Just wondered if you can give me some advise, I've had my betta for about 2 weeks now, he lives on his own in a 20litre tank with loads of hiding places & space, filtered tank & heated.
He seems ok and active, but very recently has started to sit on the filter near the surface a fair bit & his fins have shriveled slightly at the ends like 'rats tails', plus he's got a gold/copper patch under his neck near his flare / gills.
The tank should be fine, the temperature is 29C and he had a water change earlier which i do regularly.
He seems active majority of the time, but today i gave him some blood worms, he ate a good few then spat alot out? I'm a little confused now what to do?
I did read regarding the gold / copper patch it could be velvet something, I have some Protozin which it said would help if i did a course of that?
Any suggestions to my problems? i don't want him to be unhappy.
I think the temperature is a little too high, as i thought it had to be between 76-80F (24C-27C), and i thought 80-82F was for Betta recovery, but i'm probably wrong.
Sorry i can't really help you much as i'm new to Bettas myself, but some of the other members should be able to help.
Do you have water test results? What are your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph levels in his tank?
If possible, post some pictures of the area and fins. Is this something you noticed before and it's getting more pronounced or is it a brand new patch. Also, is it fuzzy or are the scales raised?
It does sound like he might have some fin rot going on too but it's hard to tell without pics.
There is a good disease section on this site to check out in the meantime that might help you narrow down what's going on with your buddy.
Just wondered if you can give me some advise, I've had my betta for about 2 weeks now, he lives on his own in a 20litre tank with loads of hiding places & space, filtered tank & heated.
He seems ok and active, but very recently has started to sit on the filter near the surface a fair bit
You sure the filter current isn't too strong? sometimes bettas will escape the current by sitting on the filter. Their large fins catch currents like kites, blowing them around the tank if the filter is too strong.
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& his fins have shriveled slightly at the ends like 'rats tails',
Could be either fin rot, tail biting (from the stress of the current) or fin curling from hard water or high ammonia levels.
How often do you clean the tank and how much water do you change?
Is there a light on and how often do you leave it on for?
Is he a crowntail?
If not, are their chunks pulled out of the ends of his tail between the fin rays?
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plus he's got a gold/copper patch under his neck near his flare / gills.
This is normal colouration. My guy has it too.
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The tank should be fine, the temperature is 29C and he had a water change earlier which i do regularly.
Too hot.
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He seems active majority of the time, but today i gave him some blood worms, he ate a good few then spat alot out? I'm a little confused now what to do?
The bettas you get from the story are relatively small and young. Sometimes foods are too big for them to fit in their mouth, so they spit it out and re-eat it a couple of times to break it up.
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I did read regarding the gold / copper patch it could be velvet something, I have some Protozin which it said would help if i did a course of that?
Nah it will just stress him.
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Any suggestions to my problems? i don't want him to be unhappy.
thanks for your time.
Take it easy on yourself--- you're doing far better than most first-time owners! You're just letting the wooried parent thing get to you lol.
I don't believe my filter is that strong, its one of those fluve (forgive my spelling) filters, & it projects water upwards & my betta cannot fit between it & the surface, so he's safe from getting too blown about.
Regarding his fins, its just the tips that look odd, there's no fungus or anything, but I must admit I haven't tested the water, I've just been adding some 'AquaSafe' to the new water I put in.
My water here is quite hard so I imagine this has something to do with it.
Im going to the aquarium first thing in the morning, do u have any suggestions for what to buy to make the water more safe?
I'm also going to bring the temperature down to about 26, 1 degree per day so not to do no harm.
Is it normal for them to change colour so quick, he was lovely & blue last week, now he seems to be looking old, but he's swimming round like his ass is on fire so he must be ok.
Don't get me wrong, Fluvals are likely the best filter on the market for tanks 10 gallons-50 gallons but they are really strong for a betta... what model is it? Plus series or U Series? I am assuming it's a Plus if it's pointed upwards?
He is probably swimming so hard because the current is strong. Paleness could be stress. If you want to be sure this is what's causing all the commontion, remove the filter for a few days and see how he reacts.
As far as water additives, the basic rule is the less you monkey around with water parameters the better! Don't mess around with all the things they market like ammonia removers and algae removers. Keep it simple... in a healthy tank, all you need is a good water conditioner that will remove chlorine, chloramines and heavy metals. API Stresscoat, Seachem Prime and Amquel are all good ones.
If you want to soften your water, filter it through a brita filter before pouring it in the tank.
Also, how often are you cleaning the tank? Is it cycled or uncycled?
Sorry it took so long to get a photo, but this is him this evening.
Just wonder whether his fins look ok, they are not as frilly as in the past, the man at the aquarium told me it could be just the way he's grown......?
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