Is My Betta Sick? Need Help Please...

I'm new to fish keeping and have had a heck of a time keeping up with my Betta, Umi.  I was told by the pet store that keeping a Betta was easy.  It's been anything but easy.  I've done a lot of reading and research over the past two months that I've had him and have learned quite a bit but now I'm just utterly confused.  
 
He has been having ongoing problems with what I believe is fin rot.  Initially the fin rot was probably caused by poor conditions in the cup they kept him in at the pet store.  I treated it with aquarium salt and it seemed to be getting better until he decided that the filter intake in his new tank was a good place to sleep. The intake really did a number on all his fins in the few days it took for me to figure out what was going on. I've since resolved the problem and Umi's fins seemed to be healing nicely.  About two weeks ago I noticed a white spot on his dorsal fin but as he seemed fine and there was only one spot, I thought only to keep an eye on it.   Fast forward….three days ago I noticed that his caudal fin was shorter and that he had a small tear in his dorsal fin.  I also noticed that the white spot on his dorsal fin was gone but that he now has a white spot on one of his pectoral fins. This morning I woke up to find that his caudal fin had deteriorated/shredded quite a bit over night.  I also observed Umi occasionally hovering in a vertical position with his nose to the heavens.  Maybe I've entered the realm of paranoid but I'm almost certain his eyes look like they are bulging outward too.  A few weeks back I noticed that he had white rings around his eyes.  I just assumed that maybe I hadn't noticed it before and that it has always been like that.  I'm wondering now if I was wrong.  Umi is not having any trouble swimming at all and is energetic with a good appetite.  He does seem a bit off though.
 
I think I've been good in caring for him.  He lives with 3 marimo balls in a 5 gallon tank that is filtered and heated. I make partial WC twice per week, one of which is gravel vacuumed.  I age the water and also add prime about 20 minutes before a water change.  I test the water parameters every 2-3 days.  I use a turkey baster to remove poop in between WC (btw he may have chronic constipation as he doesn't poop every day).  I feed him 3 tiny pellets twice daily and I give him bloodworms 2x per week.  I have never given him medication and have only treated the fin rot with aquarium salt (1 tsp/gallon).  When his fins were better, I reduced the aquarium salt to 1/2 tsp./gallon.  We're back up to 1 tsp/gallon but now I'm wondering if I should be more concerned and be giving him some kind of medication.
 
I've attached some photos I took of Umi today.  I had a neutral colored light shining on him in order to get decent details in the photos.  Again, perhaps I'm paranoid, but the lighting revealed a few things in the photo that I would not have seen with my own eyes under normal lighting conditions - namely the black spots on his dorsal fin and red marks between the base of his pectoral fin and gill.  I also see some mottling under his muzzle/chin (not sure if that's just the way he looks) and, lastly, I see some shiny yellow dust all over his fins but am unsure if that is being caused by the bright light shining on him. Please take a look at the photos and let me know if you see anything that I should be concerned about.  Thank you in advance for your time.
 
 
 

Yellow dust covering makes me think of oodinium..
 
Here is a PDF on the subjecT:
http/www.fishvet.com/Oodinium.pdf

What size tank is your betta kept in and what is the temperature?   Did you cycle your tank before putting your betta in there?  What type of bloodworms are you feeding him (live, frozen, or freeze dried)?   
 
The black dots on his dorsal fin are nothing to really worry about as they appear to be natural coloring.   The red behind his gills is bothersome though and might be a sign of an issue.  Has he been acting like he is scratching himself on anything lately or been lethargic?  Velvet is hard to be sure of especially when you think of it as "gold" coloring on the fish since most bettas have a metallic shine to them.  

The details are in the original post Wildbetta
 
OP, it sounds like he has some additional issues. I'm confident that your tank care is up to scratch and it may just be that he arrived unhealthy. His fins will repair themselves with your clean tank work, with time. The yellow dust/general unthriftiness is more of a concern. I would read the link posted and inspect him more carefully for symptoms - you may have to treat him.
 
ps don't worry too much about the learning curve - it applies to all fish care and I've had to suffer it too over the past year. hehe!

Ok I do see the tank size but that is the only question of mine that is answered in the original post. 

Wildbetta said:

What size tank is your betta kept in and what is the temperature?   Did you cycle your tank before putting your betta in there?  What type of bloodworms are you feeding him (live, frozen, or freeze dried)?   
 
The black dots on his dorsal fin are nothing to really worry about as they appear to be natural coloring.   The red behind his gills is bothersome though and might be a sign of an issue.  Has he been acting like he is scratching himself on anything lately or been lethargic?  Velvet is hard to be sure of especially when you think of it as "gold" coloring on the fish since most bettas have a metallic shine to them.  

Click to expand...

Thanks Wildbetta for your reply.  Umi is in a 5 gallon tank at 78 degree temps. I did cycle the tank with him in it however I checked ammonia levels daily, used prime and changed his water twice per week.  I had no idea about fish care nor the nitrogen cycle until after I bought him.  He was in a bowl for the first few weeks but I couldn't keep the ammonia levels down no matter how often I changed the water so I got him a tank and moved him to it right away.  He's been there since and his fin rot has fluctuated from good to bad to good to worse.  
 
He doesn't seem lethargic but he's not as energetic and seems to spend more time at the bottom of his tank than usual.  I've also seen him occasionally hovering in a vertical position, nose up.  He used to make bubble nests all the time but I haven't seen any in two weeks.
 
