Hello, so I got a new betta from petco about 2 weeks ago. He was looking great until about 2 days ago he started acting a bit lethargic and not interested in food and his fins look odd. Not like fin rot but like he can't fully use his tail? He swims kinda like something hurts and he doesn't want to wave his tail and today I saw him rubbing his gills on his leaf once in a while. I don't see anything on his body that looks wrong except the tail looking like he doesn't want to use it like he cramped. His heat is 78 to 79. Tanks been going for 3 weeks, 10 gallons, he has 3 platties, a guppy, a snail, and some ghost shrimp with 4 anubias plants and a java fern. He gets spring water only for water changes with water conditioner, 1/4 tsp of salt per gallon, 2 drops of flourish for the plants, 2 drops of ph down to bring it closer to the tanks ph which is lower because of the plants. Its let sit to room temp for a few hours then I change 1/3 of the tank water and add the new water in a few cups at a time to acclimate. I tested it last week for everything at the fish store and was told ph 6.8 no ammonia no nitrite and within safe levels of nitrate. I did another 1/3 change a few days ago because he didnt eat 2 days ago but swam ok and I'm doing another one today incase something was spiking. He also gets starter bacteria dosed every few days. He has bio media in there and I'm thinking I might pick up some ammonia media too. The other fish all look healthy. I know petco had a coulimaris outbreak a few weeks ago and petsmart has ick constantly but I had quarantined the other fish for 1 week and dosing seachem polyguard to make sure they didnt bring anything. I didnt see any ick spots at the end. One platty since the beginning has a small different colored transparent patch on her tail but it hasn't moved or grown at all in 3 weeks so I'm not sure it it was just a mark. The bettas fins looked beautiful and clean until just the last 2 days so idk what happened. The other fish are swimming normally and have excellent appetites and are felled twice daily only as much as they will eat with new life spectrum pellets with garlic and fluval spirulina bug bites. No food is left over and any pellets that slip through are immediately hunted down by the shrimp. A few days ago he was swimming and blowing bubbles in his anubias so idk where I went wrong this time. Any help? I'm like 2 for 2 on petco bettas. I have another family member that has one for 4 years in a pet carrier barely changing water and I dont seem to have luck with them xD
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Betta fins look weird
- Thread starter Namine
- Start date
Stop using ph down, and why are you using salt?
what are the water parameters?
did you cycle the tank?
filtration?
what % of water changes?
and 2 drops of flourish will do nothing for your plants.
what are the water parameters?
did you cycle the tank?
filtration?
what % of water changes?
and 2 drops of flourish will do nothing for your plants.
Ok I won't use it. Is there a better natural way to make the new water closer? I dont want to shock my shrimp. The flourish is 2 drops per gallon which was the 10 gallon dose on the bottom broken down per gallon. All it seems to do so far is grow algea though xD They seem to be doing great so far, I haven't lost any shrimp and they're breeding. I was putting low amounts of salt because my last petco fish got terribly sick as soon as he hit the heated water and I'm very scared of getting culminarus again and I know the 2 pet stores carry ick. I dont see any spots at all but he was rubbing his gills along with the guppy rubbing his once in a while. I went out and bought them a whole new tank after that. The only parameters I know are the temp, ph 6.8, ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrates I dont have the test for that one like the other 3 but it was tested in store last week. He didnt give a number but said it was well within safe measures and I change the water every few days to a week anyway to make sure its clean until I know the bacteria can handle it. He's just swimming very oddly today. He comes out from laying in his anubias and looks cramped almost like he doesn't want to move his butt. But I dont see bloat. His fins look odd though and idk stuck together? I added a few pics to the post so let me know what you think please. A few days ago his fins were fully extended and looked gorgeous. He had a tiny patch of fin rot on a spot on the end of his tail when I bought him but it had healed up wonderfully in the last 2 weeks but now he suddenly looks not happy.
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It sounds like you did not cycle your tank.
you need to get a api test kit or some TETRA test strips to monitor your water, you will need to check your water daily until nitrite and ammonia are 0. Read up on the nitrogen cycle. Specifically a fish in cycle.
you need to get a api test kit or some TETRA test strips to monitor your water, you will need to check your water daily until nitrite and ammonia are 0. Read up on the nitrogen cycle. Specifically a fish in cycle.
Do you think some petsmart ick or other parasite snuck in? 2 of them are rubbing their gills. If so what should I do for them. I think most meds for parasites aren't shrimp safe so I can move them in into the baby platty tank if I need to. He's swimming around next to the other fish rn but he didn't eat breakfast again and it looks like the back fins stick together. When bought him he had odd front bottom fins. They're curled kinda and he never really lowers them. They look like shrimpy nemo fins not hanging long like the other fish.
