Dah fisheh losted his color :(

[wildmagic713]

My fish has lost his color.

He's normally a brilliant, vibrant red with little iridescent blue dots, but he's gone kind of brown, and has been that way since last Sunday, although sometimes he shows signs of improvement but then he goes back to the brown scales and fins.

His fins are very thin and he just doesn't look great.

He's perked up and he's pooped, no more bloated fishy, epsom salt is his best friend, it cured his popeye that he had a while back as well, but I have him in the QT for one more night just because I didn't have time to clean his tank out (It's got some Maracyn 2 in the water still) but I'm doing that tomorrow. I did a change on the QT as normal but didn't add anything but conditioner.

I'm assuming the best thing for him is a 100% change in his tank, and then change 25-50% of the water daily until he gets back to normal colorwise?

He's currently in a 1 gallon fishbowl that is sitting in his actual tank so I can heat the tank water to keep the QT warm.

His tank is 10 gallons, filtered, heated at 81 degrees (His preferred temperature). I change 50% of the water every Sunday, and treat it with AquaSafe.

What can I do to help him get his color back and make his fins strong again?

Thank you!

[wildmagic713]

Anyone?

PLEASE?

[Crazykat]

Are you changing the water in the 1 gal QT bowl 50% once a week? That's not enough. For my 1 gal QT bowl, I change 100% once a day or every other day, depending on whether I'm adding meds or not. The buildup of ammonia in a 1 gallon bowl is very likely what's causing your fish's color loss. I'd start doing far more frequent water changes and see if he perks up.

[wildmagic713]

No I change the bowl daily.

His tank is 50% once a week.

[Crazykat]

Darn, that would have been an easy solution! *puts on Sherlock Holmes hat* You said it started last Friday. Is anything different since that day you can think of? Have you put him back in his big tank yet? I'd be interested if you had to hear if he's coloring back up. For general ill-health, you might try putting some tannins in the water. So, either some dried oak leaves or Indian Almond leaves, or decaf green tea. Also some aquarium salt. I'm sorry I'm not being more helpful.

[alidawn15]

Can you be more specific about how to use the green tea?

[wildmagic713]

Yeah, green tea is most easily accessed for me as well. How much aquarium salt should I do for a 10 gallon aquarium? I assume same goes for it as any type of salt, don't treat with it for more than 10 days?

[coolcucumber]

Is the water warm enough? I know that makes my bettas stressed, and loose colour

[wildmagic713]

Yep- 79 degrees constantly. That's his preferred temperature. I have to keep it between 79 and 81 for him to be most active.

[Crazykat]

For the green tea, you let the tea bag seep in the water you'll be putting in for about an hour. Then you take out the bag, do the water change. The water should be an amber color. Make sure you get decaf. Sorry for the late reply. It's exam week.