Betta Fish Forum banner

really thin body? ...

2K views 28 replies 7 participants last post by  Neelie 
#1 ·
ghost, my sweetie white/blue SDT is getting so thin!!! he eats normal, like the others, he poo's perfect, same as the others, is active and friendly and seems happy BUT he's getting thinner for some reason... all my boys and girls are strong and well fed, but he's just like marylin manson!!!! although he eats the same amount..

also, apart from that, he started nibbling his fins :evil: not as extreme as draco, which had no caudal left, but he misses a chunk now and again and looks fairly rough altogether... he had bloody tips for a while but they come and go :shock:
he also wont flare at all anymore... neither at reflection nor any of the other boys...

i added aq salt and do my water changes like a good girl but he isnt improving...

what could it be? old age? internal parasites?
ill try get pics of him tomorrow. he's asleep now... its 23:26 here and dont want to turn on light and stress him.
 
#5 ·
i had him for bout 3 months now. he wasnt "fat" when i got him but he was heavier and his finnage was amazing! :( if its internal parasites my other guys should have em too but they are all fat and strong and have no problems whatsoever... plus ghost poo is perfect. would parasites not make the poo look weird?

pic;





used to look like this;
 
#6 ·
( if its internal parasites my other guys should have em too
No, They are not housed together, So one could very easily show parasites and not another,
Parasites depending on the type can indeed be infected within all your fish, But won't show signs until sometimes months later, So because one does and another doesn't show signs Doesn't necessarily mean they don't have them.

plus ghost poo is perfect. would parasites not make the poo look weird
Weird= whitish, Stingy ribbon type poo = Parasites...

However That's not always the case, Especially in betta's as I have found.
 
#9 ·
sure i only have him a short while, and he looks much worse now than when i got him... he was a beauty :cry: ill go and get some meds for internal parasites and doing next water change friday morn so ill add them then.

would you recommend taking out the gravel for the treatment?
 
#13 ·
Aww, good luck! I have one skinny boy but he's always been that way.
Ghost is beautiful btw!
does that not polute the water? :-? ill try look for that thread anyways! hope it still around cheers!

thanks! he was really pretty! he looks a bit rough atm :cry: hope he goes back to what he used to look like...

@chicklet; thank so much for your help! i owe you...
 
#12 ·
Aww, good luck! I have one skinny boy but he's always been that way.
Ghost is beautiful btw!
 
#15 ·
is garlic juice exactly what the name states? just, squeezed garlic??? or is a special thing you can buy?

went to my shop where i get all my fish and supplies and they had NO idea what i was on about or what i wanted... they wanted to sell me meth blue... i did see stuff for internal bacteria but thought that thats probably the wrong thing... or is it??? :shock:

im so clueless as to wat to dooo!!!! maehk is getting red fins and i have no idea what that is.... draco is biting his tail again (it had healed!)... OMG im so sick of them all at this stage :cry::cry::cry::cry:
 
#16 ·
Awww I'm sorry you're feeling like that. Just imagine what I felt with 19 possibly sick. :/ You can cut up a couple fresh garlic cloves, mush it, put some pellets in it and microwave it for 30 seconds. They should've had internal parasitic medication. I used Jungle Parasite Clear but there are other ones out there, I think API has one too. 99.9% of the time employees that work in the fish section don't know anything about the fish, it's ridiculous. You would think they would educate themselves...
 
#17 ·
i can imagine how you felt now alright :cry: fish problems are so hard to deal with.... one good news though; i got them hikari fish pelletes and they LOVE them... even draco, who usually looks at me like im to a total jerk for trying to feed him "normal" pellets...:roll:

BTW; i just thought of something; my PH! its at 7.4.. is that high for betta? caus i read that anything from 6-8 is ok... true?

so internal bacteria isnt the same is internal parasites yeah?

thanks so much guys.... i dunno wat id do without ye and this forum :-(
 
#18 ·
BTW; i just thought of something; my PH! its at 7.4.. is that high for betta? caus i read that anything from 6-8 is ok... true?
My Ph runs from 7.6 - 7.8 ,, sometimes I think it's even higher.

7.4 That's not to high for bettta's, alot of folks have that and higher,.

The thing with high Ph is it causes Ammonia poisioning to becomes more lethal at lower levels.
So maintaining a good cycle is always a good idea.
 
#19 ·
My Ph runs from 7.6 - 7.8 ,, sometimes I think it's even higher.
7.4 That's not to high for bettta's, alot of folks have that and higher
ok i can rule out that one.
what about hardness? i havent tested it yet but i really have to :|
 
#20 ·
what about hardness?
I have extremely hard water, and all my fish do great,

Just curious.. But Has your water ever been water tested for human consumption?
I just say that because both my neighbors on both side of me can't seem to keep fish alive.
They ended up sending off samples of their water for testing and was shocked at the results,
They both are installing 2000.00 systems to make it safe,
They listed off some of the things found (long list), I do recall the warfarin levels being way up there.

