[bluerox4]

A bit of background: I have a royal blue male betta named Sunny. My dad bought him on a whim someday (about 2 months ago), and had him kept in a tiny bowl. After a few weeks after being kept in there, my parents bought him a slightly bigger (double in size) bowl, but isn't even a half gallon. I didn't know anything about bettas, or fish in general for the matter, and trusted my parents with what they were doing. They fed him 2 pellets a day, and changed his water every other day.

About 3 weeks ago, we started noticing Sunny's color slowly change. From a deep dark blue, he is now more turquoise, and shinier than ever. He looked so vibrant, glistening in the sun. It all *seemed* good until I realized his tail/fin was not as fanned as it used to be.

And then, yesterday, discovered the meaning of velvet. I checked Sunny under a flashlight, and he looked GOLDEN. He was green and yellow under the light - NOTHING like his royal blue self. So now I'm trying to help Sunny, in a way my parents never did.

Today, I bought a 6.5 gallon tank for Sunny, with a filter, and thermometer (no heater, since I live in the tropics. The thermometer has been stable at 80F). Also bought SeaChem PRIME to condition the water in the new tank, and also some "Fungus-Away" treatment by some brand NIKA (the store owner told me to use this as they said the CopperSafe was too strong and might harm the fish.

I only started learning about cycling a tank, and conditioning, and all these things YESTERDAY, and today I have the tank ready for Sunny, so I thought, with little to no time to cycle the tank, I'd have to move Sunny to the uncycled 6gal - AT LEAST (I believed) it'd be better than the half gallon bowl he'd been living in this whole time.

And JUST when I thought things would improve, I start to realize the tank's filter has currents that are too strong, and is pushing Sunny around the tank. I tried everything I could think of (bottle, sponges, pantyhose) to help with the currents, but Sunny just kept being pulled and pushed away.

So I turned off the filter. As soon as I did, Sunny let himself sink to the bottom of the tank, where he is now resting. He usually sleeps at this time, all the way to morning, and it looks like he is sleeping now. But maybe I am extra wary now, and his sleeping makes me feel uneasy. He's lying on his side at the corner of the tank. He's breathing doesn't exactly look *labored*, but if he's startled and wakes up, the breathing looks less heavy than it does when he's on his side like he is now.

I don't have the test kits for the water because where I'm from they are too expensive and my parents don't think it's worth spending on.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. I love Sunny. I just didn't know how to sooner. I feel awful for what Sunny's been through, but I can't turn back time. PLEASE HELP ME. How can I save Sunny? Is there any way to make Sunny better? I miss when he was lively, and would make bubble nests all over, with his tail fanned. I miss my lil Sunny boy. Please, please tell me there's a way to help at least. Thank you

PICTURE 1: Top row is Sunny now (turquoise). Bottom row is Sunny then (royal blue).

PICTURE 2: Sunny now, taken with flash

(TLDR: Sunny has been living in a bowl his whole life, just yesterday I realized he might have velvet since he is turquoise+gold and not his original royal blue, and just today did I buy him a filtered 6.5 gallon tank. The filter is too strong, so I turned it off to not stress him. Now he lays sideways on the bottom of the tank).

 

[trahana]

Hi! So it looks like your betta is a little stressed from the high water flow, but doesn't have velvet. He's metallic, as you can see his scales are iridescent and under the light you noticed that.

Can you take pictures of the filter? Maybe we can work out a way baffle it so you can cycle his new tank.

 

[Rainbo]

I agree that he's likely stressed from the change in living conditions and the filter. Another thing that is probably stressing him is the lack of plants in the tank, betta love plants and bare, open, spaces stress them a lot.

I do not think he has velvet. Velvet looks like the fish has been sprinkled with gold dust. I went through thinking the same thing about my blue boy, I had been trying to take pictures of him, knew he has severe fin rot (it's why I bought him), shined a flash light on him to try to get a really good picture, and saw a golden sheen to his fins. I about panicked thinking he had velvet. Here's a link that has a very good picture of a betta with velvet, it also give a very good run down of the condition and how to treat it Velvet - BettaSource.com

Below is a picture of my boy and what I was seeing when I thought he had velvet, you can see the difference between him and the fish at the link. What I was seeing on my boy was simply his coloring along his anal fin.

For your boy I'd stock your tank with either a bunch of live plants, or some soft silk or plastic artificial plants. If you can set up the filter on one side of the tank and baffle it to try and cut down on the flow, if that doesn't work I'd buy a new filter, look for one that has an adjustable flow.

 

[bluerox4]

Thank you all so much! YES Sunny's coloration looks very similar to yours Rainbo!

Last night Sunny was very lethargic, and wouldn't move at all, even with the filter turned off. The new environment must be very stressful! We moved Sunny back to his old bowl for now, as we will get him the plants and gravel to fill the tank. He really perked up being back in his bowl!

I'm quite worried that the tank we bought for him might not be right? I don't know, but it's more of a vertical space than horizontal, so should that be a cause for concern?

I've attached a picture of the filter. I've wrapped the the inlet(?) with the pantyhose, and the outlet with a sponge wrapped in a pantyhose. It seems to be much more improved. But I haven't tested it with Sunny inside, in fear I'd stress him out again while he's so happy now being back in his bowl.

Should I move him back into the tank now while it's still empty and with a chance I might have to readjust the filter again? Or should I wait until I get all the plants etc first before moving him back?

Thank you all so much!

 

[Rainbo]

I'd wait till you have the tank completely set up before putting him back in. That way you don't have to keep moving him. When buying your plants remember that to betta it's the more plants they have the less stressed they are.

I'm glad that he's doing better in the bowl. What I'd do while he's in there is 1 50% water change per day using an airline hose to syphon the water out and vacuum up any uneaten food and waste on the bottom of the bowl. There's no need to take him out when you do the water change and not being moved will cut down on his stress.

 

[bluerox4]

I'd wait till you have the tank completely set up before putting him back in. That way you don't have to keep moving him. When buying your plants remember that to betta it's the more plants they have the less stressed they are.

I'm glad that he's doing better in the bowl. What I'd do while he's in there is 1 50% water change per day using an airline hose to syphon the water out and vacuum up any uneaten food and waste on the bottom of the bowl. There's no need to take him out when you do the water change and not being moved will cut down on his stress.

Thank you so much! I will update once I've gotten the plants and substrate for the new tank, and hope by then Sunny will be okay at last :crying:

 

[bluerox4]

Hello again!

Sunny is still currently in his bowl, but I've managed to get better pictures of him with the flashlight. I just want to be certain if this is or is not velvet? The tail looks gold and almost speckly, but I don't know if that's what velvet looks like? He doesn't seem to be scratching against things, or anything though.

Also he seems to be "rolling" around in his bowl, almost as if he's still being swept by the current (there isn't any). Could this just be him still being stressed? Or maybe he doesn't know he's back in a smaller bowl? Thanks so much in advance, I am so worried!

 

[trahana]

Still not velvet lol.

Are you saying he's having trouble swimming or that he is bored and is swimming loops? My own betta will squiggle around and act like he's a pretzal, because he feels like it.

 

[trahana]

Okay, so I did a bit of research on your power head. Its not a filter by the way. Its not meant for a small aquarium, its meant for a large one, about 100 gallons. It does 1500 litters per hour, which is about 400 gallons per hour. It is Very strong, so no wonder you couldn't baffle the flow properly!

Its recommended to turn over the water in an aquarium(as all the water goes through the filter) 4 times per hour. So at 6.5 gallons you need a filter that is 24 gph, or around 24 gallons per hour.