help needed!

[you smell funny]

Hi i have a betta, Ive had him for about six months, and i bought him from petco, so i would imagine he is pretty young. he started in a half gallon tank and about 2 months ago i moved him to a 10 gal. with 3 danios and a plecostomus and they all seem to get along just fine (i also had a starfire red glofish but the betta killed him a week or two ago. which sucks because the glofish cost more then the betta did.) lately he has been getting caught in the filter and his fins are getting torn, but im not sure its because of the filter, or not.
When i first got him he had completely clear pectoral fins, but After he killed the glofish they got foggy, with little tiny white specks (they arent on the fins, but inside the fins) and they are tattered like the rest of his fins. he doesnt like to use the left one, which is the more torn of the two.
today I noticed he has one foggy white speck on the lens each eye. he acts like he can see just fine though. he seems to spend more time resting then he used too (on plants and the bottom of the tank).

I moved him into an isolation tank and gave him some ick medication for the white specks. Im just wondering if these things are all related or could I just be over reacting. I hope its the latter.


i do weekly 100% water changes and clean the plants (one of which is live)
i try to retrive whats left of the food after they eat (sometimes i forget.)
i feed all of my fish freeze-dried bloodworms and occasionally betta pellets.

[you smell funny]

Also. all the other fish seem fine.

[you smell funny]

Please help soon!! I dont want to lose my fish!

[Abby]

easy now. firstly blood worms are more of a treat then a staple diet id swap them for pellets and frozen or live brine shrimp.... vary the food
can you get pictures? it sounds like hes changing colour

[LittleBettaFish]

That's also a fairly heavy bioload for a 10 gallon tank. Depending on the species of pleco, it can reach up to a foot long, and even a smaller bristlenose pleco would be pushing the capabilities of your biological filter.

You shouldn't have to do 100% water changes on filtered tanks. However, since I have a feeling that this tank hasn't been properly cycled I'd at least bump it up to 2-3 50% water changes a week. If you don't have a good quality liquid test kit, I'd really recommend you purchase one to measure ammonia and one to measure nitrite.

I have a feeling that your betta's health problem may be stemming from poor water quality. If you do own these test kits, could you please post up your results as it can help us determine if it is something that needs to be addressed.

There's a sticky at the top of this forum that can help us make a proper diagnosis

[dragonflie]

Wholeheartedly agree with the other replies here.

Just wanted to add one thing though. In my honest opinion, the danios need a larger school to not be stressed; and more swimming room than a 10g can provide. It may not have been the filter that chewed up his fins; but the danios nipping at them. Of course without seeing this behavior you can't know for sure; but given the environment they're in and the small school it is a possibility.

Also, given he has already killed another inhabitant in the tank, I think your betta is telling you he will not do well in a community setting, and it might be time to consider keeping him in a solitary situation.

[you smell funny]

Originally Posted by Abby

easy now. firstly blood worms are more of a treat then a staple diet id swap them for pellets and frozen or live brine shrimp.... vary the food
can you get pictures? it sounds like hes changing colour

He seems to be doing alot better today, he is using both pectoral fins like normal

he refused to eat anything other then the blood worms when i first got him, and he still doesnt like the pellets too much. I wasnt aware they could change color but he doesnt seem to be changing, he is still his normal dull pink body and blue with a touch of red fins (speaking of, how would i amplify those colors?) here are the best photos i could get.

this one shows the damage to his pectoral fins, and you can kinda see the white speck on his right eye. the clumpy white stuff on his left pectoral fin is actually a smudge on the tank glass.


here i tried to take a pic of the damage to his bottom fin (dont know the correct name) but all of the stuff that was falling off had done so by the time i woke up.


here is the "best" shot i could get of his eye spot. (directly in the center of the eye) i could only get him to take pictures on his right side.


here is a rare left side pic and its of the damage to his tail.



i had no idea that there was such a thing as too heavy of a bio-load. my plecostomus is only about 2 and a half inches long and has been that way since i got him, im not sure what kind of pleco he is though.

[you smell funny]

Originally Posted by dragonflie

Wholeheartedly agree with the other replies here.

Just wanted to add one thing though. In my honest opinion, the danios need a larger school to not be stressed; and more swimming room than a 10g can provide. It may not have been the filter that chewed up his fins; but the danios nipping at them. Of course without seeing this behavior you can't know for sure; but given the environment they're in and the small school it is a possibility.

Also, given he has already killed another inhabitant in the tank, I think your betta is telling you he will not do well in a community setting, and it might be time to consider keeping him in a solitary situation.

i was planning on a couple more danios, but with the whole bio-load thing i might have to change my mind. the betta mostly stays away from the others, and vice verse. i thought the betta killed the glo fish because he was so bright of a color, and it was really small. he gets along with all the other fish just fine.

[LittleBettaFish]

Looking at those pictures, are you sure the danios aren't nipping his fins? They are notorious for it, and your betta would be an easy target.

Plecos produce a lot of waste for their size, which is why they often need a larger tank than most other fish.

[CrowntailTwitchy57]

aww poor guy to me it looks like ammonia burn but im just a beginner