it is a bacterial infection, then? I will continue with Melafix and small changes everyday. I will add the Dimlin as recommended, just in case.

He acts perfectly fine so I will not panic but I just wanted an idea of what is happening so I don't suddenly have a bigger problem or worse illness.

Not really sure whats going on but any lump that pops should be seen as bacterial and treated as such. I dont think the salt or melafix will do much for bacterial infections but maybe using maracyn may help it.

Oh I hope he gets better! I never noticed any pimple-like bumps with Orchard, but he's all grizzly on his head so it would be hard to tell. I haven't seen anything suspicous since so I don't know what it was. I'm still feeding metro-med tho, just in case. Maybe Fafner has some sort of infection and the slime coat is coming off around that area? I'm not too sure..just guessing. I'd go with the bacterial meds and keep a close eye on him. I've got TONS of metro-med if you would like some (just in case you think it could be hole-in-head like paranoid me....it probably isnt cuz it is so rare in bettas, but the strings growing, falling off, growing again is what happens. Is there any red on the area?) But I'd need to keep it a secret from my parents and send it in a ziplock and envelope, by regular mail. Maybe you want some just in case Graham gets sick too I dunno. Well if you'd like some I can send some Keep us updated.

Hi Sandy and Kissy - thanks for the replies! I will try to get some Maracyn - or something like it - this week but it may take a while... Saturday, maybe. I will try to get it sooner....

Thanks for the offer of the meds, Kissy! you are so sweet and thoughtful! I have Medi-Gold already so maybe I will try that - hang on to your MetroMeds for future use! (Hopefully, you won't ever need it)!

I think it is slime coat coming off - around the area of the "wound" - but the lump seems a little smaller! Keeping my fingers crossed!

BTW - there is no redness or inflammation assocaited with the bump - it's wierd - just a bump -like something is stuck under his skin - and a white pustule...

perhaps it was like a pimple, and you "popped" it when you did your water change? I had a goldfish who had something like that on his side... I added a touch of melefix, and in 3 days he was normal

I'm glad he seems a little better Just a reminder, medi-gold is for goldies only. It should say something like that on the container. I still have like 7 ounces of each and barely any fish lol. The stuff expires in october so I'll probably be giving most of it away soon.

Fafner got worse! I thought he was getting better b/c of the strands coming off every time I added the Melafix - it looked like they were coming out of the back of the pustule/bump so I thought the a-bac. was working and pus was draining off...

But the swelling got larger and started to cover more of his face, and now his eye!
NOW IT IS POPEYE! He developed a new white patch near his mouth so I actually went to a store (very difficult around here - there are none) to get meds asap.

They had nothing! (Why am I surprised) - so I bought APPlus+ Anti-Bacteria and APPlus+ Anti-Fungus. I gave him the treatment last night and the white patches went away but now the eye is very exophopthalmic. And cloudy - popeye

I have sulfa meds on the way and I redosed with the above products tonight along with a 70% water change with baster removal of "debris" (poopy). He did not eat dinner tonight although it just may be difficult for him to see...

I oversalted the tank again (by accident) so I did another water change an hour later (treated the oversalt as a "bath"). Filter running but without charcoal pad.

Anything special I should use for popeye? Thanks!

Sounds like a sesspool of Meds. The Salt especially overdosing,probably did peel his slimecoat off. I myself,along with some other's have had more problems when treating with Melafix. If I were you,I'd do a complete water change,with evenly matched water temps and treat with a Maracyn 1&II Combo. The Pimple that you saw was probably a lump/ulcer& being that he turned up with Popeye sounds Bacterial for sure. What size tank is he in? Is the tank cycled? Do you test his water-if so,what are the readings?Do you have a heater in his tank?

Hi Devs - thanks for checking on Fafner! First, I'll answer your questions:

What size tank is he in? 3 gallon, all to himself - with filter

Is the tank cycled? Yes. I mean No - it was cycled but I have been doing 100% water changes (more later) so I gues sit is not anymore as the old filter was removed.

