# New fish, scale loss (?)



## NyxDracona (Oct 1, 2010)

Hello, everyone! I'm a new fish mom (yes, oh god, the uneducated horror), and my shiny new VT betta male, Fiyero, just got settled into his new digs. I've been reading a lot since I bought him, and switched him out of his itty bitty 1/2 gallon "betta habitat" into a 5.5 gallon tank he has all to himself, with a heater and a filter and lots of places to hide and explore. But! I looked in on him two days ago and he had a couple of strange discolored, whitish looking spots on his face. I thought it was ich, so I treated him with the ich-away I inherited from a friend, followed the directions on the bottle, and did the 50% water change it called for 24 hours later (which was last night). He looked about the same, but it called for three cycles of treatment, so I didn't think much of it. But when I woke up this morning, the strange patch on his face had spread from two little specks to a bigger patch, but now that it spread, it looks like maybe he's missing scales. I've included a couple of pictures below, and here's all the other info I'm supposed to include:

Housing 
What size is your tank? 5.5 gallons
What temperature is your tank? 78 +/- 2 degrees F
Does your tank have a filter? Yes, a nice low-current one. Tetra Whisper for 2-10 gallon tanks, I think.
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No. Should it? Because I can fix that.
Is your tank heated? Yes.
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None, I guess his tank is too small for tank mates? Which is fine with me. 

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? He gets NutraFin Betta Flakes, with frozen bloodworms as a treat a couple of times a week (so far, anyhow).
How often do you feed your betta fish? Once a day. When I got him last week, I was feeding him twice a day, but read that I should decrease it to once per day, as much as he'll eat within a couple of minutes. Usually a couple of flakes.

Maintenance 
How often do you perform a water change? Every other day, because it's a new tank.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 30-50%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Tetra AquaSafe water conditioner and NutraFin Cycle, according to the instructions on the packages.

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity: 

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? He looks much greener, he was more blue when I got him. Also, the missing scales or strange discolored patch I mentioned (see pictures)
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? It really hasn't. He's eating, swimming around exploring, and seems pretty energetic. Other than the strange color change and missing scales he is behaving fine.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Two days ago, when I thought it was ich.
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? I treated him with Ich-Away two days ago, waited 24 hours and did a 50% water change. Directions said to wait 48 hours and repeat, which is what I was doing when the symptom changed.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? Not as far as I know...though his dorsal fin is curled over strangely, which I read might indicate a history of fin rot?
How old is your fish (approximately)? No idea. I got him from a LFS about a week ago.


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## NyxDracona (Oct 1, 2010)

Also, the color settings on my camera are a little wonky, I think because I don't know how to set it up for such close up images. Any advice would be fantastic. I just want to take care of him properly and have a healthy, happy fish.


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## DragonFish (Mar 31, 2009)

Hmm....my vote is going to be that he scraped his head on something, if hes not displaying any other odd behavior. Just keep his water clean, and perhaps add a bit of Aquarium salt(1 tsp per gallon, fully dissolved before adding, and when you do a PWC just add salt equivalent to the amount of water you took out.)
Check around his tank for any decoration remotely sharp enough for him to scrape himself on, and remove it. 

And I must say...what a lovely little boy!! I LOVE his colors <3 Is he a VT? i can't tell from the pics xDD


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## NyxDracona (Oct 1, 2010)

Oooh, I will definitely look! Thank you.  And I'll add aquarium salt like you said. Yeah, he's a VT. It's funny, he looks yellow-green under some light and blue-green under others. I think it might be the bulb I'm using, it has a slightly yellow tint to it. Anyhow, I appreciate your help, and I'll pass on the compliment. ^_^


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## DragonFish (Mar 31, 2009)

Haha, sure thing! Your very welcome


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