Mer
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I have a female betta in a 20 gallon tank with a few albino corys and ember tetras. We've recently been through a bit of an ordeal and had to do a fish-in cycle with an overstocked (for cycling, not generally) tank (new setup and fish at the same time, ofc), but luckily I think we made it through with me being extremely diligent about parameters and water changes. Ammonia and nitrites have been zero for nearly two weeks and nitrates have been a steady 5ppm, ph at 7.6, temp 78. We lost no fish and the corys and tetras seem happy and healthy.
Through it all Betty (the betta, natch) seemed to be doing pretty well. I felt like she was glass surfing a lot, but she would do something else for a while and come back to it and I've read that 1) bettas tend to and 2) they especially tend to in new tanks. Her colors were steadily getting brighter since we'd gotten her and she has been eating just fine so she seemed generally okay. No one nips at her and she doesn't seem inclined to attack.
Sunday I got an air pump and a sponge filter with the intent of swapping the power filter out eventually. The current is kind of strong and we plan to get an additional tank, so I thought since this one was cycled I'd seed the sponge and move the power filter when the new tank happened. (I say the current is strong, but it's never seemed to be an issue for her movement. I just want her to be as comfortable as possible and didn't realize filter currents were so disruptive to bettas when I chose it. It's baffled now.) She played with the bubbles when I set it up but mostly avoided it after a few hours. There are lots of plants and wood and things which create a number of still spots in the tank and some hollow things to hide in, plus I tied a bit of tubing into a ring and put it in a corner with some suction cups like a feeding ring, then put a betta hammock that I made (with food safe silicone, designed with a crease to block current) into it. I have never seen her sleep so I have no idea what spots she likes.
Just yesterday I felt like she looked a little *off* but couldn't figure it out. Today suddenly her fins look all ragged and have lost a lot of their vibrant blue in light patches. She isn't really acting differently but I'm freaked out. She's still eating. Maybe her dorsal fin is a little tight, but not severely.
She's a marble and has an iridescent sheen that runs blue, green, pink and gold, and I don't know if I'm being paranoid in feeling like she looks a little more gold than she used to. I might be, I do that. I've been reading a lot about betta care and diseases. There's a few spotty patches on her head that I don't remember being so oangey-pink, but again, might be paranoid. Her body is definitely darker, but I put that up to her marble-ness.
I took a little video of her but it was a bit hard to keep in focus because she's very active. I have the tank lights and sponge filter off, I figure even if she's just stressed it's for the best. I also took the video with a flashlight just in case. She does actually look more gold in person than the video shows, but it shines in the regular lights, too. And I don't honestly know precicely what I'm looking for with velvet.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0mca2czsgavol5j/inshot_20220210_193057272.mp4?dl=1
So, some kind of fin rot, maybe? Just stress? Bacteria? Parasites? Should I quarantine her? If she's stressed, won't that stress her further?
I just want Betty the betta to get betta.
Through it all Betty (the betta, natch) seemed to be doing pretty well. I felt like she was glass surfing a lot, but she would do something else for a while and come back to it and I've read that 1) bettas tend to and 2) they especially tend to in new tanks. Her colors were steadily getting brighter since we'd gotten her and she has been eating just fine so she seemed generally okay. No one nips at her and she doesn't seem inclined to attack.
Sunday I got an air pump and a sponge filter with the intent of swapping the power filter out eventually. The current is kind of strong and we plan to get an additional tank, so I thought since this one was cycled I'd seed the sponge and move the power filter when the new tank happened. (I say the current is strong, but it's never seemed to be an issue for her movement. I just want her to be as comfortable as possible and didn't realize filter currents were so disruptive to bettas when I chose it. It's baffled now.) She played with the bubbles when I set it up but mostly avoided it after a few hours. There are lots of plants and wood and things which create a number of still spots in the tank and some hollow things to hide in, plus I tied a bit of tubing into a ring and put it in a corner with some suction cups like a feeding ring, then put a betta hammock that I made (with food safe silicone, designed with a crease to block current) into it. I have never seen her sleep so I have no idea what spots she likes.
Just yesterday I felt like she looked a little *off* but couldn't figure it out. Today suddenly her fins look all ragged and have lost a lot of their vibrant blue in light patches. She isn't really acting differently but I'm freaked out. She's still eating. Maybe her dorsal fin is a little tight, but not severely.
She's a marble and has an iridescent sheen that runs blue, green, pink and gold, and I don't know if I'm being paranoid in feeling like she looks a little more gold than she used to. I might be, I do that. I've been reading a lot about betta care and diseases. There's a few spotty patches on her head that I don't remember being so oangey-pink, but again, might be paranoid. Her body is definitely darker, but I put that up to her marble-ness.
I took a little video of her but it was a bit hard to keep in focus because she's very active. I have the tank lights and sponge filter off, I figure even if she's just stressed it's for the best. I also took the video with a flashlight just in case. She does actually look more gold in person than the video shows, but it shines in the regular lights, too. And I don't honestly know precicely what I'm looking for with velvet.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0mca2czsgavol5j/inshot_20220210_193057272.mp4?dl=1
So, some kind of fin rot, maybe? Just stress? Bacteria? Parasites? Should I quarantine her? If she's stressed, won't that stress her further?
I just want Betty the betta to get betta.
