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Troubling pink, fleshy areas on scales. Some coloration on fin too...

11K views 102 replies 6 participants last post by  xjenuhfur 
#1 ·
Found Cobalt this morning with strange pink spots on his scales. It's like his blue scales have turned a pink, fleshy color (picture attached). It's been over a year since I've had him and this has never happened. I'm thinking it may be related to the mini-cycle I am finishing up since I changed my substrate and decor to sand and driftwood. Perhaps it's the change in pH from the tannins? Just performed a 50% water change...any ideas?

Housing
What size is your tank? 5 gallon
What temperature is your tank? 78
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? nerite snail

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? twice a day, ~5-7 pellets each time

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? weekly
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 30-40%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? conditioner and sometimes flourish excel

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

Ammonia: close to 0 ppm, definitely not greenish color which would mean .25 ppm
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? spots of pink, fleshy scale color, some of the coloration on the top fin (see picture).
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? no notable behavioral changes
When did you start noticing the symptoms? about 1 hour ago when I checked on him this morning.
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Performed a water change
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no illness besides fin rot once and general stress spots that went away.
How old is your fish (approximately)? likely around 1.5 years.
 

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#2 ·
If the scales are still there, and he is neither lethargic or gasping I do not think there is anything wrong with him. How long have you owned him? Chances are he is just changing color. If you can get him to flare, check for red or inflamed gills (ammonia burn causes this more often then not). Otherwise he is like my giant fella, and has a unique coloration. When I first saw him I thought something was wrong with his face... But it isn't!
 

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#3 ·
You're feeding 10-14 pellets a day? You're feeding like 2-3x too much unless you're feeding like .5mm micro pellets. Bettas also need one fast day a week. What are you feeding?

What is the ph of the water? I wouldn't be adding any ph altering substances without knowing how it effects things. Did you boil/precure the driftwood before adding it? Did you rinse the gravel really well?

What is the nitrite and nitrate levels? If you're running a tank with a filter and not doing weekly 100% changes you need to monitor those levels as well. Also your once weekly water change needs to be closer to 50% in something that small and include a through vacuuming of the gravel to remove poop/debris and not just skim water off the top. Also those snails are SUPER messy. Would not keep one in something so small personally, but you may need a couple 50% water changes to keep water okay in that case.
 
#4 ·
Well I've had this tank for over a year now and have been feeding him that amount with no ill effects (the pellets are rather small). I've had the snail for about 2 months now and have been maintaining the water parameters and performing water changes. The main reason I'm so concerned is the speed at which the coloration developed (practically overnight). I did boil the driftwood multiple times before adding it to the tank. My water change schedule is the same as it has always been with no ill effects. I'm beginning to think it may be stress related due to the change in both the substrate and driftwood (altered pH perhaps).
 
#5 · (Edited)
I stand by what I said above. Sorry. That does include but certainly not limited to possible ph swing stress. Definitely would increase water changes and get the other levels looked at as well.
 
#7 ·
I agree with what you say too, and note that I do all of those things except the water change thing. From what I understand, 100% water changes on a cycled tank is detrimental to the cycle. I clean detritus and waste from the surface of the sand. I will be increasing the water change schedule a bit, but don't want to perform large changes since that would disrupt the establishment of the full cycle again. I'll look at the other levels like nitrate to keep track of the mini-cycle. I'm beginning to think it may be pH swing stress, but the pH has been at this level for over a week now. Is it possible for him to show signs of stress that long after a pH change?
 
#6 ·
That can happen, yes. As for the feeding EVERY SINGLE FISH is DIFFERENT. Janey gets almost the same amount as my giant, while Mickey can't have more than maybe 4 pellets a day. Ares eats 10 a day, and Lovelace eats 12 a day. I feed until they show me a full belly. But I also switch it up, and g e them thawed along with a day of fasting. Plus my pellets are .5 or 1mm depending on the brand.
 
#8 ·
Though... Your tank says 0.25 ammonia right? A properly cycled tank should not show that... It's probably going through a mini cycle. And I agree 100% on a cycled tank is not a good idea. I don't think you need to do more than 30% water change. Every cycled tank of mine (5+ gallons) gets a 30% water change. Uncycled gets 50-100% depending on size.
 
#10 ·
That's fine :) more than likely because of the changes made to the aquarium it will go through a mini cycle which you seem to have down pretty well. Just keep an eye on him and his behaviour.
 
