# Leave it to petco to mis-label bettas.. what is he?



## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

Well, like the title says leave it to petco to totally mis-label bettas and then charge WAY more than they should for the mis-labeled ones. They had bettas that where like MAYBE an inch long labeled as king bettas and VT's labeled at CT's and so on. They also had, well i am not sure,... halfmoons, but as you will see in my pictures, this guy as well as the others look NOTHING like the pix of halfmoons i have seen on here. This petco stunk. The manager was so full of himself. He said that they where the BEST petco in the country for fish! LOL WOW!!! Their was about 20-30 bettas, 1 was dead, about half where ragged looking or had columnaris! =[ This betta ( after i looked at almost all of them ) and i made that "connection" though i was not sure if he was really a half moon or what he actually is, he is awesome looking and did not look like death like the other bettas did =[ so here he is! What exactly is he??


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## xxabc (Feb 1, 2010)

... Fin rot? Defective betta-child? Raggedy combtail? (Ew, arrogancy). That's really interesting. 

I would'lve gotten him. Lol  

Oh my gosh, the betta behind your questioned betta...in the first picture...lying on his side - was he dead ?? 

Anyways, with what you said, I just know it's better than my Petco. Pshh.


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

no, he was one of the close to dead ones =[ the dead one was to graphic to be shown :{... so what is HE lol you did not answer that part lol


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

he does not have fin rot nor does he look ragged lol


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Looks like he has fin rot to me. He's either a delta or a halfmoon.. the only way to know is to have him flare. He also has some of the worst stress stripes I've ever seen so you need to keep his tank light off for a week and put aquarium salt into his tank to help him heal.


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## xxabc (Feb 1, 2010)

Oh, did you buy him ?? I also agree with 1f2f. Can't really tell unless he flares. I would guess it's close to a halfmoon, if not perfect? But no idea. Delta to Halfmoon, though.


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

he does NOT have fin rot. I just shined a light on his fins and they look PERFECT. would you like to see another pic i just took? He fins have different colors and those are not stress stripes lol that is a refection on the shiny cup from my shirt haha i just looked at him and their are no stripes and i do know what they look like.. he flared, looks like, i dunno... more like a half moon, but not fully, not sure


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

xxabc said:


> Oh, did you buy him ?? I also agree with 1f2f. Can't really tell unless he flares. I would guess it's close to a halfmoon, if not perfect? But no idea. Delta to Halfmoon, though.



Yes, i did buy him. He is wonderful and has some very colorful and cool looking fins. I think he could be a halfmoon. I did not know all the halfmoon pix i have seen where them flaring. I thought that's what they looked like. Also, i thought flaring was their gils? Not the entire body? i am confused haha


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## xxabc (Feb 1, 2010)

Nope, flaring is their gills and fins. Once you see him flare, look at his end-tail. It should be a perfect D. Anything less should be delta...however if it's REALLY close I guess it could be superdelta. 

And that's _so weird_ that it's not fin rot. Actually, fin rot comes in different ways too (or so I have been told). It could just simply dissolve away. Doesn't necessarily have to look gross or have black lining. 

Judging from the pictures above, that is definitely not reflection of the cup. It could just be color of the scales, but I didn't know males actually had stress stripes. All mine do are go super-pale.


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

hmm well he did flare it was not a perfect D, but was close =] he is beautiful, i sure hope he is not sick or anything. I love this guy already. He is now in his new home and i added aquarium salt. I have looked at many pix of fin rot and have seen fin rot and it just does not look like it, i mean if it is, it is VERY minor and also... i know what stress stripes look like, i have owned 4 females. Well, it IS a reflection on the cup, i should know, i took the pix my self with an iphone, their is glare and reflections on that cup haha, he does not have those lines you see in the pix, but hey, no one has to believe me, it's fine =]


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## kuklachica (Dec 23, 2009)

Flaring refers to both flaring out the gills AND puffing up their tail. 

example, my guy, Wally:

Not flaring:



Flaring his tail, but not his gills:



Don't have a pic of wally flaring his gills. Here is my guy Cielo flaring both his gills and tail:



Your guy does either have fin rot or has been biting his tail. Tails do not normally look like that. You should add about a tsp. of aquarium salt per gallon and keep the water around 82ish until you start to see re-growth.


