Dark patches on my betta

[peugeot206]

Hi guys, I'm new to the forum and have owned a betta for 2 weeks now. Unfortunately he's in a small bowl (but plan to upgrade to a 3 gallon tank this weekend with a filter) yet he seems to be pretty happy, swimming around a lot and is eating normally. However, I notice some dark patches on his right side. Here's a pic of him:

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resi...OGKJNTkA9LMACo

Is he in any trouble?

[shellieca]

His scales look singed, IMO. How often are you changing his water? How big is the container? Looks really small which means FREQUENT water changes. I would start by doing a 100% water change, make sure the new water is temp matched & conditioner is added. Do you have a heater for the 3g tank? Please make sure you do so his water temp will be 78-80.

[peugeot206]

Hi, it's only a half gallon bowl but I change water 100% every other day and conditioners are added. When I got the 3g tank I will add a heater and it comes with a filter.

[paloverde]

Hi, the above poster has given you excellent advice. Look at some photos of bettas on aquabid you may find that it could be a common scale type of pattern.

[shellieca]

Good point Palo. That'll be an interesting development to watch.

[DragonFish]

That looks like a pretty normal color pattern to me, doesn't seem like anything to worry about. ;)

Good luck with the upgrade!

[peugeot206]

Thanks everyone for their replies. One thing I forgot to mention is for the first time he flared his gills at me. So that's what got me wondering is if he's feeling uncomfortable and whether the patches near his tails were a part of it.