Brand New Betta + Questions

Hi, everyone! I am brand new to fish keeping and just brought home a betta last night. I actually first saw him a couple weeks ago, but my tank wasn't done cycling yet. I thought for sure he would have been gone by the time I was ready to buy one, but he was still there! I was sad to see his fins have deteriorated quite a bit in the two weeks he was in his tiny cup. I actually tested his cup water and the ammonia level was somewhere between 5 ppm and 8 ppm (poor guy!). My parameters are 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 5 ppm Nitrate.



Since acclimating him and moving him into his new planted 10 gallon (with filter and heater), he's been very active and seems to be eating ok, but I saw what I thought was white dots around his gills. Can anyone see anything of concern?




I have a couple questions for you:

1. Is it ok to treat the tank with Seachem Paraguard as a precautionary measure?
2. Do you recommend any other measures I should take to ensure he's healthy?

Thank you for your help!!

 

He’s such a beautiful koi plakat! This means that he will keep his short fins for life. He also has a marbling gene, so he aware that he will change colors. Here’s what my koi did:

Anyways, back to the questions... the white spots look like ich. You could use paraguard if you’d like to take extra precautions. Keep the water extra clean.
(Edit: nvm. Just looked again and it just looked like coloring, like repolie said)

 

White dots around his gills is just colouring. Clean water will fix his fins and yes it's fine to treat with Paraguard to ensure he's free from any hidden illnesses/disease. Feed a variety of food and he'll be a happy fish. He's cute btw.

Edit: Doesn't look like ich to me. Ich is a white dot that can easily be seen and I don't see it. But that's my opinion.

 

White dots around his gills is just colouring. Clean water will fix his fins and yes it's fine to treat with Paraguard to ensure he's free from any hidden illnesses/disease. Feed a variety of food and he'll be a happy fish. He's cute btw.

Edit: Doesn't look like ich to me. Ich is a white dot that can easily be seen and I don't see it. But that's my opinion.

Just looked again and I agree!

 

He’s such a beautiful koi plakat! This means that he will keep his short fins for life. He also has a marbling gene, so he aware that he will change colors. Here’s what my koi did:

Oh my gosh! Your betta is GORGEOUS! From what I've seen, a lot of people seem to avoid bettas that marble (and I totally understand why), but I think it's kind of exciting. I'm really curious to see how mine changes! When I was researching Bettas, I was always drawn towards Plakats. I like the shorter fins for some reason. Thank you for your reply! I appreciate it!

 

Yes! I agree that it is exciting to see them change colors. Best of luck to you and your new betta!

 

White dots around his gills is just colouring. Clean water will fix his fins and yes it's fine to treat with Paraguard to ensure he's free from any hidden illnesses/disease. Feed a variety of food and he'll be a happy fish. He's cute btw.

Edit: Doesn't look like ich to me. Ich is a white dot that can easily be seen and I don't see it. But that's my opinion.

Thank you! I've dosed his tank with StressGuard that past 2 days just because I figured it couldn't hurt, but I think I'll start dosing with ParaGuard just in case. You and Fishaholic58 have made me feel a lot better! Thank you!

 

No problem.

 

Yes! I agree that it is exciting to see them change colors. Best of luck to you and your new betta!

Thank you so much!!