Do you test his water- Yes.

if so,what are the readings? Tonight -

NitrAtes - 0
NitrItes - 0
Ammonia - 0
pH - 6.8 (low neutral)
kH - 40 (low = alkaline)
total hardness - 50 (soft - very soft)
80% water change a few hours ago - salted 1 tsp. total added (last water change at midnight last night - 80% to get rid of oversalted water and all the APPlus+ meds - this morning he was back to his lively old self)

Do you have a heater in his tank? No - temp. ~82 degrees

There are no meds in the tank now - just a 0.1% salt. I am trying to get Maracyn I and II (oedered it - should be here Monday as the local place did not have any! They were OUT!) The APPlus+ did not seem to help alot - but it did clear up a fungus that had atarted growing around the wound. I was under the impression that a mild salt dose (at Betta levels - as taken form Betta Talk) would stimulate slime coat production. He is eating and is still acting normal. It seemed that he could not see out of the swollen eye for a while but today it looks like he can see out of it again although it does not look very different.

I did manage to get some Marcyn Plus, finally. What do you think? He has had four water changes of about 80% each time to keep him in fresh clean water and to remove salt, meds, and Melafix and different time.

I have not moved him b/c he does not like being caught and really workd hard to avoid it - I do not want to risk injury to the eye. Water changes have been very gentle - pH and temp. matched, too.

I personally would give him a round of Maracyn. Salt has a funny way of affecting Betta's differently.I have used salt once on a Betta when he was at death's door,and apparently it saved him.He did fine afterwards. I just know from talking to different people on different forums,that there have been both good & bad results,so I always try to use salt as a last resort. Thaqt's just me being cautious I guess. Anyway,Id start the Maracyn,and when the other comes,I'd do a round of that too-depending how he comes through this med.Good luck.Gosh I hate when those little guys get sick.

Thanks Devs! I just added the Maracyn Plus - will give an update tomorrow morn.

I think you are right - the three meds use very different a-bios so if this is not making a difference, at least I know I will have the Marcyn I and II on Monday...

I think he will hand in there! If he survived the lethal salt baths I gave him... Oh! Knock on wood! He ate his din-din!

Well, it was very hard not to go look at him every ten minutes to see if he was getting better... (so I stayed up all night and surfed here)! But, it worked - I didn't bother him and I jsut checked him - big improvement! (Knock on wood)!

The popeye is still bulging a bit but only the clear part - the cloudiness has gone away. He is way more active - and ate his brekkie with much gusto! He's being a bit dramatic, actually, as if he has returned form the dead (maybe that is how badly he felt...)

Hope it continues and I have not spoken too soon... A second dose of Maracyn Plus - as per bottle instructions - tomorrow. Then, a third and (hopefully) final one Wednesday. What is nice about Maracyn Plus is that you don't have to remove the filter! Makes Betta more comfortable! I'll give an update tomorrow - fingers crossed!

Thanks for your help, Devs and Sandy and Magikzzl and Kissy!

Go Fafner! Maybe my compliments helped him

I'm so glad that he seems to be feeling better!!! Woo-Hoo!!!!

if you can find betta max anywhere (is hard to find these days) it worked well, when my old boy Spike got pop-eye... its not specificly for it, but i have to say i worked REALLY well....

Hey Magic - I looked up BettaMax and luckily, since it is no longer on the market, the active drugs in them (sulpha anti-biotics) are exactly what is in Maracyn Plus! So, we all know what to use now since BettaMax is not around!
Good thing you mentioned it! Thanks!

Kissy -He absolutley got better because of your kind thoughts and compliments! Thank you for thinking of him so hard!
(Now, if we can just get this Feng Shui-Postive thinking-Karma thing flowing in reverse through your door for next goldfish...)

He is really improving - the lens still slightly protrudes and is a bit cloudy - he does seem to see better out of it - it is not 100% yet but the sore on his head that led to the popeye is now completely healed!

Water change tomorrow and a new dose of Maracyn Plus - I will do two more in all to make sure the meds run their course.

Thanks again! It means so much to me that you all care about Fafner so much - I still can't figure how he got it - I really think it was the nasty bloodworms (b/c it was a new tank getting 100% water changes every few days...) I would have been so upset but knowing you were al here to help kept me calm and positive!

I'll post one more update when the eye heals completely (I sure hope it will)!

PS - I did not know Medi-Gold is just for GF! THanks for telling me - I did not feed it to him! You are a very good Auntie to Fafner, Kissy!

Aww I'm an aunt I'm happy he's doing so much better!