First curled tail on betta

[BettasRFriends]

Mayo suddenly started to fade from opaque-ish tail to clear. His anal, dorsal, and caudal began to become clear. His anal fin is starting to curl a little bit. I just made a 100% water change and stuck half an almond leaf in there. Mayo is always happy; he blows bubblenest in tiny containers all the way up to 5 gallons tank. My questions:
1) Is there any medication to get rid of curling if water changes doesn't work?
2) Why is Mayo starting to become clear on his tails?
3) Nowadays he began to lay on the gravel which he never did before since I first bought him. Why is that?

 

[BettaMomma]

Mayo suddenly started to fade from opaque-ish tail to clear. His anal, dorsal, and caudal began to become clear. His anal fin is starting to curl a little bit. I just made a 100% water change and stuck half an almond leaf in there. Mayo is always happy; he blows bubblenest in tiny containers all the way up to 5 gallons tank. My questions:
1) Is there any medication to get rid of curling if water changes doesn't work?
2) Why is Mayo starting to become clear on his tails?
3) Nowadays he began to lay on the gravel which he never did before since I first bought him. Why is that?

From everything I have read (I have been researching why the opaque tail turns to clear because it started happening to Charlie, too) they do it because of poor water conditions. You're probably going to think the same thing I did - that's not possible! His water is perfectly clean and healthy - I do water changes all the time, yadda yadda. I thought the same thing, but it could be other things as far as the water goes - not necessarily just how dirty it is... it can also be pH fluctuations, hardness/softness, etc.. stuff you don't have a whole lot of control over.. Same thing with the curling. There isn't any meds that will do the trick with the curling - it's just a matter of water quality. And, sometimes - the curling is just hereditary so then you're kind of just stuck. One thing I have noticed with Harvey and Archie - they're now in a 10G heated tank (divided) and since I got them in there and their temps on their tanks don't fluctuate anymore, their tails are starting to heal up and straighten out nicely. Do you have a tank whose temp fluctuates? If so that could be contributing to the problem..

Also, you say that he's been laying on the gravel quite a bit - that could be contributing to the curling tail, too, because he may be swimming very close to the gravel and dragging it too.

As for why he lays on the gravel, he could just be becoming lazy, or he probably doesn't feel well. What size tank is he in now, and how is the temp of his bowl regulated? And do you see any other physical signs of anything? He's a white fish if I remember correctly, so it's probably hard to see if he would have any white spots, but I think you would still notice...

 

[BettasRFriends]

Will his color come back? There appears to be any signs of illness from him. The temperature is constantly 79-82 F ish. He's in a 5 gallon tank with a couple of pothos plant. He always build a bubblenest because I lessen the filter current so that he would not be thrashed around.

 

[BettaMomma]

Yes, the opaque color in the tail will come back once you correct whatever it is that's causing it.

Hmm, it sounds like you've got all your ducks in a row as far as having him in the right temp, size, etc.

Was the tank cycled when he went in it?

 

[BettasRFriends]

I never cycled my tanks and the bettas have always been fine. Its been about 2 weeks since I cleaned the tank (100%) and then this happen. Very odd

 

[BettaMomma]

Yeah, that should be fine then.
It could be something as out of your control as water softness.
Do you live in a house? And could it be something like you guys ran out of softner salt and then suddenly salt was added to the softener?

I might be way off track, and maybe it wouldn't even make a difference anyway if that was the case - the softener salt thing, I mean.
Hmm...

 

[Kiarra]

That almond leaf should do a lot to help with that, whatever is causing it. Just keep it in the water for a while, and see if it helps. I think it will.

The going clear COULD just be a change in his natural coloring. Is he a marble, by any chance? Marbles are infamous for changing colors in a lot of weird ways.

 

[BettasRFriends]

I have no clue what color Mayo is because he's one odd betta. His body is creamy but his tails and fins are different. I live in a house but I suddenly ran out of non-iodized salt so I added the almond leaves instead. At first when the caudal fin started to change to clear I thought he was slowly becomin a butterfly but that couldn't be posssible. Yeah I'm a bit confuse with the salt softener too

 

[BettasRFriends]

ALRIGHT! Mayo is back to normal! He began to build another bubblenest the day after I did the 100% water change. His tail is not curling that much anymore

 

[BettaMomma]

Very good news!
=)