Booker

[eudielynn]

Was stitting there staring into my fish tank the other night (don't you?) and I was looking at my little betta Booker. He is smaller than my other guys and I just attributed it to his being younger when I got him, but they have grown and he has stayed pretty much the same size even though he eats well. I noticed that he hardly ever flared at anything, and when he did it was only for a second or two.

Then last night he would swim to the front of the tank and flare at me for a couple of seconds and I noticed that something didn't look quite right. Finally I realized that when he flared one side of his gills stuck out much more prominently than the other. As I watched I realized that his gill raker was normal on one side, but on the other it looked as if he was holding his gill open, but there was no gill raker to stick out.

Could this be a birth defect that I've only just noticed, or could it be from some sort of injury? Will it cause health problems later on? If it is from an injury do gill rakers grow back?

Any ideas/advice/thoughts on the subject

 

[BettaMomma]

Well... my little Amos had the very same thing. He had it when I got him, and it never seemed to bother him. That lopsided little flare was his trademark, and I LOVED it.
Harvey now has it too, but Harvey's was from an OD on MelaFix. He was never able to open it right after that. Apparently it burned his gills and did some permanent damage.

Anyway... They both got along perfectly fine without. I thought it added character.

 

[AlexsDaddy]

I have had a couple like that as well. It didn't seem to bother them at all, or affect their health or anything like that.

 

[eudielynn]

Whew!! Thanks guys!! I felt so bad that I hadn't noticed it before. He just didn't ever flare much. I feel better now.

 

[BettaMomma]

I had amos for several weeks before I noticed it too. He never flared much, either.