# Sudden dark spot on my Betta's body... body rot? What to do!?



## Mistys (Apr 27, 2020)

Discovered this dark spot on my betta's body Thursday evening. Added salt to his water but I don't think it has improved. Is it body rot or something else?
He's currently in a small 2liter tank.. I was gonna have him share a sub-divided 24 liter tank with another betta, but I don't want to put him in the tank before I'm sure he's well and not contagious etc...

Please let me know what you guys thinks this is and how I might treat it! Thanks 🙏

Additional info: when I got him his tail was all shredded. I treated it with indian almond leaves and salt and he was in prime condition afterwards. I've attached a before and after picture... 

*Housing:*
How many gallons is your tank? 0.5? 2 liter
Does it have a filter? No
Does it have a heater? Yes
What temperature is your tank? 28 degrees celcius.
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Does your Betta have tank mates? What kind? no

*Food:*
What food brand do you use? Frozen (defrosted) bloodworms and some specialty Betta food imported from Thailand.
Do you feed flakes or pellets? Worms and pellets
Freeze-dried? no
How often do you feed your Betta? How much? Daily, 10 pellets or 2-5 worms. It is advised to feed 10 pellets daily according to the instructions on the packaging. 

*Maintenance:
Before* your Betta became ill how often did you perform a water change? Daily
What percentage of water did you change? 10-20%
What is the source of your water? Tap water that has been left out for a few days
Do you vacuum the substrate or just dip out water? I use a "turkey baster" to remove the dirty water at the bottom
What additives do you use? What brand of conditioner? none

*Water Parameters:*
What are your water parameters? Please give exact numbers. If tested by pet store please get exact numbers. "Fine" or "Safe" won't help us help you. Important: Test your water _before_ the regular water change; not after one.

Ammonia: ?
Nitrite: ?
Nitrate: ?
pH: ?
Hardness (GH): ?
Alkalinity (KH): ?

I don't know

*Symptoms and Treatment:*
When did you first notice the symptoms? Thursday evening (3 days ago)
How has your Betta’s appearance changed? Sudden appearance of dark spot on body near swim bladder area.
How has your Betta’s behavior changed? It hasn't. He is energetic and eats well.
Is your Betta still eating? Yes
Have you started treating your Betta? If so, how? Added aquarium salt to the water and increased the daily water change amount from 10-20% to 30% when I noticed the spot.
Does your Betta have any history of being ill? His tail was shredded when I received him 
How long have you owned your Betta? 1 month
Was he or she ill or suffering some sort of damage when purchased? Shredded tail







Tail.Before and After


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## X skully X (Mar 17, 2020)

Mistys said:


> What is the source of your water? Tap water that has been left out for a few days





Mistys said:


> What brand of conditioner? none


Do you have a well on your property? Is that why you don’t use water conditioner? 
the Black scales look normal, I don’t see fuzz or rotting. It’s most likely he is changing color a bit. where ever you got him... they didn’t keep his water very clean and his fins suffered for it. They look better now than the before pics. Just keep up on the water changes and eventually his curled ventral fins may straighten out. one of my bettas came to me with curled fins and after months of being with me they are finally starting to straighten out. They still look like little scoops but definitely better than before. 
my advice is to get a water testing kit for future use, keep up with Indian almond leaves and stop adding salt. You don’t need it. I always quarantine for at least two weeks some people go longer. 👍🏻


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## littlescallop33 (May 16, 2020)

I would have to agree with x_skully_x Unless you notice any other symptoms, it looks like just normal color changing, although I could be wrong, I’m still fairly new to Betta keeping. He looks gorgeous though btw!! He is the first other grey (grey-ish) Betta I have seen on here, I also have a grey Betta


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

He looks much better; you have done a good job.

Sometimes fins curl if the water if hard. It could be where he was before had harder water than yours. That would explain the easing of the curl.

As noted above, unless you are on well water you must use conditioner. Years ago, water only had chlorine in it and that evaporates after 24 hours so conditioner wasn't needed. Today water contains fluoride, chloromine and other things that are not fish-friendly. They don't always immediately show the effects of such exposure. SeaChem Prime is a good one.

I am going to disagree a bit with the above. I'm not convinced the spot indicates normal color change. Not that it can't happen, but I've not yet had a Betta with the marble gene change in one specific spot. So keep a watch and if he starts becoming lethargic or the spot starts looking raised or abnormal post photos. Because some change is so low it will help you to take a photo every other day or so.

BTW, is that a white scale in the middle of the darker circle? Or is does it look something like a pimple?


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## Mistys (Apr 27, 2020)

Thank you all for your kind replies.

About the water - I'm not using well water. I'm just using the normal, public water supply... When I bought my first fish I was told to just leave the water out so that the chlorine would evaporate, and that's that... I was under the assumption that once the chlorine was gone, what remained would be minerals and whatnot, which would be beneficial to the fish.... I now realize that I was totally wrong about that haha!
I've been busy lately, but I'll buy some water conditioner asap!



> BTW, is that a white scale in the middle of the darker circle? Or is does it look something like a pimple?


I think it's a lighter colored scale or just a normal scale that the light bounces off in a certain way which makes it look white. It's not a pimple (I triple-checked after reading this comment, just to make sure).

Anyway, here are some updated photos. The one that is clear and easy to see is from Monday. The unclear one was taken just now. As you can see the spot has grown and he's turning dark in other areas too. Hopefully this signifies that he really is just changing colors, and that everything is the way it's supposed to be..... He's still eating a lot, pooping a lot and swimming around happily. Two days ago he went all out building a bubble nest, which I then proceeded to destroy when I changed his water... I'm sorry little buddy 😅


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

If he's changing in other spots then it could be simple color change.

I am constantly amazed at what people are told about fish...including those in pet stores.

If you have the budget and space, you will find a larger home with a filter will really cut down on maintenance. You'll be able to do weekly 25% water changes instead of daily. I have a couple of 2-3 gallon vases I really like. I use sponge filters and a pump. The vases I had on hand. I was storing some plants in them. I think my Betta were both disappointed when I removed one from each vase.


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