It looks fungal, but I’m no disease expert, but I would get a fungal medication there are some that ere shrimp safe
Ok upon closer inspection this morning a platty has a white speck on his tail that wasn't there yesterday. But he's not the one that was scratching. Sigh. Darn petsmart fish. I quarantined you too. The tanks been running for 3 weeks and during that time it's had a small population of ghost shrimp and a mystery snail to start. I added starter bacterial from seachem daily first week then every other day after that. I've been changing water once to twice a week and checked parameters with my ammonia test yesterday and ph test. Nitrates I dont have a test for because they're 16 bucks each at the store so I take it to either petco of another small store weekly for testing. I was watching for spikes because of the increased fish this week. I started with 2 fish after that then now it has the max I wanted to fit which is 5. Should i just keep changing water more frequently for now or treat them with something too? And water change percent is about 1/3 of the water at least weekly. So 3 gallons. And it has an internal filter and preset to 78 heater.
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It seems normal to me. What variation was he sold as?
He's a delta tail. His fins the whole time I've had him have been fully extended and billowy so something is wrong. It almost looks like the ends are clumping together in the pics where he has the light behind him you can see the edges of his fins look fat almost. But I don't see any fungus on him. Just looks white in the pic but it's only lighting. His color is closer to the 2 darker pics. He does have odd folded front fins though that he came with. Looked healthy just like they attached themselves to the rest of the fin I think the fish guy said it happened when they grew up laying in the cup?
That might be it, or it might be genetics. I think your betta is perfectly fine. 
Nope. Not a single bit of aggression since day 2. I put the other fish in first then introduced him later so he didn't have an established territory and the first 2 days he would swim towards them if they got within an inch of his anubias on the top of the tank but would give up in a second and after that he now almost totally ignores them. He swims right in between them frequently and are with them when he was eating. The guppy I have is more aggressive then the betta and I was worried about the betta beating him up before I tried it xD the guppy bothers my platties at times he just like to follow the 2 yellow ones only for some reason. The guppy never bites em or chases but will swim up to only those 2 platties and rub his side on them sometimes and follow them but I've been watching them a lot and none of them bother the betta and the betta seems indifferent so far. He's never puffed up at anything either. My family member has another betta just in a bowl and that thing puffs up and gets all surley at you if you walk to close.
Retired Viking
Fish Connoisseur
I kept my Betta fish alone in 5 and 10 gallon tanks with maybe a snail. They can get stressed and may not really show it when other fish swim close to them or into their territory. They can not even get along with their own kind and even chase the females away after mating and giving birth. I would suggest moving him to his own tank. I wish you and your fish the best of luck either way.
They can get stressed out if there are other fish in the tank. I keep my betta in a 10g along with snails (MTS and BRH) and cherry shrimp. He’s a pretty chill betta, so he doesn’t kill any of them.
In my experience, dumbo ear bettas are the least aggressive variation of bettas. (My betta is Super delta tale/dumbo ear) (He is the betta you see in my profile picture.)
Thank you, I'll keep that in mind. Atm I have no other thanks that can rehouse the others without putting him in a bowl. It's something that changed recently I think as he spent 2 weeks swimming with the others and ate great and kept his fins high. I feel like maybe because he is scratching his gills I have a parasite or water parameter issue. I think I'm going to try frequent water changes for a few days and if no improvement move the shrimp and plants into a temp place with a heater for a week maybe and treat the tank. Does seachem polyguard work good for ick or flukes too? It's a bit harsh so I wanted to keep that for last resort but it does say it covers fungus, parasites, and bacteria. I'm just worried because I see a tiny white fleck on one platties tail now and he rubbed his gills shortly after the odd swimming started. If I take treat the tank will the bio filter pack be ok if remove it and just rinse it then keep in in with the plants till the treatment is done? And just do more water changes? Or I guess I can put the fish in the temp container and clean the tank well and keep the plants and shrimp in there until the fish are done with meds but I dont have another tank free just a spare heater and a sterlite. I keep spending more money on these fish xD it started with an impulse buy for a $7 fish and I'm up to 250 bucks later. Might get them a bigger tank too again if I can manage to not kill them lol. I never had this issue with goldfish. I had a regular little comet golfish for over 14 years and managed to keep him alive but I'm having poor luck with these tropical fish. My golfish had a planted 150 to himself and knew his name and came to you, did tricks. RIP Sushi. Best fishy ever. Didn't have fish for years after that but cute bettas got me interested again. Trying to pick up some floating plants for them soon too, they love the hanging anubias. The betta naps in the leaves and smooshes himself into the curled ones xD
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