Hi I am sorry your baby is not feeling well! Can you please fill this out so everyone can give the best advice possible? Thank you and I hope we can figure out what is happening with your baby!

Many illnesses can be traced to water conditions. Your water-changing schedule is the most important element in diagnosing. Please be honest.

Housing:
How many gallons is your tank?
Does it have a filter?
Does it have a heater?
What temperature is your tank?
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?
Does your Betta have tank mates? What kind?

Food:
What food brand do you use?
Do you feed flakes or pellets?
Freeze-dried?
How often do you feed your Betta? How much?

Maintenance:
Before your Betta became ill how often did you perform a water change?
What percentage of water did you change?
What is the source of your water?
Do you vacuum the substrate or just dip out water?
What additives do you use other than conditioner? What brand of conditioner?

Water Parameters:
What are your water parameters? Please give exact numbers. If tested by pet store please get exact numbers. "Fine" or "Safe" won't help us help you. Important: Test your water before the regular water change; not after one.

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness (GH):
Alkalinity (KH):

Symptoms and Treatment:
When did you first notice the symptoms?
How has your Betta’s appearance changed?
How has your Betta’s behavior changed?
Is your Betta still eating?
Have you started treating your Betta? If so, how?
Does your Betta have any history of being ill?
How long have you owned your Betta?
Was he or she ill or suffering some sort of damage when purchased?

PLEASE PROVIDE CLEAR PHOTOS

NOTE: EMBED YOUR PHOTOS. PLEASE DO NOT LINK. Click on the paper clip in the toolbar.

 

Gotcha!
Housing:
How many gallons is your tank? 5 gallons
Does it have a filter? Yes
Does it have a heater? Yes
What temperature is your tank? 78 degrees
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Does your Betta have tank mates? What kind? 5 olive netrite snails

Food:
What food brand do you use? San Francisco Bay Brand and Tetra BettaMin (though I’ve been trying to use less of those recently due to thinking they may have caused an issue with another betta of mine)
Do you feed flakes or pellets? Pellets
Freeze-dried? No
How often do you feed your Betta? How much? At least once a day. When I do pellets just a small pinch (as much as she can eat in around 3 mins or so) and when i do bloodworms I try to feed maybe around 10ish

Maintenance:
Before your Betta became ill how often did you perform a water change? Every week or 2 weeks
What percentage of water did you change? 30%
What is the source of your water? My tap, I condition the water with API stress coat (if this isnt right please tell me I want to be able to get this right for them )
Do you vacuum the substrate or just dip out water? Vacuum
What additives do you use other than conditioner? What brand of conditioner? API is the only brand I’ve used, I think I’ve only ever used stresscoat and quick start in her tank. Theres also root tabs in there for the plants if that could affect anything.

Water Parameters:
What are your water parameters? Please give exact numbers. If tested by pet store please get exact numbers. "Fine" or "Safe" won't help us help you. Important: Test your water before the regular water change; not after one.

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm
pH: 6.6 (went down from 7.6, which is the last time I tested it around a week or so ago)
Hardness (GH): dont know how to test for this
Alkalinity (KH): dont know how to test for this

Symptoms and Treatment:
When did you first notice the symptoms? I started noticing the color looking odd last week, though symptoms like glass surfing have been here basically since I brought her home. I’m starting to believe it was because of the light but I’m not certain.
How has your Betta’s appearance changed? Her body’s colors have grown dull, the most noticeable being her formerly bright red spots turning lighter in color and the red on her head becoming brown. She almost looks like shes been injured (she hasn’t, her appearance almost looks sickly now tho) The color on her sides has changed as well, black in between her scales growing more prominent.
How has your Betta’s behavior changed? It hasn’t actually changed too much. She still glass surfs, though I’ve noticed as I’ve been leaving the lights off lately that she doesn’t do it as much when its dark.
Is your Betta still eating? Yes, I recently got her to try bloodworms (after this started) and she loved them!
Have you started treating your Betta? If so, how? I haven’t, I don’t know whats wrong so I don’t want to treat her for something she doesn’t even have.
Does your Betta have any history of being ill? Not that I know of, she could have been before I purchased her, but she seemed relatively healthy in the first month of her being here (other then glass surfing ofc)
How long have you owned your Betta? Around 1 1/2 to 2 months
Was he or she ill or suffering some sort of damage when purchased? I don’t believe so

(also i think i responded to this blank before, my bad, I’ve never used this website before so I didn’t know how responding worked lmao)

 

Do you have a thermometer or just a preset heater I noticed my bettas will drop in color when cooler I had a heater go out and actually had no thermometer at the time his color is what made me check but if that’s not it I am very interested to understand the situation best of luck

 