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

well, the pix i have seen of fin rot look NOTHING like my new guy. But if he INDEED has fin rot, he is going back tomorrow. I am tired of buying bettas and then they end up being sick, have SBD and now maybe fin rot... =[ that's just MY LUCK with bettas the past few weeks *sighs*


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

salt was already added, i always add it in


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## kuklachica (Dec 23, 2009)

As long as you treat the fin rot it will not kill him. If he bites his tail (like all of my HMs do) then you will just have to figure out what makes him bite and change that. Or live with his biting and make sure it does not become infected. 

I would suggest only buying the most healthy looking bettas. 

I would also suggest writing to Petco's customer service. My Petco had some poor-looking bettas around Christmas. I wrote to their customer service, got a response within a week, then a call from the manager, and since then they have taken great care of their bettas.


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## xxabc (Feb 1, 2010)

DarthMaul, SBD and Finrot are no where close to diseases. It's like getting a paper cut on your skin. They're little tiny things and honestly, no reason to be returned to the store because they're quite easy to take care of (for me anyways). 

And whenever you buy a betta, the chances it is sick is almost guaranteed. Just a pet-store betta for ya.


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## kuklachica (Dec 23, 2009)

xxabc is right. It would be like getting a dog or cat from a kennel or even a friend and returning it because it had fleas. it just comes with territory, and can easily be cared for.


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

kuklachica said:


> As long as you treat the fin rot it will not kill him. If he bites his tail (like all of my HMs do) then you will just have to figure out what makes him bite and change that. Or live with his biting and make sure it does not become infected.
> 
> I would suggest only buying the most healthy looking bettas.
> 
> I would also suggest writing to Petco's customer service. My Petco had some poor-looking bettas around Christmas. I wrote to their customer service, got a response within a week, then a call from the manager, and since then they have taken great care of their bettas.


i JUST got him tonight, how on earth am i suppose to know if he is a tail biter? I mean he seems like he is happy in his new home so far. Sadly, he was the healthiest looking one =[ I will let the manager know what's up, don't worry about that lol


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

well i am sorry that buying a new betta that seems to maybe have fin rot and the other one might have SBD makes me mad. I have had the WORST luck with bettas this past month and i'd rather return them, than have them die in my care. Has anyone lost 4 bettas at once in less than a week and a couple at the same time before that? So you can see why i'd rather get a refund. I did not pay $13.99 for a betta with fin rot. I can go back and get another one


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## kuklachica (Dec 23, 2009)

I suggested tail biting because he either has rot or has been biting. A lot of times they will bite when they are stressed (being in a small container, dirty water, aroudn other fish). I am mentioning this so you can keep an eye out for it, if, in fact, he is a biter. To me, it looks like bite marks.


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

kuklachica said:


> xxabc is right. It would be like getting a dog or cat from a kennel or even a friend and returning it because it had fleas. it just comes with territory, and can easily be cared for.



sorry, but that is a bad analogy, just saying haha


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

kuklachica said:


> I suggested tail biting because he either has rot or has been biting. A lot of times they will bite when they are stressed (being in a small container, dirty water, aroudn other fish). I am mentioning this so you can keep an eye out for it, if, in fact, he is a biter. To me, it looks like bite marks.


i hope for his sake he is =[ and well, was now


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

he just flared again at the guy in the tank next to him lol it was a FULL and perfect D... ugh i wish i had a cam fast enough to capture this beauty =[

well, if it IS, fin rot, how do i treat it? I have heard 2 different things. One was no light for a week, high temp and salt, the other was just salt ( which he already has ) so which is it?


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## BettaxFishxCrazy (Sep 5, 2009)

I put aquarium salt in my fishes tanks after every water change. Just remember, always put back in what you take out, salt doesn't disintegrate so you don't want to hurt your fish with too much salt. I use API aquarium salt. If you're putting it into a tank with rocks, make sure to fully dissolve it before putting it in (the crystals can burn your fish). If you have a heater, higher temperatures like 80 or 82*F will help speed up the process.


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

sounds good


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## BettaxFishxCrazy (Sep 5, 2009)

I also hope he's not tail biting. The fish in my avatar is a HM and he LOVES biting off his gorgeous tail. I have no idea why he feels the need to do it, but otherwise he's very healthy. Most of the time long finned fish will bite their tails because when they turn around they can see it and it can annoy them. Especially if they're in those small cups or a small tank/bowl. I really wish pet stores would put bettas in their own small tanks.


