Help! Can anyone tell me whats wrong with my betta?

[Bettaroy]

I'm not sure what is wrong with Roy. About a week ago I noticed he was getting some lighter (grayish) patches on his head and down his back. Got him a new tank Saturday with a heater that shuts off at 78 degrees and he seemed to love it! Sunday he was hanging out at the bottom of his tank. Yesterday when I got home from work it looked like he might be having difficulty breathing so I put him in a sick tank. I was so nervous, he looked on the verge of death and and I noticed around his gills and down his belly looked kind of damaged/red. He seems to be a bit better today. I treated his tank with ammonia clear thinking he might have ammonia poisoning but could it be something else? And recommendations for what I can do that may help him? TIA

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

How long has the tank been set up for?
What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the water?
How long have you had the fish for?

What sort of filter is in/ on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Is the new water free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank?

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The grey on the back is excess mucous caused by something in the water irritating the fish. It could be poor water quality (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate), or an external protozoan infection.

Need more pictures from both sides to see the red you are talking about.

The fish does appear to have 2 scratches on its belly and this can be from something hard or sharp in the tank.

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BASIC FIRST AID FOR FISH

Test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week or until the problem is identified. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.

Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

 

[itiwhetu]

pH of your tank please?

 

[Bettaroy]

I have put him in a "hospital" tank since I got a new tank and tank mate on Saturday. I've had him since the end of February. I have done 50% water changes twice and cleaned the whole aquarium twice. The filter is a tetra whisper filter that uses carbon filter cartridges. I wasn't aware of needing to cycle the tank or whatever before adding the fish. I'm a new fish owner and will admit I didn't research as much as I should have. His tank levels are now within good parameters. Ammonia level was high so I had to treat the water. He seems to be doing better today (more active and less obvious signs of breathing difficulty) with no redness but under is belly is discolored and his fins seem to look like they are deteriorating.

 

[Bettaroy]

I have put him in a "hospital" tank since I got a new tank and tank mate on Saturday. I've had him since the end of February. I have done 50% water changes twice and cleaned the whole aquarium twice. The filter is a tetra whisper filter that uses carbon filter cartridges. I wasn't aware of needing to cycle the tank or whatever before adding the fish. I'm a new fish owner and will admit I didn't research as much as I should have. His tank levels are now within good parameters. Ammonia level was high so I had to treat the water. He seems to be doing better today (more active and less obvious signs of breathing difficulty) with no redness but under is belly is discolored and his fins seem to look like they are deteriorating.

He wouldn't eat yesterday but he did eat today.

 

[Colin_T]

Ammonia level was high so I had to treat the water.

What did you use to treat the water for ammonia?

If you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm, just do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day until the levels are back on 0.

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If the fish was exposed to ammonia or nitrite, that could explain the excess mucous and damaged fins.

I would just do a big water change each day for a week and monitor the fish. If it gets worse, post more pictures straight away.