My betta landin is not doing well, at all! For as long as I had him (1.5 year) he has usually been not very active but always ate and seemed happy. Lately I noticed his head is like a red color and I thought maybe he was changing color from genes. But now I realize he is extremely inactive, lays on his side all the time, shredded fins, and looks like he is struggling when he swims! :/ The strangest thing is that his body is turning almost a shiny iridescent color. He is still eating but thats it. I'm thinking maybe velvet? But I need some opinions on what it could be and how I should treat it.
Thank you in advance!
Tank : A heated (78°) one gallon. Has some silk plants and a pot.
Water: 25% every three days, 100% weekly. Treated with stress coat/water conditioner.
His fins are shredded, are the edges black or red?
Was his fins damaged on a plant or the net from all those cleanings?? You can reduce the water changes on your 1g to twice a week. One change is 50%, the other is 100%.
Can you get a good pic of his color change and the "shine"??
His fins are shredded, are the edges black or red?
Was his fins damaged on a plant or the net from all those cleanings?? You can reduce the water changes on your 1g to twice a week. One change is 50%, the other is 100%.
Can you get a good pic of his color change and the "shine"??
I will post a pic as soon as I get home, and the edges are his normal purple color. None of. his plants are sharp enough to tear his tail(passed panty hose test)
I would think he might have velvet. Any flashing or rubbing against objects,walls,floor etc?
Do you have aquarium salt ? You can buy it at pet store. I would say you need to do it ASAP. First aid would be aquarium salt. If you can get medications get
Seachem Paraguard, Hikari HealthAid PraziPro, and API General Cure are all very good to use for external parasites but only API General Cure is readily available at Petsmart. The others usually can be found at small indepedent fish stores. When dealing with external parasites, meds with praziquantel, malachite green, methlyene blue, or acriflavine are helpful. For that matter, even Hikari Betta Revive can be very effective for external parasites SYMPTOMS:
Velvet is hard to spot, but can be best spotted with a flashlight. Shine the light on the betta’s body: if it looks like it is covered with a fine gold or rust mist, then it has velvet
While you still don't know what he has turn the light off since part of their reproduction they use photosynthesis.
Get aquarium salt any way since it has antibacterial/fungal effect and will help even if he don't have a velvet. The salt will help balance his electrolyte level and encourage the production of slime coat,which will in turn help protect him from infections. Also you are using stress coat by API. Put extra dose in his water it will help to produce extra slime coat and help to parasites fall off faster if he has ones.
78* is good but if you can slowly increase it (1-2* in an hour) at least up to 80* , it will help to speed life cycle since you can't kill these parasites while on the fish without killing the fish.
is it look like he is rubbing against objects,walls,floor etc? Is it looks like his body covered with fine gold or rust mist or like he is sprinkled with salt? Can you post pictures ? Did you see him darting around? Any other symptoms?
If he has velvet it best to treat with aquarium salt, but also have medications on hands. You need to pre mix 2tsp/gall of the salt make sure it dissolved and do daily 100% water changes for up to 14 days. You may need to increase the dose of the salt up to 3 tsp/gall in a few days. But are you able to raise the temperature?
You need to rinse with hot water and dry out completely all equipment that you using to change him(changing cup, a net etc..) -it will kill any parasites
Take out gravel, ornaments and wash it with hot water and dry out, don't put it back until you done treating him unless you want to do it every time you changing him.
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
Help Please!