Mine for some reason is different then most. the only reason I can figure is, my well is dug, everyone else's that I have spoken too is drilled.....

So I do know water source can be a big problem..
 
#22 ·
its the tap water i use atm... treated, of course. it has mad amounts of chlorine in it, but i always take a taste before i let it near my fish and it tastes perfect. no smell. nothing. so i take it its fine... my mother has a €4,000 water treating system in her house but i could never drive so much water across the country... i used that water before and seemed to have less fin problems but then again i only had 1 VT and not 4 SDT...

went to my petshop and asked the pro (yes, there is one chap thats an expert) says my gravel is the problem regarding hardness. it disolves... he said to either change or go without... i might leave gravel out after next WC.

maehk is getting extreme red fins too now... but he's perfectly fat and happy and healthy looking :shock:
 
#21 ·
what about hardness?
I have extremely hard water, and all my fish do great,

Just curious.. But Has your water ever been water tested for human consumption?
I just say that because both my neighbors on both side of me can't seem to keep fish alive.
They ended up sending off samples of their water for testing and was shocked at the results,
They both are installing 2000.00 systems to make it safe,
They listed off some of the things found (long list), I do recall the warfarin levels being way up there.

Mine for some reason is different then most. the only reason I can figure is, my well is dug, everyone else's that I have spoken too is drilled.....

What started this was my son moved in next door and took his fish with him,
They slowly died off no matter what we did or tried.. So the remaining ones I brought back home, They perked right back up and are doing fine, The neighbours on the other side have tried keeping a few fish for yrs but they always end up dying on them...
So I do know water source can be a big problem..
 
#23 ·
I just really got started with bettas recently but have been keeping fish for 40 plus years...I know that when cory cats, for example, frantically swim up and down the walls of your tank they're telling you that something is wrong...usually the water quality!!! Do bettas "convey" a similar message when they bite their fins? Thought this question was appropriate considering you haven't had Ghost very long, and 'ol Draco's kinda doin' the same thing.....was the "tank" water used where they came from vastly different than what you're using? i.e. RO water, tap water, bottled water, etc.? All this provided it's not internal parasites, of course.
 
#24 ·
the sorority uses the same water and they are fine. the cory's are behaving totally normal happy chappy.

i have no idea what their water was like where they came from but seeing as they're from the UK i take it their water is similar to mine here and it wasnt a "private" breeder so i take it tap water was used...

when draco started biting his fins i used top class bottle water to keep him healthy but he didnt stop biting... so i dont think its the water...
ghost and maehk are showing the red ugly lines on their tail tips... but its just ghost that has lost all his fins and weight and color etc...

the tanks are 2.5g tanks, i do 100% WC sundays and 50% usually wednesdays or thursdays... with the 100% i wash out the whole tanks incl decor etc btw.

should i try putting them in bottled water with no gravel and see if they improve? caus if they do its either water or gravel and id change both lol....
 
#25 ·
Boy, you're doing all the right things it seems....had a LFS owner tell me one time when I was having trouble keeping my algae eaters (plecos, oto's, etc.) alive that the cobblestone river rock I used in my tank may contain harmful minerals or metals. When the algae eaters would feed on those particular stones they would ingest those harmful contaminants...and of course die. I suppose if your gravel/rock is obtained from a source other than an aquarium type of business, this possibility exsists. BTW, the algae eater problem I was having was NOT the cobblestones...the LFS where I bought them had incredibly bad livestock and they were all "unhealthy" to start. Good Luck, hope you get it solved.
 
#27 ·
I suppose if your gravel/rock is obtained from a source other than an aquarium type of business, this possibility exsists.
tis' aquarium gravel for tropical fish (NOT marine) that doesnt effect PH and other water values... expensive stuff :-(

If it is Parasites (which I suspect it probably is)
It can take 2 weeks before you really start to notice change in his body weight.

It also depends if you treated him with the correct parasite treatment for the Parasites he has.
i put in a dosage of the stuff i got for him... ill see what happens... its all i can get... ill do the garlic thing tomorrow too. he's eating brilliant but he looks like death... :cry: no colour, no fins, no energy etc... poor guy... god bless him should i wake up one morning and an angel came to take him away...
 
#26 ·
If it is Parasites (which I suspect it probably is)
It can take 2 weeks before you really start to notice change in his body weight.

It also depends if you treated him with the correct parasite treatment for the Parasites he has.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top