Betta may have ich?

[JessieKF]

Hello. Im a fairly new betta owner. Bought 2 about 2 weeks ago from petco and did alot of reading before getting them to make sure i could give them everything they need. However i dont know much about parasites/diseases.

One of my bettas doesnt seem to eat much. Ive sat and watched him and it seems he cant grab the floating flakes ive given him. However hes fine with the freeze dried brine shrimp cause they fall below the waters surface. I did notice he has poo trailing from him and decided to skip feeding for 2 days and try to find 1 pea to feed him. However I seem to have another problem.

His gills seem much more metallic than when I first got him. He seems to be breathing fine but swims around kinda sluggish until someone comes up to the tank. Then he shoots off to his lil castle. The rest of his body seems perfectly fine but is it possible that now he has his own tank and food and more color is showing? Or does it sound more like a parasite? He seems happy since he blows alot of bubbles however his tank gets much more scummy than the other tank i have thats much smaller. He has a 5 gal tank with live plants that i quarantined for 8 hours. I also use stress coat to condition the water. and have a heater that keeps the tank around 74-76.

His scales look a bit like this-
http://www.nippyfish.net/Ich3.jpg
However I cant find my camera cord so im unable to show a real picture of him.

[Euphie101]

If it's ich, then it will look like he has salt sprinkled all over him. If he does look like that, then he indeed has ich.

[JessieKF]

Originally Posted by Euphie101

If it's ich, then it will look like he has salt sprinkled all over him. If he does look like that, then he indeed has ich.

Nope. Nothing looks like salt sprinkled on him. Just the really metallic stuff all over his gills.

[Oldfishlady]

Sorry you are having problems...have a few questions

Is the 5g tank filtered, what kind and how many live plants, how much and how often are the water changes and when was the last one, water temp is 74-76F with a heater...right? eating okay-have you checked him for velvet in a dark room with a flash light-will look like yellow/gold dust on his body and/or fins-are his fins clamped or is he flashing/rubbing on objects in the tank?

[JessieKF]

Originally Posted by Oldfishlady

Sorry you are having problems...have a few questions

Is the 5g tank filtered, what kind and how many live plants, how much and how often are the water changes and when was the last one, water temp is 74-76F with a heater...right? eating okay-have you checked him for velvet in a dark room with a flash light-will look like yellow/gold dust on his body and/or fins-are his fins clamped or is he flashing/rubbing on objects in the tank?

The 5g tank is not filtered. I was told as long as i did a full water change once a week i wouldnt need a filter? I occasionally do a partial water change just because of how scummy the water seems to get within a few days.
I have 2 different aquatic plants I got from petsmart, One looks like a fern, and the other are some small leaves. I do a water change every Saturday. Water temp is 74-76 with a heater. The fish is actually yellow so will i still be able to tell the difference between him and velvet? I cant find a decent photo online of what it looks like. He doesnt seem to be rubbing on anything and seems to swim fine besides the fact that hes a bit sluggish unless scared.

I did rush out to petco however there was no one around to help me with answers besides some random highschool kid and because I had no idea whats really wrong I bought stuff that says it treats bacterial, fungal, viral, and parasitic fish diseases. Just until I can pin point whats wrong. I just dont want him to get worse XD

[Posaune]

I can't help much with the betta, other than ask for you to post pictures of him.

As for the plants, that fern you bought isn't fully aquatic :P I nearly bought one too but was saved by a clerk at the store. The leaves one is probably a sword, which is aquatic. The fern will eventually die and you'll want to replace it with a completely aquatic plant then (or you could do it now if you want)

[small fry]

So you have an unfiltered 5 gallon tank? I am not sure about 5 gallon tanks, but with a 1 gallon fish bowl I had to do water changes everyday or every other day or my betta, Tony, got sick. Do you know how high your ammonia is by the end of the week before you do the water change? If you don't you might consider testing the water. Toxicity builds up fast in smaller tanks/bowls.

About the coloring, did your betta get more color or less, I couldn't tell by the post. Feeding your betta freeze-dried bloodworms will ofter brighten a betta that is typicly duller in color (like close to shades of grey). It is not uncommon for bettas to have minor color changes, especially when their routine is changed. Building bubblenest is a typical sign of a happy betta, but I would still watch him closely. It might be a good idea to study up on betta fish diesases, because most bettas get sick at one point or another. Hope this helps!


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10gal GatorSwamp
10gal CichlidRock
1.5gal BuriedTreasure

[Oldfishlady]

If the plants are non-aquatic they may be rotting and fouling the water causing water quality issues-I would ID the plants and remove the non-aquatic and start making some daily water only changes for a few days and see if he won't perk up some, if not I would QT and start a aquarium salt 1tsp/gal treatment along with 100% daily water changes for 10 days

[JessieKF]

I actually dont have a water testing kit but now i should definetly get one.
I was wondering why the plants I got werent fully submerged in water. however they were right with all the fish stuff and no one said anything when i got them and all the other fishy stuff XD I have removed the plants and started doing about a 40% water change.


The last question is I bought this:
http://www.amazon.com/Aquarium-Syste.../dp/B001E6P6D0

however I was wondering can I still put salt in with it or will it mess things up?
And whats the difference between sea salt and aquarium salt? Some people say you can use both and others dont recommend sea salt.
I sat and watched him for about 20 minutes and now he seems to be super hyper active. I cant quite tell if he is scratching on the glass or if hes just swimming around the edge of the round 5g bowl.
The bettas color did look better the first few days I got him however now it seems to be fading to grey. I called down to petco to see if there was anyone available to look at him however they are off til wednesday.