Hello, this is my first post but I hope to be an active member because I have recently become obsessed with bettas~
In the past month I have read and researched so much on betta care and own two, a male and a "female" (which turns out could be a plakat betta!). At first they where living in 1/2 gal cubes and I realized that this is mean! So my boy now has his own tank with a filter and he seems healthy and active and I put my "gal" in my 16 gal community tank. BUT "she" would not stop flaring at her reflection and banging her nose on the glass trying to attack. I let his go on for an hour and a half and decided to put her back in her cube. After the betta calmed down I checked for an egg spot and I think she has one but I can't be certain because she looks exactly like this one plakat betta when I search google ><
ANYWAYS, my main point is that when checking I saw that the betta's gills looked like they were "bleeding" with red streaks one the outside and behind the gills. Can this be from flaring for an hour and a half, stressed out betta bat crazy? Because I read that it could also be ammonia poisoning but I do once a week 1/2 water changes in her cube but the tank did have 0.5 ammonia in it because it only 3 weeks old.
I LOVE my bettas and I just want to know if the redness will go away or if its just her colouring and if there is any medication or salt that could help.
She begs for pellets and bloodworms every time I walk into the room and eats like a PIG still, but last time I checked she was breathing a little fast (could be from the moves though).
This is what my "she-man" looks like:
Except my betta has horizontal stripes and I thought that was a girl thing!