Koi Betta looks unwell – what can I do to help it?

Hi there,

I brought a beautiful Koi Betta in the summer but have noticed its appearance change recently.
She looks more transparent, less colourful and her fins are tucked into her body more often than not.

She's in a 90L tank with a collection of small/medium tetras.

Any advice on what I can do to help the little fella would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Sam

 

Heya,

and at least one Labeo that gets way too big for that tank.

She looks very stressed and the gills look quite reddish...the fins seem attacked too. I'd guess immunocompromised due to the stress and not able to fight fully against bacteria.
I would work with some tannins for now as in alder cones and catappa leaves. Do you have a picture of the whole tank?

Optimally speaking ... the little one would get an own, small tank without annoying tetras.

 

Heya,

and at least one Labeo that gets way too big for that tank.

She looks very stressed and the gills look quite reddish...the fins seem attacked too. I'd guess immunocompromised due to the stress and not able to fight fully against bacteria.
I would work with some tannins for now as in alder cones and catappa leaves. Do you have a picture of the whole tank?

Optimally speaking ... the little one would get an own, small tank without annoying tetras.

Hi there,

Thanks for the advice with Alder cones and Catappa leaves, I've not used these before.

Here's a photo of the full tank for you

Thanks
Sam

 

Hi Sam,

some Anubias with rather big leaves on the wood in the back, about 3 inches away from the surface (the leaves that is) would give her a nice little spot to chill out on close to the surface.

But yes as said, a nice big water change and some tannins would be what I'd do first ... after seeing your neon tetras in the amberish water you might not even want to have your tank without those anymore!

 

Can we get a list of the other fish in the tank? I see cardinal and penguin tetras, a cherry barb and a red tail shark. I think the betta may be getting nipped at by the red tail and/or penguin tetras judging by the slightly torn fins. Faded colors can be due to stress or a color change in progress as most koi bettas do not stay the same color/pattern.

I can agree that moving the betta to a separate tank is a good idea. Some bettas do just fine in communities while others are either too aggressive or too shy to compete with the others.

 

Hi Sam,

some Anubias with rather big leaves on the wood in the back, about 3 inches away from the surface (the leaves that is) would give her a nice little spot to chill out on close to the surface.

But yes as said, a nice big water change and some tannins would be what I'd do first ... after seeing your neon tetras in the amberish water you might not even want to have your tank without those anymore!

Thank you!

Should I used alder cones and catappa leaves together or just choose one?

Fingers crossed for even more zingy, neon tetras

Can we get a list of the other fish in the tank? I see cardinal and penguin tetras, a cherry barb and a red tail shark. I think the betta may be getting nipped at by the red tail and/or penguin tetras judging by the slightly torn fins. Faded colors can be due to stress or a color change in progress as most koi bettas do not stay the same color/pattern.

I can agree that moving the betta to a separate tank is a good idea. Some bettas do just fine in communities while others are either too aggressive or too shy to compete with the others.

Hi there,

Thanks for replying to the post, here's a full list of fish in the tank:

– x1 red tail shark
– x3 cardinal tetra
– x3 celestial danio
– x2 cherry barbs
– x1 male guppy
– x2 Pleco

If I was to move the Betta into a separate tank, how big would you recommend?

 

I always use both, due to the different substances they add.

For bettas, I like to use tanks of about 25 - 35 litres and more wide than high.