Is Jarvis the betta looking a bit pale around the gills?

[On_a_dishy]

I have no frame of reference, so I thought I'd ask for opinions. I'm new to fish-keeping and Jarvis is my first betta.
He's in a 34l tank with 2 African Dwarf Frogs, and they get along handsomely. He is eating well (live bloodworms, betta flakes, cooked fresh salmon, a cooked, peeled pea etc) but enjoys the sides of the tank rather than exploring the spectacular piece of mopani wood I put in there to lower the pH for him, and he rarely ventures into the middle.
The tank is on its way back to being cycled following a prophylactic meth blue treatment (during which I dyed everything blue) and a change of gravel to a smoother version for the frogs' noses for when they crash down into it after taking a sip of air.
This morning I have done a 50% water change and swapped 7 of the ceramic noodles in the filter for 7 noodles from my daughter's fully cycled tank. I had removed Jarvis's media during the meth blue adventure but not immediately - they will have been exposed to a few minutes before I realised that the meth blue would probably affect all the good, established bacteria on them.
This will explain the nitrate and nitrate parameters which I'm hoping will stabilise at 0 after another water change (if required) tonight. The parameters are:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 1 (mg/l)
Nitrate 25 (mg/l) - the same as our tap water
GH >14d
Carbonate Hardness 6d
pH 6.8 - our tap water is 7.6 - the mopani wood is super effective!
Chlorine 0

I think I might be worrying about nothing - maybe he just likes the glass of his tank and is naturally a little pale around the gills! But this forum is just too brilliant to not check him out on

 

[Essjay]

His gills look OK to me but he has a chunk missing from his tail. Was it like that when you bought him? You can't use any meds or even salt to help his tail because of the frogs.

Be very wary of the frogs. I once put 2 adf's in with my betta and caught one of the frogs clamped on to the betta's tail. I had to separate them. The betta's tail developed finrot and took ages to heal.

 

[On_a_dishy]

He was like this when I bought him - I did wonder for a while what type of betta he was because he didn't fit any of the pictures! Poor Jarvis. Will the tail chunk grow back?
Thank you for responding - I can feel better about his gills now! As for the ADFs, I could move them into my 145l tank? It would be a longer way for them to swim up for their air gulps, though, and they don't seem to have mastered the art of shortening any distance to the surface by using the mopani wood I have in their current tank.
Currently in my 145l tank I have 4 neons and 3 tiger barbs but plan on introducing guppies and angel fish (lots of mopani wood has softened our water to 7.2 but I want to get it lower for the barbs - I have almond leaves).
Do you think it would be better if I moved the ADFs to the 145l?

 

[Essjay]

Jarvis is a veiltail

I wouldn't like to put the frogs (or guppies or an angelfish) in a tank with tiger barbs. They are one of the nippiest fish in the hobby and they may well bite the frogs legs (and guppies/angelfish's long fins). Tiger barbs are worse when there aren't enough of them - at least 10 is the recommended number but even then it doesn't guarantee they won't pick on other fish.

The frogs would be better off in the smaller tank, but that means you can't treat Jarvis' fins except by lots of extra water changes.

 

[On_a_dishy]

Hmmm. I've just read exactly this on another thread about tiger barbs. I've just bought 5. I definitely want angelfish and guppies. Sigh. I can see the tiger barbs going onto Gumtree...
Are Jarvis's fins under threat from fin rot? Does he already have fin rot? I have bought some treatment in case (phenoxyethanol) and can move the frogs temporarily to another 34l tank I have.

 

[Essjay]

I would try extra water changes first and maybe move the frogs and use salt as well. That's aquarium salt rather than the stuff you have in the kitchen as that contains anti caking agents. The dose is 2 x 15 ml spoonfuls per 20 litres water. Take some water out of the tank, dissolve the salt in that then pour it back into the tank. Leave salt in for 2 week. When you do a water change, add salt to the new water at the same dose rate to keep the level in the tank constant. Afterwards, water chnages will dilute the salt out bit by bit. But don't put the frogs back till it's all gone.

 

[On_a_dishy]

Thank you!

 

[On_a_dishy]

Hi - I just wanted to thank you for noticing Javis's tail. Yesterday I removed the carbon and dosed his tank with King British Disease Clear - silver proteinate 0.151%. He looks so much better already - the whiter tips of his tail bits, which I had thought were just him, have gone already and he seems much more chilled, although I'm sure that last bit is me projecting human traits. I think he really was on his way to fin rot, and I'd never have caught it.
The ADFs are showing no signs of stress (watch this space), so fingers crossed.
Thank you thank you thank you! I've attached 2 photos (today and last week) to show the difference!

 

[Essjay]

Glad to have helped. When bettas are kept in those tiny cups in shops, they are prone to finrot because of the poor water conditions in the cups. Some shops keep them in with other fish which can nip their tails. Once you know they need attention they usually clear up.

 

[Fish4dawin]

ooooo he's a goregous betta.