New fish (whats his colour?)

[Ezzie]

I was looking at ornaments for the other boys tanks, and saw this little guy stuck in a tank full of guppies cowering under a plant leaf. With him being so unique looking i couldnt leave him there
I did an ammonia test when i got home of his water and i was AMAZED it was .0ppm!!!!

His name is Sherlock.

Does anyone have any idea what colour / tail type he is? His tails a little weird and he is skinny as well as missing some scales (maybe from rough handling?) on his side but looking at him his colour looks like dragon scaling to me.. No?

He is resting on the bottom of the tank as we speak, he also already very happily ate some blood worms! His tank was treated with 2tps AQsalt and stres coat

[veggiegirl]

Hey there,

Yes very unique colour, I agree I think he a dragon and a turquise butterfly? A bit difficult to tell as he has quite a bit of fin damage, he does look like he has straight caudal edges so maybe a halfmoon or delta tail but again his fins seem a bit clamped and the damage makes it difficult to tell for sure, such a beautiful boy though, he was a lucky find

[Ezzie]

Do you see any fin rot on his fins or just physical damage? Im not too sure since some parts look see through and some are black (from his colour or rot in not sure) I tried to get some pictures but the guy is very feisty!

He also seems to be breathing quite heavily (almost like hes panting) could he just be stressed and adjusting (i was taking more photos, could that have sresssed him?)

[aemaki09]

He doesnt look to have fin rot, but you'll definitely want to be very tedious about keeping his water warm and clean to promote healing them faster.

He's a very pretty boy, I'm thinking he's probably a delta tail but you'll have to wait till he's healed more to tell for sure.
He's definitely some kind of butterfly. Not sure what exactly his base colors are though

[Ezzie]

Could this type of damage just occure from shipping / moving or could another fish have had a go at him?

His water is nice and stable and i will keep up the salt treatments with the stress coat to help heal his fins. Its lucky he doesnt have rot (fingers crossed) I am also getting some prime tomorrow as i have noticed my tap water does have ammonia so i want to get that out ASAP. Il keep updates! :D

[majesticstorm]

Wow, he's really pretty, and what a unique looking fella too! :D

Please keep us updated, can't wait too see him all recovered and glorious :)

[Ezzie]

Not much change in appearence today, but he seems to be a whole hell of alot more active and took his food like a champ!

Tomorrow will be the first water change i will do with him and redose 100% AQ salts, Im also buying some prime today to help with the ammonia in the tap water issue we have here

[Ezzie]

I bumped his water change to today and now his water is being conditioned with a little stress coat (< 1ml) , PRIME (1/3 teaspoon) and AQ salts (3 teaspoons).

I also have a thermometer in his tank to keep an eye on the temps which i have raised to close to 28 degreese Celsius (82 Fahrenheit) to better premote healing.

Should i be doing the usual regular water change schedule of 100 and 50% weekly or do a 50% every other day or 100% every two days to keep his water clean?

Also, could a mod move this if possible to betta fish care, considering i will be updating regularly =)

[Laki]

Wow, he is so pretty! Never seen that butterfly color before!
82F is a bit warm, I would lower it to 80F. Just to be on the safe side, don't want to over drive his metabolism.
If you're doing a 10 day regimen of aq salt, change the water every day. You could get away with a change every two days just because he has no rot. In fact, you don't even have to use salts. Just clean water should do the trick.

I am an advocate for preventative care. By ordering Indian Almond Leaves off ebay (aka cattapa leaves) you can tan his water thereby giving him a bit of an immunity boost and mimic his natural water preferences.

[Ezzie]

It looks like he has missing scales on the sides of his body on either side, would these scales grow back normally or will they be missing forever (if they even are missing it could be part of the dragonscale no?)

I keel with an every second day water change, i dont want to over stress him too much and then he ends up ill or something else happening. Ill also lower the temp, thanks! =D Im really looking forwards to what he looks like when his fins grow out (thats if they every 100% fully heal..)