#14 ·
I think he might be! We've seen this large difference for marbles before... Dark to light and light to dark.
 
#18 · (Edited)
Ammonia should not be present in a fully cycled tank, and there should be some nitrates. It sounds like it's still cycling then.. It's a good idea to test daily and do a 50% change any time you see as little as .25ppm. It's gotten way to high at this point..

What filter are you using and how have you maintained it?

How long has the tank been set up?

100% water change does not hurt your cycle. The bb is in the gravel, decor and mostly filter, but not suggesting you do this. Just need to monitor more closely
 
#19 ·
Callistra they know it's going through a cycle :p However, I believe it is two water changes a week for a 5 to safely get the fish through the cycle?
 
#20 · (Edited)
Not if it's reaching that high of ammonia it's not, unfortunately. 1ppm is way too high and .5 is really not ideal either. Personally, I never cycle without testing and just assume a couple water changes will be fine as you will have spikes that go unnoticed. Some people do it and if you have hardy fish you may get away without noticeable issue or just some minor fin rot.
 
#21 ·
I either cycle it beforehand, or not at all (filter-less tanks) so you'd be the one to answer that :lol:
 
#22 ·
As I said in my original post, I've had the tank for over a year now. I recently switched out the substrate and decor, which is why I think it's cycling again. The readout from the color chart may not have been that high; if there is any green it means it's more than 0 ppm, and it looked to be only slightly greenish, but hardly noticeable (heck, I might be imagining things due to my paranoia). The filter I'm using has been running for about 4 months now, and the media is the same age as the tank. Just did a 50% water change, I'll keep monitoring him...now I'm conflicted on whether or not he's marbling or sick ><
 
#23 ·
Do you use a strip, or the liquid API one?

Is he gasping at all? Check his gills for a red, or inflamed look.
 
#28 · (Edited)
The video is showing me that he likely responding to the ammonia. Could be generally sensitive. Could be he's seen traces of it a long time and now he can't handle it at all. I've seen it said that the white scaling can also be caused by long term ammonia exposure, but I really don't know as I've never seen a fish do that before.

I would do 50% water change daily until ammonia hits zero. From there I would test daily and do 25-50% change any time you see any ammonia show up at all. Hopefully eventually it will stay at 0. At some point, with all that ammonia, you're likely to also get nitrites start showing up. So I'd be testing that as well and changing water when you see signs of it too.

You must have had a lot of your bb in your gravel.. can I ask what filter you're using?

As long as he's eating and breathing normally and not acting stressed I would say just keeping on top of his water would be all he needs. You could put a touch of epsoms at around 1/4-1/2 tsp per gallon predissolved if you want as they can help with ammonia poising. Needs to be 100% pure magnesium sulfate. They also have some mild antifungal properties in case there's something going on. Predissolve it in a cup and add it slowly over an hour as it might cause a ph shift. Your plants will like it too. It's a fertilizer for them. When you don't want him in the ES anymore just stop adding it during water changes (won't ever evaporate or break down so no need to redose until you do a water change).

Also using prime as your conditioner (or AmQuel Plus) during cycling can help render some of that ammonia non toxic and help your bioload break it down faster.
 
#29 ·
The tank is still recovering from an algae outbreak a few weeks ago; the amount present now is about 20% of what it used to be :) I have black sand now, but the black beard algae has pretty much disappeared now.

The filter is the Marina S10 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0032G8TPW/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00) with year old media from my other filter (should have BB in it).

I'll keep up with those water changes daily then until I notice a pure yellow on the test and some nitrates. Unfortunately, I don't have any epsom salts with me now, but I should be able to get some this weekend.

Thanks for the information, I'll keep you all posted!
 
#31 ·
#32 ·
Yup yup, found that one and have read it probably 5 times now due to my anxiety :-? It looks pretty similar to that, and I was content for about a day thinking that's all it was. It's just kind of suspicious to me that it happened during the mini-cycle too :| It also happened in less than a 48 hour period...is that possible for marbling?
 
#33 ·
Yeah I could see where you would be questioning it. I've had marbles before they never did any thing that crazy like in the article, but I have had them change over night. I would say that if he isn't acting lethargic, eating well, and your water parameters are fine then just keep an eye on him. My guess from the pictures you have posted would be that he is marbling.
 
#34 ·
I have also seen bettas who have the "jumping gene". It's like an extreme case of marbling, taking it to a whole new level. So now it no longer can freak me out (as much) ;)
 
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