Need help ASAP!
Hello, friends.
I wouldn’t normally do this, but I have no clue what else to do.
A little over a week ago, I got up and found my Betta was missing a couple of scales. I thought that perhaps he had injured himself on something in his tank, but there really wasn’t anything in there that should have caused such a thing.. not as far as I know, anyhow. We cleaned his tank, checked the levels and temperature, and kept an eye on him. He seemed to be fine.
Then he lost more scales.
Concerned, I reached out on Twitter/X and got no help. Research showed that it could be any number of things from diseases, issues with his habitat, the wrong food.. there was too much it could be.
Two other spots have lost their scales now, and I’ve just discovered, while getting these photos, that the front half of his stomach is almost bare.
We are desperate to help him.. do you know what’s going on?
His symptoms are:
Loss of scales
Lethargy
An appetite that comes and goes
Rubbing against the tank walls and plants
What we’ve done:
Kept his water clean and at the right temperature
Added aquarium salt and conditioner as directed
Added bloodworms to his diet
Changed out any potentially rough decorations
We’re in the process of cycling a second tank to move him into but it will be no use if we can’t keep him alive until it’s ready.
Sidenote:
I did find online that there is a disease called “Velvet.” It apparently causes the fish scales to appear, in a nutshell, coated in a gold or rust color. If this is not immediately evident on your fish, the article instructs you to shine a light on your Betta to determine if this is something he may have.. but we don’t know enough about Betta to be sure.
I’ve included pictures of what he looks like under a light below.
Please, if you have any information on what could be causing this or any advice that might help us get him feeling better.. I would be forever grateful.
I’m so sorry your betta is sick! I had one several years ago and I swear he looked just like yours, same color and everything. We had a similar issue with him too but I never found out what was wrong and couldn’t get him to stop being lethargic. He lived for a long time though. Have you asked the aquarium people at the store if they have seen something like this? Sorry I can’t be of more help but I’m crossing my fingers for you.
Thank so much. I’m sorry you lost yours.. they’re very easy to get attached to. We’ve got ours on a wide spectrum antibiotic now so.. hopefully that will help. They’re tough little things.
And we have asked multiple pet stores but not a single person (in any of the stores!) knows a dmn thing about fish. One person, I kid you not, said ‘I just work here.’
I’m so sorry your Beta is sick. I wish I had info for you but I just have no clue. I tried poking around IG but I couldn’t even find someone on there you might be able to DM 😢. I would ask the pet store if they could give you some advice or refer you to someone who can help.
Thank you. That’s very sweet of you. Fortunately, he’s still hanging in there.. Unfortunately, the pet store only seems to hire people who very specifically don’t know anything about fish.