[tysonthetiger]

Hello All,

What size is your tank? 2.5 gal
What temperature is your tank? 78-81
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? a fake plant, a real plant, a floating log, a hidden rock, and a white mystery snail named Felipe

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? He's now on tetra flakes since everything else really bloated the crap out of him. See previous thread for details (link below)

How often do you feed your betta fish? Right now it's once every other day, very limited amount of flakes (like 1 or 2). Since my previous issue with SBD and realizing how very very sensitive he is, this is how it's going to be since he seems to not have any issues with them.

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Once every 4 days..I haven't had him very long but this filter keeps the water very clean and pristine and the snail is working its magic.

What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? So far 100%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? I add water conditioner, stress coat, and ammonia remover.

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia:Between 0 and 0.5
Nitrite: 0.1
Nitrate: 0
pH: about 7.0 (yay for cuttlebone)
Hardness: 150 (hard)
Alkalinity: 0

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? So with my betta, he has a dark body with orange fins that fade into a dark color with faint blue streaks. He looked as unique as you can get in a pet store so when it comes to his condition, some may say that his fins are really black at the ends. It's not, it's just the way he is :lol: But now that I'm seeing him with a flash, they look more darker then the original blue. I've always been able to see through his caudal and dorsal fins so I'm assuming he's just a neat looking betta. His ventral fins have always been thin and strangly looking.

Here is some pictures of him as he is now with and without flash (sorry it sucks)

He gets so stressed with the light but here's one more

and this was his tail before...you can really see the blue here

When did you start noticing the symptoms? About an hour ago.

Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? I just added some stress coat about 30 min ago.

Does your fish have any history of being ill? Yes here's the previous thread http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=361625

How old is your fish (approximately)? No clue.

I have aquarium salt, epsom salt, and any type of medicine available to make sure this cool kid stays alive. Also, I will be doing a 100% water change tomorrow.
Any advice is great!

 

[beautiful Betta]

I am sorry to hear you are still having issues with him. I would look at doing a water change sooner rather than later with your Ammonia and Nitrite reading. Although that is good that you have the nitrite this means your tank is cycling so really don't want to go adding chemicals and killing that cycle. doing a partial water change wont harm it though just help the fish out a bit. The elevated Ammonia and Nitrites can actually have a effect on his appearance. So hopefully when you are cycled his colour will return to more normal.

 

[NeptunesMom]

A 2.5 g is too small for a Betta and mystery snail. Mystery snails are extremely dirty, and he/she will cause you water quality problems. I would recommend upping to at least a 5g or rehoming your snail. Otherwise, you're going to be in a battle with water quality.

What is it that you think the snail is supposed to do? Just curious, because you said it was working its magic. Mystery snails don't really do anything, except look cool. For algae you'd need a nerite snail.

 

[tysonthetiger]

I personally think that the snail is fine where he is, the tests are okay besides the ammonia and nitrite levels (which I'm about to change) plus I've been told by many and seen many bonds between betta and mystery snail with no water quality issues. I was told that a mystery snail could help with ich so I gave it a shot anyways because what is a snail going to do to a fish?
The 2.5g tank is going to have to do for now since I just bought it and it's rather large and traingular and nobody has told me to change it apart from one.

BeautifulBetta, I know you've helped me before so I thank you again for helping, your advice has helped me the first time so I'm hoping it'll help this time! I do have ammonia remover that I put in there...should I just add maybe 0.5ml more? And with the nitrites...I have a nitrate remover bottle but I've never used it. Any tips on how to tone it down/use the nitrite remover?

 

[beautiful Betta]

If the de-chlorinator you have is Prime you can actually use that at 5 times the normal dose safely. I don't know if it is a different brand.

 

[NeptunesMom]

I personally think that the snail is fine where he is, the tests are okay besides the ammonia and nitrite levels (which I'm about to change) plus I've been told by many and seen many bonds between betta and mystery snail with no water quality issues. I was told that a mystery snail could help with ich so I gave it a shot anyways because what is a snail going to do to a fish?
The 2.5g tank is going to have to do for now since I just bought it and it's rather large and traingular and nobody has told me to change it apart from one.

I have bred mystery snails, and I work at a LFS. If you told me you were putting a Betta and mystery snail in a 2.5 g I would've refused to sell the snail to you. You will have water quality problems eventually, but you can choose to ignore my warning now.

Mystery snails will not prevent Ich. Whoever told you that doesn't know anything about Ich or snails.

A 2.5 g tank is fine. I have many fish in 2.5 g, the problem is your bioload. For one Betta it's fine, but mystery snails are EXTREMELY dirty.