My beta fish is all ruffed up and gray! Please help!?

Question

My beta fish used to be a bright blue color, and now it's scales are all sticking up and it's turned gray. It's still swimming around, but something is obviously wrong with it. What should I do?

Answer 1

Are the scales sticking up, making him look almost like a pinecone? Then it could be dropsy. Check out this link for more info on betta diseases:

http://www.bettatalk.com/betta_diseases.htm

Answer 2

Anna,
I'm so sorry to hear.
Loss of colour can be caused by the wrong water temperature and lack of oxygen. Check your temperature regulation and make sure that your pump is working properly.
Does your fish have scales sticking out a bit like a pine cone, and pop-eyes? Then he may have the dropsy. This is an infection caused by waste matter, rotting food and a lack of, or too infrequent, water changes. I'm sorry to say that dropsy is a serious fish disease and can lead to death.
Do you have other fish in the tank? If so, do you have a spare tank where you can place the sick fish?
I recommend the following: Since dropsy is caused by pollution in the tank, clean out the aquarium completely as soon as you can.
To begin with, drain some water from the aquarium into buckets and put the fish in a bucket. Plan this step. How long will it take you to clean the aquarium? Your fish will be in the bucket all the time without a filter and the nitrite will build up, impairing the fish's respiration. Therefore, to begin with you could fill several buckets with aquarium water. Then after some time while you're cleaning the aquarium, transfer the fish to another bucket with "fresh" aquarium water and discard the water in the first bucket.
Remove the filter pump and gravel from the aquarium and clean out the entire aquarium completely and thoroughly. Pet shops will offer aquarium cleaning products that don't hurt your fish.
Then rinse the gravel really well. Don't use any detergent or cleaning product other than gravel cleaners such as offered from your petshop/aquatics dealer. Or you can just rinse it really well under the cold water tap. Don't use hot water in order not to destroy the good bacteria. The literature on fishkeeping advises against using tap water because the chlorine might destroy some of the beneficial bacteria. However I have found that once the tank is well established cleaning the gravel in tap water doesn't destroy the biological filter.
Clean your filter pump and media thoroughly.
Once everything is cleaned and well rinsed replace the gravel and filter pump back in the tank.
Fill the tank with tap water. Use only water from the cold tap as some hot water systems use additives that can harm your fish. Heat up some of the water to try and get the temperature to be as close as possible to the temperature of the bucket where the fish is. This is to avoid shocking him when you put him back into the tank. Use your normal aquatic water conditioner to remove chlorines and other contaminants from the tap water. Add a tonic salt to the water. This is readily available from petshops. Alternatively, seasalt will do but it mustn't have any additives. Free running fine salt has additives to prevent it from clumping. Coarse crystal seasalt is usually free from additives, check the ingredients. The normal dose is 0.5gm to 1gm per litre (recommended by my fish-vet). 1gm is about 1ml so one 5ml teaspoon of salt can be added for every five litres of water. In case of the fish being ill you can add another 1mg of salt per litre, after 24 hours.
Add a treatment to the water against internal bacteria. This should be available from your petshop or aquatics dealer. You will probably find that there is a wide range of fish medicines available, which can be confusing. Your dealer should be able to point out the right remedy for you. Check that the medicine is compatible with salt - most are. Follow the directions on the packaging as to the dosage.
Once you have filled the aquarium it is time to return the fish. Fill a plastic bag with water from the bucket where the fish is and put the fish in it. Let this bag float open in your tank for 15 minutes. You can clip one side of the bag to the side of your tank to preven it from sliding. After 15 minutes put a cup of water from the tank into the bag. After another 15 minutes gently tilt the bag so the fish can swim out. This method allows the fish to get accustomed to the water in the tank. Do not keep the fish in the plastic bag for longer than necessary - waste products will quickly build up in the bag. These will prevent your fish from breathing and can lead to death through asphyxiation.
Once you have done this keep up a good schedule of regular frequent water changes. Little and often is much better than a large amount once in a while. A daily water change of 10% will help to keep waste matters low. If you only have a small tank and no pump then you may need to do more changes - perhaps 10% every morning and 10% evening.
While the fish is sick, keep the lights off and provide a dark space where he can go if he wants to retire. (For instance you could cover part of the tank). The darkness will help to reduce stress.
Finally, feed very sparingly. If your fish has dropsy then this will affect his appetite. It won't hurt not to feed him at all for a day or two. Ater that, feed very sparingly and not more than once a day. Don't shake the fishfood container over the tank as it will be difficult to see how much you are feeding the fish. Instead, pour a small amount onto your hand, just a small pinch, and feed this to the fish. (Many fish problems are caused by overfeeding.)
Please let me know the progress of your fish. I hope all works out ok.
regards
chirpy

P.S. I've just read Frank's recommendation to "flush" the fish. I hope Frank isn't recommending to flush a sick fish down the toilet??? What a horrible death that would be! What a cruel and cowardly thing to do. Please don't do that!

Answer 3

I'm really sorry to tell you this, but your betta probably has dropsy. I'm posting a site below that lists betta diseases and treatments, and if you scroll way down, you'll see pictures of a betta that has this problem. When the scales stick up, that's usually dropsy.

There are treatments, but it's very hard to save a betta that has dropsy. The site will also give you info on what to do.

Answer 4

what style of container is your betta housed in? Fish tend to lose their shade whilst they're under pressure. if your betta is in a small bowl, stress is substantial and that should describe the betta's shade themes. Bettas could be housed in a heated, filtered tank a minimum of two.5 gallons, yet ideally greater effective. Water modifications could take place weekly, and the sparkling water extra lower back to the tank needs to be dealt with with a de-chlorinator. If all of that's occurring - it must be an ailment or previous age. yet my guess is that the setup isn't sufficient. Odds are ammonia is extreme, as are nitrates - pretty if the tank isn't filtered.

Answer 5

could be dropsy or could be another disease that has pineconing as a symptom. however, usually either way once it reaches that stage it's too late.

there is one thing you can try, mix 1tbsp with a gallon of water (conditioned water of course) put in a container big enough for the betta, and put him in for up to 30mins. this only works sometimes, but it's worth a try.

Answer 6

It was probably scared by something outside the bowl or got stuck in between something in the aquarium. Give it a few days. it will brighten up in color again. However, if it does not, you would be better flushing it.

Answer 7

Your fish most likely has ick. its common and it is ieasy to treat. any local pet store should have the meds for it and will be able to help you get you betta back to its bright colors in no time

Answer 8

its the fishes time girl if you want to live its ging to live in pain you dont want that do you?

Answer 9

put him in a bowl and take him to your local aquarium supply.
they'll tell you what he has and how to cure it.