[Wasabi]

Hi all!
I got my Betta about a week ago and he was spectacular!!!

Now, about a week later, this is what he looks like:

I keep my water very clean (tested for ammonia, nitrate and nitrite and all came up zero), temperature stable at 79, he eats like a pig and is extremely active.
I will admit that I use an aquaclear filter and even though it was a minimum, the circulation might have still been too much, but I recently fixed that by putting some filter floss in front of the output.

Any ideas on what it could be/how to fix it?

Much appreciated.

 

[Gamma]

He looks very stressed to me. Is there anything near his tank that might be bothering him? Such as: other pets, high traffic area, or often having his tank jostled. Some fish I've had would become stressed because I had something to brightly colord near his tank.

 

[Wasabi]

He is in a peaceful and quiet spot, but it is next to my salt water aquarium... He does not seem to be bothered by it, as he does not keep away from it or pay the slightest bit of attention to it. But just in case, I will put something to block his view from it to see if it helps. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[TheCheese909]

Such a pretty fish! Wow.

Get him some API Stress Coat as well, see if that helps him out a bit. Try giving him 2 cap fulls and maybe a few frozen treats as well, see if that cheers him up a bit. You can also try looking for some toys for him like a floating Betta log, see if that sparks his interest.

 

[LebronTheBetta]

Anything to stress him out?
Did you Acclimate him?

 

[Wasabi]

Yes I took my time acclimating him over 45 mins. Other than the high filter flow and possibly the salt water aquarium, I did notice when I first put him in, he would see his reflection in the glass of the aquarium for the first day, now he totally ignores it. If that is the problem, I have no idea how to rectify that problem, bar keeping a blanket over the tank in order to keep him in constant darkness lol.

 

[Wasabi]

Such a pretty fish! Wow.

Get him some API Stress Coat as well, see if that helps him out a bit. Try giving him 2 cap fulls and maybe a few frozen treats as well, see if that cheers him up a bit. You can also try looking for some toys for him like a floating Betta log, see if that sparks his interest.

Thanks!
I will pick those up tomorrow and I will cut him a piece of PVC for now. I think I have some spirulina brine shrimp and mysis shrimp. Are those any good for bettas or is it best to stick to blood worms and Hikari Betta Bio-Gold?

 

[TheCheese909]

I have the freeze-dried SBP, and my fish love it, I want to eventually get the frozen kind and watch them flip out about it lol. You can feed that to him and see if he likes it, just don't give him Brine Shrimp too often as it acts like a laxative, maybe twice a week on that stuff. Same with the Bloodworms, only 2-3 times a week.

I've never used the Hikari brand Betta food, I know a lot of people here swear by it though. I prefer the Aqueon brand myself, but you can try getting a different brand of Betta food for him as well and see if he likes the different variety. I own about 7 different types of pellet food for my 9 boys, I like to switch it up from time to time

I've never used the Mysis Shrimp, but from what I can tell you should be fine using it. Just remember not to over feed him.

 

[Wasabi]

Neat! Thanks!

 

[Wasabi]

I was also wondering, is it possible that he has fin rot? His fins don't seem to be decomposing, but I have read that they will sometimes clump together and get some kinks (kind of what I am seeing). Or do bettas normally clump their fins together when stressed?

 

[True Indigo]

Yes I took my time acclimating him over 45 mins. Other than the high filter flow and possibly the salt water aquarium, I did notice when I first put him in, he would see his reflection in the glass of the aquarium for the first day, now he totally ignores it. If that is the problem, I have no idea how to rectify that problem, bar keeping a blanket over the tank in order to keep him in constant darkness lol.

In terms of the reflection problem, putting a non-shiny blank piece of paper around his tank might fix that. My rescue was flaring at his reflection in the filter base behind the glass. All I had to do was shove a bit of paper there and it worked.

Gyarados (pictured) is very sensitive to reflective surfaces and will flare and stress out all the time if he sees even the closest reflective surface outside of his tank. So I just remove that or put it behind something non-reflective.

 

[Wasabi]

Yeah, I don't think that his reflection is an issue any more, since he completely ignores it. Even if I place a mirror in front of him, all he does is try to swim around it and does not even flare up so he doesn't seem like he is stressed because of that.

I just don't know if clamped fins like the ones in my picture mean he is stressed or is beginning to develop fin rot.

 

[laoshun]

look closely and if it continues i would do AQ salt treatments because my old old crowntail had this happen to him.

 

[TheCheese909]

laoshun is right, if it's fin rot then you'll want to do an Aquarium Salt treatment- i recommend doing one of those before trying medications. But watch him first, it could be as simple as him just now becoming unhappy or stressed out in his new home.

Do you have plenty of plants for him to lay and hide in? It's hard to tell from those two pictures. If not you'll want to try and get him some silk plants or live ones if you're good at taking care of live plants. I don't recommend plastic as they very very easily tear up fins of a Betta.

If you need to do an Aquarium Salt treatment try putting him in a 1 gallon container with 1 teaspoon of the salt and a cap full or two cap fulls of Stress Coat. I like to add an airstone with a bubbler and a valve to keep the water moving slightly so the bad bacteria doesn't set in- and the valve of course is just so the water doesn't push him around too much.
You'll want to change his water daily with the same treatment and make sure the salt is completely dissolved before placing him in the tank.

 

[Wasabi]

Cool, thank you all for all the info!

His fins seem a bit better today. Still a bit kinked and stringy, but at least the are more open. I am guessing TheCheese909 was right and it was probably just stress. He has 2 Anubias pants he likes to hide under and a log he goes in time to time.

The pet store I went to didn't have any stress coat, so I just got him some Nutrafin Betta Plus, sice it has almond leaf extract.

Thanks again!

 

[TheCheese909]

I'm glad he seems to be feeling better Keep an eye out for the Stress Coat, it really comes in handy.

 

[Kim]

Looks like he may be a little bloated in the second picture. Is he pooping ok? Also, not that this would necessarily make him look so miserable, but if you have hard water it can cause the rays of a CT to curl.