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

well, it's better than fin rot and if he has been biting, he is now in a bigger and better home =[ sadly pet stores will never do that b/c it costs a lot of money to house each betta in their own tank...money rules over the quality care of the pets in MOST stores =[


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## BettaxFishxCrazy (Sep 5, 2009)

Yeah, it's ridiculous. If they can't make a lot of profit on them, they don't care about them. You never see salt water or even fresh water fish in dirty water because they can make a lot of money on them.


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

well, not always, but you do however see them crowed in their tanks, but at least they are filtered

so if it is fin rot, that's not that bad then?


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## BettaxFishxCrazy (Sep 5, 2009)

No, a lot of bettas will get it at some point because they're so fragile. It won't hurt him and it's not a disease. Clean water, salt and warm water will heal him up.


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## ecoprincess (Jul 16, 2009)

Well all i can say is that AT LEAST the water at your petco looks clean. UGH drives me nutz when i see dirty cloudy water in all the cups.........i followed someone elses example and whenever i see one that is near death i take it up to the cash and leave it there.........GET THE HINT! UGH


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

well i have all 3 for him =] does it matter if he has a light or not? someone said keep him in the dark for a week. How does that heal his fins? Just curious


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

ecoprincess said:


> Well all i can say is that AT LEAST the water at your petco looks clean. UGH drives me nutz when i see dirty cloudy water in all the cups.........i followed someone elses example and whenever i see one that is near death i take it up to the cash and leave it there.........GET THE HINT! UGH


wow, that def. makes a statement! *high five*


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## BettaxFishxCrazy (Sep 5, 2009)

If he was a tail biter I would suggest keeping the lights off, but not for fin rot. Tail biting is usually a nervous habit like nail biting is for us. When you turn the lights out and it's dark, they're able to calm down and not stress out while they're healing. If you wanted to keep his lights off, go ahead, it certainly won't hurt him.


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

well since i am not sure what it is, i guess lights out for the new guy =[


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## BettaxFishxCrazy (Sep 5, 2009)

Yeah that's a good idea. Keep us updated on how he's doing.


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

will do


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## mysquishy (Mar 12, 2010)

He is so pretty. His tail will heal up and be beautiful in no time. Post some more pics soon when he is settled in please.


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## xxabc (Feb 1, 2010)

DarthMaul said:


> well i am sorry that buying a new betta that seems to maybe have fin rot and the other one might have SBD makes me mad. I have had the WORST luck with bettas this past month and i'd rather return them, than have them die in my care. Has anyone lost 4 bettas at once in less than a week and a couple at the same time before that? So you can see why i'd rather get a refund. I did not pay $13.99 for a betta with fin rot. I can go back and get another one


Honestly fin rot is something that is close to guaranteed to come with bettas, and again, is about 5% life threatening. Fin rot comes from dirty water. If you so happen to get a betta that didn't get anything (disease wise), that deserves an award right there. 

When I got bettas ( I haven't gotten a betta in a year) they came with _velvet_. over and over, what seemed to be dropsy, IMO I would've been lucky to get a betta with "just" fin rot. And I really do mean _just_ fin rot. I don't know too much about SBD though. If you do return him, I wouldn't be surprised if you got a betta with an even worse disease (unless your Petco is really that good). 

Also...have you considered if there's anything wrong with your water? Like your city did something to the tap water? I wouldn't be surprised if there were stuff that's reaaaaally bad, causing issues with your betta. If you really get desperate, you could TRY to change water source for a while, like an experiment. Or call your city, that may be more useful and easier.


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

this one does not have SBD... that is another one, but that was constipation issues maybe and i could change water sources, but like i said, my water has been tested SEVERAL times and every time it's fine, but at this point, i will try anything


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

also my past bettas that lived for 2-3 yrs had the same water and conditions hahah


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## xxabc (Feb 1, 2010)

What is "fine"? Like, is that just ammonia/nitrite/nitrate? Like, I'm talking about extreme specifics. Any super-heavy metals or anything like that. And sometimes cities do something with their tap water. I've had my water changed before (the city added something, not sure), but it was an okay transition, no trouble or anything. But yeah, I'm talking past ammonia/nitrite/nitrate. I wouldn't be surprised if there's just _something_ in the water causing trouble, although I just don't know what...


