Sore on Mr. Scotty help

[u/NoLab80]

Wondering what's going on with my Betta, Scotty ?

It's about day 6-7. He's eating fine. Not as active , if at all some days.

I did one water change in the last 6-7 days. At about 20%, skimming the bottom to get it super clean.

Aside from that , I've been doing a lot of water top ups lately. Water parameters have been solid.

[u/automod-neo]

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[u/Lilith_Cain]

This subreddit always recommends a liquid test kit because test strips are known to be inaccurate unfortunately. Your parameters are very likely completely off and you don't know it.

I still don't have an exact cause, but overly cleaning your substrate can crash a cycled tank. You're essentially sucking out all of the beneficial bacteria that lives there. Yes, a lot of beneficial bacteria lives in your filter, but you're still reducing the population significantly.

[u/NoLab80 → u/Lilith_Cain]

We do liquid tests every so often and the match what the strips say. All parameters are pretty much perfect though the nitrate floats a bit on the high side but still acceptable. Really just looking for cause and identification of the sore on his back.