Could I also mention it appears your betta has a color I have heard as cellophane (the translucent pink pearl color) my female of this color seems to fluctuate in hue I read it’s because their blood is what gives them that color , the betta Bible was the book I read that in in the colors section

 

I’ll look into that, I’ve never hard of that before

 

You can low light with blue or white tape, need to put a couple layers till desired effect. Bettas don't like bright lights, it stress them. Check your filter, if water current is not too strong. Check her food and testing kit for expiration.
Try to put her in small container with bottled water to see if it will have a positive effect, just make sure water won't get too cold. Do you have almond leave? It helps with mild conditions.
If you notices she is having a hard time coming to the surface to breathe, put her in a shallow container.
Watch her carefully for any new symptoms.

 

We started putting tape on her light for the time being, luckily she is eating and coming to the surface to breathe as she should. I don’t think I have that, I can definitely look into it though. Thank you!

 

You can start learn about common Betta fish diseases here

15 Common Betta Fish Diseases (With Pictures): Prevention and Treatment

Betta fish (AKA Siamese fighting fish) suffer from a wide range of infections and illnesses. Learn how to prevent, diagnose, and treat common betta fish illnesses and diseases. See also the best medication and cure for sick betta.

pethelpful.com

If Betta stressed for some time, it can develop
Fin and tail rot or Ich. Watch for these symptoms.

 

Can you post a picture of your whole tank? It doesn't matter if the betta is in it or not. And can you also post a picture from directly above her?

 

I’ll grab one when I get back home, just left the house :,)

 

Maybe someone with a bit more experience can comment, but I'm wondering if your decor has anything to do with her colors washing out. I've heard that fish colors can look faded against light substrate, since they are trying to blend in more, whereas they are more vibrant against dark backgrounds/substrates. It seems like you have a lot of light colors in there: white sand, light rock, light green plants. Since you are saying that her colors wash out when the lights are on that is my best guess for what is going on. I would maybe try getting some darker decorations in the tank and maybe some floating plants to block some of the light.

 

How's your fish doing?
Do you have Betta Revive? You can use it preventatively, it will make her feel better.

 

I’m going to my local aquarium store tomorrow, im gonna grab more while i am there

 

Agree with KatieMR. Everything I've read indicates fish colors pop with dark substrate/background and fade with light/white. Many photographers aver they use black for this reason. White substrate also reflects light and makes the tank too bright for a Betta....unless you have floating plants or stem plants covering part of the surface.

I don't believe there's anything really wrong with her as she's eating and active. While her tank is quite lovely, it may be too open and too bright. There's a belief among those who've had Betta for a long time that if you can see your Betta at a glance it doesn't have enough plants or cover. This doesn't mean "hides."

Try floating some darker stem plants. Narrow Leaf Anacharis is a good one if you can find it. Also, Hornwort. Dark Anubias would make a nice addition and contrast. You can let them float to provide shade.

 

I’ll look into that! I was already thinking floating plants could help, since the lights can’t be turned down. Thought I am still confused as the drastic change in color, especially on her face, and why it looks so much more dull and almost dead now in comparison to before. Shes still eating luckily but i worry there may be another issue i can’t figure out

 

Let us know how she does with the new plants. Or if you start to notice any changes in her behavior. It sounds like you take great care of her! I didn't see anything in the form or the pictures that would indicate something else is going on, so my best guess is still the lightness of the decor and/or, as RTST said, the stress of too much light with not enough plants or cover.

 

I’m gonna order some floating plants online tonight, didn’t have any at the store sadly. Also gonna try to grab some other plants to help fill the space. Eventually if I can I may redo her substrate to a black substrate. Thank you for all the advice so far )

 

I noticed that you're feeding Tetra betta pellets. Betta that are red need a diet with carotenoids to maintain the color. Tetra betta pellets do not contain carotenoids. Even blue betta need carotenoids for a healthy immune system. I don't recommend Tetra pellets for this reason. Note that fish that are going blind also start losing their color. Her eyes look a little cloudy to me. Is it possible that she "glass surfs" because she can't see the glass?

 

Which Betta food you recommend for carotenoids?
Thank you!

 

If I'm reading it correctly, Pro Betta depends mainly on plant material for its protein.**

Pro Betta Formula: Wheat, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Fish Meal, Krill Meal, Pea Protein.

I would think Pro Carnivore more suited to Betta: Fish Meal, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Wheat, Shrimp Meal, Krill Meal

Interestingly, their Pro Betta list Black Soldier Fly larvae around 13th. I would think they'd be higher in the list as Betta are Insectivores.