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

fine = ALL water lvls are fine, i tested it, 2 pet shops tested it, this lady in my city who has been in fish for 25 yrs tested it, all said it was fine. I have mentioned this several times lol I did not mess up the water, however, the city might have, so the next water change i will used different water, i have heard bottled is good, but that will get expensive FAST


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

we can not rule out that this fish as well as my other ones where already sick to begin with. In the case of my sorority house. they all died at once after i added that forth one... but who knows, i am tired of thinking of it, tis' frustrating haah


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## xxabc (Feb 1, 2010)

Ahhh but no I'm not talking about water levels... like, can you specifically talk about what has been tested? I'm not saying you're doing something wrong, I'm saying that I'm not getting the info I want to know about it. 

I should've been more clear, I meant testing the ACTUAL tap water straight from the tap, not tank water.


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

oooo lol opps no, have not tested that straight from the tap.. i will have that lady test it asap!! thanks for that =]


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## xxabc (Feb 1, 2010)

Yeah, just realized I didn't even mention that. 

Okay, quick recap: 

Test your _tap water_ to test for anything nasty in there. Call your city to see if they changed ANYTHING in your tap water. I'm definitely not an expert when it comes to certain specifics though, but it helps to know if anything's changed at all.


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

sounds like a solid plan


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## xxabc (Feb 1, 2010)

Or not so solid, what if they didn't change it? Lol, just keeping an open mind. Good luck with that!


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

well then i am SOL... unless i spend money on better water


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## xxabc (Feb 1, 2010)

Ha, if only that were possible, I know what I'd pay for, Lol


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

like i said, i have "read" on here that bottled is nice


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

The reason I said to keep the tank dark is for his stress lines but if your adamant that that is just the picture then you don't have to keep them off.

Only use the aquarium salt for 10 days or less. Prolonged use of aquarium salt can cause liver and/ or kidney failure in bettas. Use temps 82-84* to help speed metabolism and cell growth. Do daily water changes during the 10 days you have the aquarium salt because there is nothing that will heal a fish better than clean water.. after that he should be good.


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## xxabc (Feb 1, 2010)

DarthMaul said:


> like i said, i have "read" on here that bottled is nice


Wait, what?


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

xxabc said:


> Wait, what?


I read bottled water isgood to use, also aquarium salt is bad after awhile??


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## xxabc (Feb 1, 2010)

Bottled water isn't necessarily good (lacks the minerals/vitamins) but would probably be the 2nd or backup water source if tap water is pretty screwed up. In my opinion, anyway.

And yeah, AQ seems to affect their kidney/livers after prolonged use. 10 days should be good, but I'm not sure how long until it really goes "bad" (but not in expiration sense).


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

xxabc said:


> Bottled water isn't necessarily good (lacks the minerals/vitamins) but would probably be the 2nd or backup water source if tap water is pretty screwed up. In my opinion, anyway.
> 
> And yeah, AQ seems to affect their kidney/livers after prolonged use. 10 days should be good, but I'm not sure how long until it really goes "bad" (but not in expiration sense).


Mmm ok, well thankyou


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## doggyhog (Apr 30, 2009)

Looks like fin rot to me. Looks like it's healing though...


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

well, it is VERY minor, b/c honestly, i just do not really see much wrong with his fins. He is beautiful haha. He currently stress stripe free ( i know what they look like, i have owned 4 girls ) and he is swimming and flaring at his reflection, and eating =]


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## mysquishy (Mar 12, 2010)

POst some more pics please. I really like him.


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

UPDATE: well i do have more pix, they just stink b/c i use my iphone haha but.... he is changing colors!! LAME... he was gorgeous when i got him... His blue is slowly fading away.. the front half of him is slowly turning white!! BOOOOOO HISSSSSSS HISSSSSS BOOOO =[


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

i am about to post new pix i just took in the photo section =]


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## FuulieQ (Jan 10, 2010)

He's gorgeous, that's what he is. ;D I envy you. I wonder what color he'll be once he's settled in with you.


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## Tinman23 (Apr 3, 2010)

I just have to comment on the 1st picture, is that one in the background really dead? If so then we should all go to that petco on one day and save as many as we can! lol


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## xxabc (Feb 1, 2010)

Tinman, we might as well buy out over half the bettas in the market right now, lol.


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## Tinman23 (Apr 3, 2010)

True, it is sad how they are kept...


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## DarthMaul (Mar 30, 2010)

that betta was close to dead. you dont want to see what the dead one looked like and his water... it was AWFUL =[


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