Is there something wrong with my fish?

Does my fishy look sick? Hes eating fine but his fins don't look as beautiful as they first did =(
It only happened when i moved him to my 30L tank. Its not the water or anything because i had my female in the same water. (with a divider) I don't understand why there like that. Do his fins look weird or is it just me?
Also he hasn't been moving around as much as he used to in his previous tank..
HELP please?



And can someone assist with uploading a picture, because i cant do it =(

Did you test the water, have you added him straight to the tank without putting him in a bag first. What conditions was he in before?

everything was the same.. i did all that and it was the same conditioner as he was first added into the little tank.. as i said my female isnt sick yet he looks sick.. =( i dont understand.

Hi and welcome to Betta Paradise. Sorry to hear your little one isn't doing so well, but without pics it's really hard for us to say.

To post pics you can either do it by clicking on the 6th box in from the left at the top of the reply box (the one with a little pic with a sort of floppy disk thing in front of it), that will let you upload an image from your PC.

OR, you can use a site like Photobucket to upload your pics and then just copy the image code onto here using the box that comes up when you click the "image" icon above the reply box, which will put the image code between these things : [img][/img]

yea i tried that but its not working for me? i dont understand.. sorry im all new at this!!

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yay it worked.. that didnt happen the first 3 times!

Yay you posted the pic

His fins look "sticky", kinda how my VT Shimmer went and I had no idea what happened to him because no one else showed any signs of this.

Is he eating still?

Yeah, still eating when hes fed. But see what i mean? They looked way prettier before and now there not =( And like hes moving, but not much.
I got him out of the big tank and into another tank to make sure it wasn't my new tank that was making him sick. He seems a bit better, but not much.

Hi eyeneedyooh,

Have you actually checked the water stats, even if it all looks fine?

Is your tank a recently new set up? temps? are you using a filter and if so how long has it been running in a tank with fish, if it's pretty new was the tank cycled?

Whats your basic water change routine?

Females are hardier on average than males so if there was a problem it's more likely to affect a male quicker than a female.

If you don't have a test kit, can you take a water sample to your local aquatic shop? It won't cost much and at least then you know what's going on.

He'll deffo need heating, and in the smaller tank if there's no filter try and do water changes every other day to keep ammonia down and stuff

Yes new tank and it has a filter.. ph and temps are fine.. and it got washed out before the fish were put in it.. it had the conditioner put in it and everything... washed the rocks with water ect.. it wasnt even a day though =S if thats bad? it only took him half a day to get sick and i removed him straight away.

he used to be fine in a the first tank i bought him, i changed the water twice a week and its always clean...ive had him for a while and hes been fine with that..
ummm hes got a light to the back of the tank and i have a thermometer in it to make sure the temp is good.. he had an actual heating thing in the new tank though...

Hi & Welcome

As said, he looks like he has Sticky fins. This can be caused by water quality, water temperature, an Internal infection or something like velvet.

If you have been doing water changes twice a week then in theory the water should be ok. You say the temperature is fine, but what temperature is it? Bettas like it warmer than most other tropical fish, so 27/28c is best.

If the temp is fine, then that leaves infection as it doesn't look like velvet.

Can you take a sample of water to your fish shop to be tested for ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte? Unless you have your own test kits.

If he has sticky fins, that means he will be ok, right? Hes been put back in new water with new conditioner.
Just put the thermometer in and its at 28 =) It has a heater in there and thats what tem it stays at!
Whats velvet? I thought he had to have spots? He has no spots! He looks fine apart from his "sticky fins" as you guys say..
I guess ill take a sample to the pet store tomorrow just incase..

If he's getting ill it's early days

I'd do big w/c daily for a few days. Most common cause of probs is water quality and only way to be certain and rule it out is to get it tested.

Keep a close eye on his appearance...
loss of sheen with dusty areas (velvet) looks like he's been sprinkled in gold/brown talc...very tiny specks

white spots much more obvious, looks like grains of salt stuck to fish

blackened edges appearing on his fins, possible start of finrot

Is his poo normal or white? How much does he eat daily?

If it's a water prob you should see an improvement with a day or two with the big w/c (treated or aged and temp adjusted to match his tank)

If it's the start of illness then w/c will always help and hopefully you'll spot any other symptoms as soon as they appear physically

The water is new though =( Its a day old, and the filter has been on constantly, i guess ill test the water again in the morning...
Poo is normal. And i feed him in the morning and at night. Just a small pinch of food.

Hmm i hope he doesnt get sick =(
Atleast if he gets sick i know my female will get sick soon aswell!
Hopefully i can treat it, although he looks normal now.. Still has his beautiful colour just sticky fins!!!

I'm sure you'll get it sorted

it might also be worth getting your other tank water tested too for comparison.. if there's a ph imbalance for example between the two it could also cause him to look under the weather

Things like bog wood, live v's false plants can all make a diff in the overall water chemistry. If there is a marked diff it could be a stress reaction to the change in conditions

Oh sweetie, I hope it all gets straightened out. Do you have good media? If the tank has not cycled you need to do major w/c daily. I do a 70% change as my tanks are not totally cycled yet (although they are making NitrAtes now ) Get a liquid test kit if you don't have one, just in case and check the water stats. The test kit is a bit expensive, but worth it. How big was the temp difference? And like incognito says, shifting him from a jump in ph can be deadly, was ph difference 4 or more degrees? Maybe have him in low light or no lights and a calm room? lowering stress levels gives him a better chance. Good Luck

i hope he gets better for you! i do have one question though, do you have him in the same tank as the female? if you do is it divided so they cant get to each other?

eyeneedyoohxx wrote:If he has sticky fins, that means he will be ok, right?

Sticky fins is a symptom of another issue rather than an illness in itself. So if all else is correct (water, temp etc) then it could be a symptom of an internal bacterial infection, which will require an internal bacterial medication.

eyeneedyoohxx wrote:Whats velvet? I thought he had to have spots? He has no spots! He looks fine apart from his "sticky fins" as you guys say..

Velvet is caused by a similar parasite to White spot, but is not so easily seen. Rather than spots like with whitespot, you get a light dusting covering the fish that looks gold in colour under torch light.

Remember when testing the water it isn't just pH and temp - the most important ones are ammonia and nitrite. In a health, older tank there is a special eco-system in the filter made up of special bacteria that come and live there over-time. This keeps the water clean and means you only need to do one or two small water changes a week.

However, in a newly set up tank or a tank that is having some problems (which you might not notice for various reasons), you can get an imbalance of ammonia and nitrite, which are two chemical by-products of the fish waste cycle. This happens because the eco-system isn't working properly - usually because the bacteria have not had time to grow. These chemicals are actually very dangerous to fish and it doesn't take long for them to build up if something goes wrong.

When you get your water tested, make sure you do ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH =)

Good luck!