# Mysterious flesh-eating bacteria infection



## xStatic (Jun 11, 2013)

For the last 4-5 days my king betta has been battling a very mysterious and aggressive bacterial infection in his lower jaw. This infection has literally been eating away at the flesh in his lower jaw. The ends of his lower jaw bones are now almost completely exposed. This started this past Monday when I noticed his mouth was a bit swollen and he had a pink bump just inside his lower jaw. He couldn't close his mouth completely but otherwise looked fine. I chocked it up to an injury of some sort, changed 100% of the water in his 10 gallon tank, and decided to keep a close eye on it. 

The next morning he was missing a sizable chunk from his lower jaw. He has no other symptoms anywhere else on his body. He is still eating, still able to swim normally, but he is resting inside of his log on the bottom a lot. After noticing this sudden change I dosed 1% aquarium salt. Later that day the infection had progressed significantly. I changed all water, dosed with 2% aquarium salt, and started treatment with amoxicillin as it is a broad spectrum antibiotic and I cannot figure out what is causing this infection. 

Today is day five of amoxicillin treatment and day four of 2% aquarium salt. I am considering raising salt to 3% although I know this is generally not recommended for bettas. He seems to be showing no negative reaction to the salt and yesterday and today the spread of the infection seemed to have slowed down significantly. 

I am going to to complete ten days of amoxicillin and start slowly decreasing salt levels over the next few days. He's still eating. The first picture below is from today, all others were taken on Wednesday


----------



## xStatic (Jun 11, 2013)

..


----------



## xStatic (Jun 11, 2013)

Bump. Any idea what I might be dealing with? Seems like a cyst that turned into an ulcer. No other area on the fish is affected. I'm now dealing with significant flesh loss on the lower jaw. I can't tell if the exposed what parts are teeth or the ends of jaw bones. The wound was very red around the outer edge this morning. 

Any suggestions for anti-microbial medications? I am suspecting bacterial infection because there are no obvious signs of fungus (not fluffy or stringy growths) but I cannot be 100% sure. I raised salt to 3% for two days and it seemed to help slow the progression but I had to lower back down to 2% because it was causing some lethargy in my betta. He's currently on day 7 of amoxicillin and day 5 of aquarium salt at 2-3%.


----------



## Netti (Apr 25, 2014)

I'm not knowledgeable about fish medication, so please forgive me for my ignorance, but what fish medication has amoxicillin in it? Just wondering why you wouldn't have chosen something like Kanaplex.


----------



## cakes488 (Dec 2, 2015)

How many days of amoxicillin does it say to treat for?


----------



## xStatic (Jun 11, 2013)

Netti said:


> I'm not knowledgeable about fish medication, so please forgive me for my ignorance, but what fish medication has amoxicillin in it? Just wondering why you wouldn't have chosen something like Kanaplex.


It's just aquatic amoxicillin, its not a special branded mix of stuff. But it is intended to treat aquarium fish. It's not commonly used for bettas on this site for some reason that I'm not sure of? I like amoxicillin though, it treats a broad spectrum of harmful bacteria in all sorts of animals. 

I don't really like to use medications that have a variety of ingredients, plant extracts, etc. because having just one ingredient makes it easier for me to monitor what is and isn't working, adjust dosages, etc. 

I did pick up some erythromycin today that I may use once the amoxicillin treatment is over. Not really sure where to go next.

Edit: I'm doing 10 days amoxicillin


----------



## Netti (Apr 25, 2014)

xStatic said:


> It's just aquatic amoxicillin, its not a special branded mix of stuff. But it is intended to treat aquarium fish. It's not commonly used for bettas on this site for some reason that I'm not sure of? I like amoxicillin though, it treats a broad spectrum of harmful bacteria in all sorts of animals.
> 
> I don't really like to use medications that have a variety of ingredients, plant extracts, etc. because having just one ingredient makes it easier for me to monitor what is and isn't working, adjust dosages, etc.
> 
> ...


Ahh, OK found it. FishMox? Thanks for the info! 
Sorry about your betta, it looks quite bad. I hope the medications will finally work!


----------



## xStatic (Jun 11, 2013)

Came home to check on him and his mouth is actually looking a little better than this morning. No more red/bloody appearance. Hopefully you can make out the condition of his mouth from this photo. It's really hard to see because he's a white fish. You can see what I believe to be his teeth exposed.


----------



## cakes488 (Dec 2, 2015)

That certainly looks better than the first pics!! I really hope he is on the mend. Is he still resting a lot or is he a little more energetic. Still eating OK?

I have a box of Furan2 in my hand is says treats for open/red sores...Infection can range from very small ulcers to deep skin lesions...coloring can range from reddish or gray to very dark areas that are associated with dying tissue.

What about the salt...are you still going to decrease or stop? 

Sadly it seems that the novices far outnumber the experts available on the board.


----------



## xStatic (Jun 11, 2013)

cakes488 said:


> That certainly looks better than the first pics!! I really hope he is on the mend. Is he still resting a lot or is he a little more energetic. Still eating OK?
> 
> I have a box of Furan2 in my hand is says treats for open/red sores...Infection can range from very small ulcers to deep skin lesions...coloring can range from reddish or gray to very dark areas that are associated with dying tissue.
> 
> ...


Thanks! I lowered AQ salt to 2% because the 3% seemed to be taking a toll on him. I will keep it at 2% for another couple days, and then eventually get down to 1% and back to no salt. Hopefully he will be healing before then. I will probably continue AQ salt baths after that but I won't keep it in the main tank. If the amoxicillin doesn't work I'll try the erythromycin and hope for the best. 

He's still resting quite a bit but yesterday after I lower the aquarium salt concentration he seemed to perk up for a few hours. He's still willing to eat which is good. He reacts to me opening the hood on the tank and he isn't having an obvious trouble swimming or breathing so hopefully he'll make it.


----------

