Little worried

[jake1515]

So this is my girlfriend's betta fish. Heffy. I live 35 mins away from her at the moment, but she told me about Heffy's situation so I would see what you guys think. He lives in a very simplistic tank with a piece of driftwood, no filter or heater. Please look at the information below. My hypothesis is that his spot on his head was caused from him swimming under the piece of driftwood that is in the vase. The scales coming off though is concerning me. A picture will be posted below, but it does not reveal much, besides the mark on his forehead. My gf says that when Heffy swims the holes in his tail are much more apparent.


Housing
What size is your tank? 1.5-2 gal vase (big wide vase)
What temperature is your tank? room temp
Does your tank have a filter? no
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? no
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Aqueon pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? 3 pellets daily

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Half once a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? half
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? none

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? no
If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Little holes in his tail. One bigger hole and one smaller hole. Spots on body where it looks like he lost scales.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? No.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Tail two days ago. Other spots on his body today.
Have you started treating your fish?
Does your fish have any history of being ill? A little bit of his tail broke off, but it regenerated.
How old is your fish (approximately)? 2 years

[jake1515]

[IMG][/IMG]

[LeoTheLakerBetta]

Well, first off depending on the room temp, you would probably want a heater. Also you or your girlfriend should be doing a 50% water change twice a week. Otherwise you have a higher chance of fin rot or other bacterial diseases occuring. I can't really see any holes in his tail from the picture. I also noticed you don't use any additives when you add new water. Are you using tap water? If you are you should defintely acquire some water conditioner so that the chlorine and other harmful stuff like metals do not hurt the betta. You can get a heater and some water conditioner for decent prices at Petsmart. Avoid the small Aqueon Mini Heater; that ended up overheating. I have the Marina c10 which is cheap and works great. Others have different preferences that is just mine.

That's all I can really help you with, and hopefully by making these amends your betta will end up being normal.

[jake1515]

Thank you Leo. Wish I could get more of a perspective from the rest of the forum as well.

[sainthogan]

Bettas are tropical fish and thrive in warm temperatures. 76 - 82 is ideal for a Betta. I agree with the Leo that you need to do more frequent water changes. Here is a helpful link on this forum about that written by one of the moderators here: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=115758

I can't see any holes or tearing in the picture, but it does look like he's unwell. His tail and dorsal fin seem droopy and a little clamped. It could be any number of things causing the holes, from fin rot, tail/fin biting, tearing his fins on something sharp in his tank, some sort of fungus or bacteria, etc. He could also have something else like velvet that's causing him to try and itch himself on anything and everything that's causing holes. You can tell if it's velvet by taking a flashlight and looking for gold or rust colored "dust" or covering anywhere on his body, especially around his gills. The parasite that causes Velvet thrives in colder water temperatures, such as room temperature.
Is he still very active and sociable? Is he still eating normally? A healthy Betta has a voracious appetite and is usually very active and sociable.

[paloverde]

Hi, all of the above posters have given you some very excellent advice I will add that if the betta is truly 2 yrs old he is in the twilight of his life. They do start to look old, and coarser. Hope you can get every thing worked out.

[jake1515]

Thank you all! I knew bits and pieces of the above information, but I will certainly pass on the above, especially the mysterious velvet etc. I also gave my gf a few Indian Almond Leaves and about 20 squirts from my Stress Coat bottle. I will certainly link her to this so she can see it too.

[jake1515]

Thank you all! Heffy does indeed have Velvet, it seems. I am going to bring my 1 gal heated tank (I also have a 5gal where my betta is) to her so Heffy can have a better tank temperature. Appreciate the intelligent comments =)