From Aqueon:

**"It's important to know what our aquarium fish eat in nature, so we can feed them foods made from closely matched ingredients. Their digestive systems have evolved over thousands of years to process the foods they typically encounter in the wild. Herbivores have long intestines and complex digestive systems to break down plant material, while carnivores have shorter, simpler digestive tracts to process protein-based foods. While almost all fish will eagerly gobble down brine shrimp, herbivorous fish don't get much nutritional value out of it compared to carnivores because their digestive systems aren't designed to process and absorb meat protein. This means that over time herbivores that are fed a primarily meat-based diet may be smaller, less colorful and become more susceptible to diseases. The same thing occurs in carnivorous fish that are fed a predominantly plant-based diet."

 

If I'm reading it correctly, Pro Betta depends mainly on plant material for its protein.**

Which is what makes it better. Plant-based proteins to avoid would be barley, canola, corn, cottonseed, and peas/lupins. I'm pretty sure that Aqueon is saying not to feed the betta pellets to your plecos and don't feed the plant flakes to your betta.

"Using plant-based proteins in aquaculture feeds requires that the ingredients possess certain nutritional characteristics, such as low levels of fiber, starch (especially nonsoluble carbohydrates), and antinutrients. They must also contain a relatively high protein content, favorable amino acid profile, high nutrient digestibility, and reasonable palatability. The range of plant feedstuffs in aquafeeds currently includes barley, canola, corn, cottonseed, peas/lupins, soybeans, and wheat. Although some plant-derived ingredients, such as soy protein concentrate and wheat gluten, possess most of the desirable characteristics, historically their high price relative to fishmeal has precluded extensive use in most aquafeeds."

Naylor RL, Hardy RW, Bureau DP, Chiu A, Elliott M, Farrell AP, Forster I, Gatlin DM, Goldburg RJ, Hua K, Nichols PD. Feeding aquaculture in an era of finite resources. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Sep 8;106(36):15103-10. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0905235106. Epub 2009 Sep 8. Erratum in: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Oct 20;106(42):18040. PMID: 19805247; PMCID: PMC2741212.

The above paper also cites 70 other papers, some of which describe the benefits of wheat and soy over fish meal.

 

I had one that started out like this "candy" coloured pink and he ended up a deep blue/black. My thoughts are maybe she's just changing colour?

If you want to check her for velvet, turn off the tank lights and shine a flashlight on her. It will look like gold dusting over her scales.

 

I had one that started out like this "candy" coloured pink and he ended up a deep blue/black. My thoughts are maybe she's just changing colour?

If you want to check her for velvet, turn off the tank lights and shine a flashlight on her. It will look like gold dusting over her scales.

I’m probably gonna do that since I did see something the other day that looked like what my other betta (who I am currently treating for velvet) has, so I just wanna be safe and make sure its nothing to worry about. Hopefully this is just her naturally changing colors but its always good to be sure!

 

Update on mars! She is very happy with her new sand, her colors are so much brighter and healthy looking now, I ordered duckweed which is arriving today for her as well. And hopefully we will have time to get out to the aquarium store to get her a nice carpet and some other things to help fill the space. The tank unfortunately got a small crack during the removal of sand but we were able to fix it nicely and its been working just fine! Still a bit unsure if she has velvet but i dont think so, luckily. I’ll keep you updated!

 

Thanks for the update, @Ghostic_! I'm glad to hear she is brightening up! We'd love to see pictures of the new set up!

 

I added some dwarf hairgrass, more dwarf subulata, and some duckweed at the top. Gonna trim the hairgrass down a bit and try to spread it out a bit more if I can but so far she seems like shes loving it! Any advice for caring for dwarf hairgrass would be appreciated as well

 

It spreads quickly so plant each individual section a quarter inch apart. Don't leave in the clumps. Others may have differing ideas. I suggest it would be best to start a new thread in the Planted section.

She looks much better. Amazing what a substrate change and a few other tweaks will do to make them more comfortable. You're doing a great job with your girl.

 

Thank you so much! She definitely seems a lot more comfortable then before, definitely less glass surfing which is always a good sign!

 

Oh wow! She looks so much more vibrant! And I love the new tank look. It looked nice before but this is really striking! I love the different textures that the leaves make, and with that big rock sticking out in the middle! Very nice indeed! I would love to see how those plants grow out!

 

Thank you!! I’m very happy, watching her colors come back was so rewarding and felt like such a big relief. She’s definitely happier and more comfortable in this new setup so all the effort of redoing it was definitely worth it haha. Thinking of doing the same for my halfmoon, Comet now to give him a more natural, fitting environment since I still have some sand left!

 

Update, Mars has begun to turn black now? Her hair algae problem has also somehow returned a couple days ago, but I’m mostly concerned about her coloration. Shes become very timid and gets spooked extremely easily and hides a lot.