Betta Fins Turning Brown, Has Small Holes, Stomach Bloating
Hello all,
This is my first betta, my boyfriend is in the Navy and we decided that a fish would be something that would be easy for me to take care of while he is away. We decided to name him Iiro. We have had Iiro for less than a week.
Iiro is a Double Fin Male, when we bought him, he had bright blue and green back fins that faded into purple and black as you get closer to his face. The fins under his gills were a bright red.
He has seizures. Not joking, its pitiful, when it happens, ends up on his side on the bottom of his tank, and his fins flip and flap wildly for about 5-10 seconds, then he stops and makes a mad dash to the top for air. He does this at least once a day.
His water was very cloudy so my boyfriend replaced about 80% of the water and added a Tetra BetaSafe Water Conditioning tablet. The water was pretty clear for about a day, then it was cloudy again. I noticed his fins were turning brown and he has some bloating a little bit in front of where his body becomes his fins. He has some small little pin holes in his fins.
I did some looking around on this site and found a few answers that aplly a little, so I put him in a bowl for a second, dumped all his water, and but 82 deg. water in his tank I didn't put any rocks or his plant back in there. I put him in the tank again with the BettaSafe tab...
Hey I'm on my phone so I can't post them, but there are a series of questions you should answer so we can better help you out, they're in a sticky thread in this forum(diseases and emergencies)
Housing
What size is your tank? I don't really know honestly, the box the tank is in doesn't say
What temperature is your tank? Usually about 76%
Does your tank have a filter? No.
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No? There's a small hole in the lid if that counts for anything.
Is your tank heated? No
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? Usually a small layer of rocks and a fake bush he likes to sleep under.
Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Tetra Betta Flakes with Color Enhancer
How often do you feed your betta fish? 1 small pinch two times a day
Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? 1-2 times a week.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 80%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Tetra BettaSafe Water Conditioning Tablets
Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? No, we just got him less than a week ago.
If so, what are the following parameters?
Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Pinholes in fins, darkening or fin color, some brownness.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Wont eat, not really active. Has seizures.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? A few days ago
Have you started treating your fish? Yes If so, how? I took all the rocks and plants out of his cage, did a 100% swap of his water and put a Tetra BettaSafe Conditioner tab in it with him.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? I don't really know, we got him from Petco
How old is your fish (approximately)? We got him about a week ago, and hes about 2 inches long with tail, but I don't really know.
A few more questions:
1.Is he pooping?
2.Can you post a picture?
3.Is there any other discoloration/odd spots on him?
But anyways, from what I see, here is what I think:
-Fin rot! This comes from either unclean water or stress (which can be brought on by several things) The pinholes in his fins are most likely from this, what I've done in the past is keep the water extremely clean (water changes every day or so, depending on your tank size) and treat with AQ salt for about 10 days or so~
-Water. Im not sure your water parameters since you havent tested them yet(you can usually take it to your LFS and have them test it for you) this COULD be the root of most of your problems, I've always had more luck with the drops in comparison to the tablets. His 'seizures' could actually be bouts of pain caused by wonky water problems (does he have any ammonia burns??)
-Stress. If all your water turns out to be ok, he could be going through stress. Buying a heater for him would help stabilize the temp in his bowl and could help reduce stress as well as keep him healthy in the future
-Bloating. There are a couple things I've seen to cause bloating, none of the fish I've had have ever had it. But, from my understanding, bloating usually come from one or more of the following: Overfeeding, constipation, dropsy, tumors
What I recommend:
Go to your LFS and pick up some AQ salt or order some IAL online, either have your water tested or buy a testing kit, get de-stress/water conditioner drops and buy a heater(I promise, it does them wonders, make sure you have a thermometer to monitor temp as well)
Do a 100% water changes with either the AQ salt or IAL added
Dont feed him for a day, watch for reduction in bloating
Let everyone know if that helps, and most likely we all can try and help you further~
@Afayed - Do not use Aquarium salt on a fish that is bloated. Aquarium salt is for external issues only, and it can worsen internal problems. Epsom salt (100% pure magnesium sulfate) is used for internal problems, such as bloating.
@alexslater17 - I once had a Betta who had seizures. It was very upsetting to watch..... Do you have any pictures of him that you could post here? I think it might be helpful for people to see his condition.
@LittleBlueFishlets I was talking about using the AQ salt for the fin rot and as an anti bacterial, not for bloating.
I am a complete DIY'er when it comes to fish so most things I learn from personal experiences, does AQ salt worsen bloating or something?(So I know for the future)
The bloating may be due to the flakey food. I havent had any experience with it that particular brand, but after already dealing with a friend`s fish who had a crashed swim bladder after months of swim bladder disease because she fed the fish betta flakes....-ahem- A liveéfrozen food (like bloodworms or daphnia) would be better, or Omega One betta pellets or New Life Spectrum (they have more nutrients, less filler).
Anyways...what you choose to do based on advice here is purely your choice. personally I would go a day without feeding him and see if he poops. Make sure his water is super clean - finrot can be healed simply with nutrition and warm, clean water - before you jump to meds. And you want to figure out the bloating first.
My other suggestion would be to switch water conditioners to Prime, as I find it works the best. Again, tho, simply my opinion.
Also, tank size is an important thing to know in order to maintain a good number of water changes. Also if it`s easily heatable or not - 76 is a bit cold, and all of mine have definitely perked up now that I got them adjustable heaters that keep them at 80-81F.
Anyways, back to bloating. If your fish poops, great - it should be the color of his food and curled. If the bloating goes down after the poop, then treat the finrot with AQ salt and clean, warm water.
If the bloating does not go away, or he doesn`t poop, treat with epsom (no additives like perfume or color, clean, white epsom salt). Again, with warm, clean water.
I hope he comes through - most things can be treated with clean water and warmth. But it`s always good to have basic meds on hand.
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Betta Fins Turning Brown, Has Small Holes, Stomach Bloating