As for the scratching, I'm not sure.  He's very frisky and I used to think that his sudden bursts of movement was part of his excitement but now I'm wondering if that is what is meant by "flashing".  He'd suddenly burst to the top of the tank and then dive straight down, almost throwing himself onto the gravel.   Is that not normal frisky fish behaviour?

He doesn't look too bad looking at the pics, although he does appear to be a serial tail biter which some bettas do and which can be a very difficult habit to break, his eyes do look bulgy! although some bettas do have bulgier eyes than others, as for the other colour changes you have noticed since taking the pic I can see nothing that indicates anything wrong they all look like natural markings or colouration to me. p.s do you have any cave type ornaments in his tank at all? my serial tail biters would enter these to chomp away at their tails as it held it more still for them to grab so I would remove these if poss, also perhaps add some live plants for him and maybe some almond leaves to de stress, do you have a pic of the whole tank?

tunagirll said:

 
 
OP, it sounds like he has some additional issues. I'm confident that your tank care is up to scratch and it may just be that he arrived unhealthy. His fins will repair themselves with your clean tank work, with time. The yellow dust/general unthriftiness is more of a concern. I would read the link posted and inspect him more carefully for symptoms - you may have to treat him.
 
ps don't worry too much about the learning curve - it applies to all fish care and I've had to suffer it too over the past year. hehe!

Click to expand...

 
I read the link and it worried me a bit because it's not just the gold dust I see on him but also red around his head and gills.  Everything else going on with him could be symptomatic of a bigger problem.  I'm at a loss though and feel as though I'm in a coin toss.  I'm going to take one more stab at treating him without meds and see if there are any changes.  I'm going to remove all the AQ salt from his tank over the next two days then give everything in the tank a solid clean with hot water.  I'm going to attempt to reduce the swelling in his eyes with epsom salts and do water changes every two days.  If he doesn't start to show some improvement with his eyes and fin rot within 4-5 days of this protocol then I'll resort to meds.  If not, then I'll have to try some meds but not sure if I'm dealing with parasites or bacteria.  I read somewhere that tetracycline is a good place to start when you're not sure what you're dealing with.  Any thoughts on this?

l_l_l said:

Yellow dust covering makes me think of oodinium..
 
Here is a PDF on the subjecT:
http/www.fishvet.com/Oodinium.pdf

Click to expand...

 
 
Thanks for the link.  I read it - very scary and prognosis doesn't seem good once you start to see shiny dust.  I have no idea if I'm looking at dust or the iridescent nature of his scales though.  I'm going to treat him without meds for the next few days but I'm also thinking to cup him and take him to a pet store to see if anyone can identify what I'm dealing with.

betta fish said:

He doesn't look too bad looking at the pics, although he does appear to be a serial tail biter which some bettas do and which can be a very difficult habit to break, his eyes do look bulgy! although some bettas do have bulgier eyes than others, as for the other colour changes you have noticed since taking the pic I can see nothing that indicates anything wrong they all look like natural markings or colouration to me. p.s do you have any cave type ornaments in his tank at all? my serial tail biters would enter these to chomp away at their tails as it held it more still for them to grab so I would remove these if poss, also perhaps add some live plants for him and maybe some almond leaves to de stress, do you have a pic of the whole tank?

Click to expand...

 
You're not the first to suggest that he's a nibbler.  I'm surprised because the damage mostly looks like long tears not bites.  I've attached a photo of Umi in his tank about 3 weeks ago.  I've since removed all the plants but the curly cave thing is still there.  He doesn't go inside it though but might now that he doesn't have any plants to hide behind.
 
I'm going to treat his eyes with epsom salts after removing all the AQ salt from his tank.  I'm almost certain that the bulge is not normal for him.  I'll also look at getting some almond leaves because he does seem a bit high strung.  The minute he sees me coming he starts zipping all over the place and wiggling like crazy because he wants food and attention.
 
Thanks for your feedback.

I do not think that your boy suffers from fin rot as the edges of his fins look good and clean.  He is most likely a tail biter which does happen to quite a few bettas with the longer fins.  Unlike Betta Fish I do not recommend removing any caves as that could essentially make things worse.  I would replace your plants and actually add a couple of hiding places for him.  I think that removing the other salt and trying to treat with epsom salt might be a good place to start.  While his eyes do look a bit bulgy, they do not look bad.  Some fish have eyes that naturally bulge more than others and he might just be one of them.  

I think caves are great for bettas and always have one in my betta tanks as they seem to like entering them although with any tail biters in the past I have found they enter the caves to do the chewing hence why I had to remove them, the caves I mean are the round coco caves that the betta could swim in a perfect circle in to get a good chomp!  the tank was always well planted though, seeing as your betta does not enter the cave at all then it is unlikely to be an issue here although I would definitely add more plants to the tank as it looks a little bare, they do like to keep us on our toes don't they? he is gorgeous btw 

Thanks for all the feedback.  I put the plants back in today and he seemed to calm down.  When I took them out I noticed that he seemed agitated without a place to rest/hide but I was concerned they may be tearing his fins. Sometimes I think in an effort to help him, I'm actually just making him feel worse instead.  Maybe I should try benign neglect?  My bougainvillea thrives when I don't fuss over it.  I just ordered some Indian Almond leaves today -so much for neglect.   I don't know if it will help heal his fins but I understand that they find it soothing/calming.  Maybe he'll stop chewing on his fins if that is what he's doing to himself.  I have yet to catch him doing it though. Little bugger.

Just thought of something when I read your last post.  Are the plants that you had in the tank (the ones you replaced), fake or live?