Help me fix "Edamame"

[genemcg]

Hi all -

My 4 year old daughter has a white betta named "Edamame". I'm afraid he has caught something.

He is all white with a little light pink. I noticed some black lines in his fins and now I see a little bit of dark gray on his scales near his tail.

He lives in a 1 gallon bowl and I change the water once per week.

Two days ago I did a 100% water change. Yesterday I added some salt and Maracyn Plus.

Am I doing the right thing? Is there something else I should do? My daughter will be heartbroken if Edamame doesn't survive.

I will try to post a photo ASAP.

Thanks,
Gene

[genemcg]

Here is a pic. Not sure if it is clear enough but the lines are pretty black.

Thanks,
Gene

[Oldfishlady]

IMO-it looks like normal pigment and nothing to worry about, however, if you will complete this info sheet and give us more detailed info the better....
Housing
What size is your tank?
What temperature is your tank?
Does your tank have a filter?
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?
Is your tank heated?
What tank mates does your betta fish live with?

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?
How often do you feed your betta fish?

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change?
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
When did you start noticing the symptoms?
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
Does your fish have any history of being ill?
How old is your fish (approximately)?

[genemcg]

Thank you for the reply. I will try to answer the questions below as best I can.

Housing
What size is your tank? 1 gallon
What temperature is your tank? Don't know. The inside house temp is about 71.
Does your tank have a filter? No
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? No.
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Pellets and freeze dried bloodworms. I have tried 2 types of pellets and Edamame really doesn't like either one very much.
How often do you feed your betta fish? Once or twice per day. 2-3 pellets or worms per feeding.

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Once per week.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50% (just did 100% whe I saw black lines)
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Water conditioner (just added salt and Maracyn Plus).

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? Have not tested.

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Black liines in tail and gray/black scales
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? A lottle sluggish and not eating as well
When did you start noticing the symptoms? about 4 days ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Yes, salt and Maracyn Plus
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No.
How old is your fish (approximately)? We've had him for about 4-6 weeks.

[Oldfishlady]

To me the black lines look like normal pigment and not uncommon to see color changes as the Betta matures.

What I would recommend is getting a heater to get your water temp up just a bit. Your goal is a somewhat stable temp in the 76-80F range.
I use the preset (78F) Tetra brand 25w heaters for my 1-5gal unfiltered tanks and they do fine, however, the temp can vary by 5-10 degrees more or less depending on room temp-but my adjustable heater can vary by 5 degrees more or less too.

IMO/E- The 1gal unfiltered tank is fine to keep a Long fin male- long term-provided that water quality is maintained.

Water changes I recommend on 1-4gal unfiltered tanks-without live plants.
Twice weekly....1-50% and 1-100%

Be sure and properly acclimate with the 100% by adding small amount of the new dechlorinated tank water to the holding container over 10 min or so-to avoid chemistry and/or temp shock.

Nutrition-good quality varied diet fed in small frequent meals and if you have access to live mosquito larva-offer several rinsed for one meal a day.

Lovely fella by the way

[genemcg]

Thank you for the help. I've been changing his water every day now and his attitiude has improved but he still has the black fins and scales.

I tested the water and the pH and ammonia were high. With the new water, I'm lowering the pH slowly and hoping to get it just right soon. Hopefully this will help with how quickly the ammonia goes up.

Thanks again!

Gene M.

[Oldfishlady]

What kind of testing products are you using and the base line of your source water-with and without the normal additives you use. For-ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and if you have KH/GH to tell us if you have hard or soft water.

Unless the water is extreme-it is better to allow the Betta to adapt to your pH-Usually when using chemicals to change the pH it will rebound unless you change the hardness too. Generally a Betta will adapt to your source water pH and hardness without any problems-but those swings from rebound can sometimes be stressful.

Some additives can cause skewed test results too and why you need a base line. Plus, you might have ammonia in the source water to start and will need to use an ammonia neutralizer product like Prime.