How To Tell If Your Fish Is Sick No Matter The Coloring

Cleo2019
  • #1
Hey everyone! A couple years ago, I had a Betta Fish before named Paul and he lived for 5 years and in a cold environment. However, I was young and to be honest, my parents as well as my older sister did most of the work. So technically, this is my first time actually having a Betta Fish. Her name is Cleo and I love her so much! I got the fish on Christmas day and since that I have found myself researching every little thing I am concerned with. For instance, she had a white spot on her belly and I found out that was just there because, duh, she's a female. Anyways, Cleo is white/light pink. Since the day I got her she as a red spot on her head and dark blue looking color around the red spot. To better describe it, she had a "bruise" on her head. When I first got her I thought "Is she ok?" However, nothing has changed and she has grown over the last couple months so I have assumed that's just her natural coloring. In my research though, I've found there are so many diseases that can affect a fish and many symptoms include things appearing on the body of the fish that are white. But, how do you know the symptoms if your fish is white and any problems that occur might just blend in?

I don't think my fish is sick. She swims around, she blows bubbles from time to time (which I have read apparently are a sign of happiness?), and sometimes she comes up to the top of the water and takes in some air (not often, which is good, because I've read if a Betta does that too much that's a sign of sickness). So the thing is she displays all the signs of a happy, healthy Betta, yet I feel that because of her natural white coloring and her "bruised" looking head, I could overlook something. When I feed her, she happily eats. She recognizes me when I approach her bowl. I clean the water once a week and do checkups to see if anything needs to be cleaned. I even got her some dried bloodworms to change up her diet from betta bits (Top Fin brand) since I read its good to change up the diets of a betta because they get constipated.


So to get to my point, I feel like Cleo is happy. Its just that her coloring scares me and I noticed one day she was getting bloated, cut her feeding, and then her white spot appeared, did research and found out that was her egg spot, her blotting went down (it was slight bloating), but its still there a little (thinking that's just because she female cause I googled female Bettas and they look the same width as Cleo). The thing is I am terrified to overlook something and there's nothing really wrong but her coloring is so hard to tell. Please help! (Sorry for the long post!)
 

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tellin
  • #2
With bettas, if their fins are not ragged (though spiny ends are fine on crowntails), they are lively, eat well, and they don't clamp their fins together, they are usually just fine. Fin rot and bloating from overfeeding seem to be top betta problems. Luckily for you, females seem to have a lot less fin rot than males, and bloating is easily avoided by fasting your betta once a week and feeding a tiny piece of shelled pea.

Enjoy your little Cleo!
 

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Cleo2019
  • Thread Starter
  • #3
o
With bettas, if their fins are not ragged (though spiny ends are fine on crowntails), they are lively, eat well, and they don't clamp their fins together, they are usually just fine. Fin rot and bloating from overfeeding seem to be top betta problems. Luckily for you, females seem to have a lot less fin rot than males, and bloating is easily avoided by fasting your betta once a week and feeding a tiny piece of shelled pea.

Enjoy your little Cleo!
ok. thank you so much!!! XD
 
tellin
  • #4
You're very welcome! You are doing well by changing her water weekly and inspecting her often!

If you want to make sure you are doing everything you can to keep your little Betta healthy and happy, learn about the Nitrogen Cycle, get her a 5 gallon minimum size tank with small sponge filter and heater if you can afford them, and a liquid ammonia/nitrites/nitrates testing kit to test that her water is clean and healthy. Bettas also enjoy having live plants and hiding places that you could change around once in a while to keep them interested.

As for detecting diseases like ich or fungus, well, if you google s of "white fish with ich", you'll see that the spots will show up clearly on the transparent part of fins. Fungus will be fuzzy and visible from the side.

Other things besides ragged fins to look for are trouble swimming (sinking always to the bottom, always staying on the surface, constant tilting, or being sucked into the filter intake), especially if accompanied by a bulging tummy (never overfeed your betta, even though she will beg constantly! because she will get constipated). Finally, if you see the scales lifting like a pinecone, that is dropsy, and a sign that the fish is very ill.

That about covers basic issues with bettas. Sometimes they will get rarer illnesses, but with good care you may reasonably expect 2, 3, or even many more happy years with her.
 
Cleo2019
  • Thread Starter
  • #5
You're very welcome! You are doing well by changing her water weekly and inspecting her often!

If you want to make sure you are doing everything you can to keep your little Betta healthy and happy, learn about the Nitrogen Cycle, get her a 5 gallon minimum size tank with small sponge filter and heater if you can afford them, and a liquid ammonia/nitrites/nitrates testing kit to test that her water is clean and healthy. Bettas also enjoy having live plants and hiding places that you could change around once in a while to keep them interested.

As for detecting diseases like ich or fungus, well, if you google s of "white fish with ich", you'll see that the spots will show up clearly on the transparent part of fins. Fungus will be fuzzy and visible from the side.

Other things besides ragged fins to look for are trouble swimming (sinking always to the bottom, always staying on the surface, constant tilting, or being sucked into the filter intake), especially if accompanied by a bulging tummy (never overfeed your betta, even though she will beg constantly! because she will get constipated). Finally, if you see the scales lifting like a pinecone, that is dropsy, and a sign that the fish is very ill.

That about covers basic issues with bettas. Sometimes they will get rarer illnesses, but with good care you may reasonably expect 2, 3, or even many more happy years with her.
I am so grateful for the advice. I will definitely look up the Nitrogen Cycle since I don't know what that is. Thank you!
 
Hunter1
  • #6
What size bowl/tank are you keeping Cleo in?

I love the name since I have named 3 of my dogs Cleo in the past. Basically have had at least one dog named Cleo for over 25 years.
 
Cleo2019
  • Thread Starter
  • #7
What size bowl/tank are you keeping Cleo in?

I love the name since I have named 3 of my dogs Cleo in the past. Basically have had at least one dog named Cleo for over 25 years.
Awww thank you

Also shes in a 1 gallon. I am currently trying to upgrade to at least a 2.5g though.
 
Hunter1
  • #8
Awww thank you

Also shes in a 1 gallon. I am currently trying to upgrade to at least a 2.5g though.

Please do. It’s best for her. A 5 would be better yet.
 

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