# White belly



## Inspiration Orange (May 24, 2013)

Housing
What size is your tank? 4 gallons
What temperature is your tank? 80 degrees
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? PetCo betta pellets - have ordered NLS betta pellets, which should arrive later today
How often do you feed your betta fish? morning and evening

Maintenance 
How often do you perform a water change? weekly
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? Stress Coat

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

Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:0
pH:7.4
Hardness:
Alkalinity: 

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? belly turned white a couple of weeks ago and is still white
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? it hasn't - he acts perfectly healthy
When did you start noticing the symptoms? a week or so ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? no treatment - monitoring water conditions for stress-inducers
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no
How old is your fish (approximately)? a year (?)

I'm curious to get some opinions as to why my fish's belly is white now. He looks like he may be a bit bloated as well, but not too much. It's not SBD and it's not constipation (he's pretty regular). His head did turn grey and his top and bottom fins lightened a bit a month and a half ago, but he's never acted like he doesn't feel well.

Could the white belly be related to the apparent minor bloating? Could that be the result of a lesser quality food?

Thanks


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Bellies turning white are another sign of stress so something could be bothering him. And yes he could be constipated enough to stress him out. Check to see how much the pellets swell in a different cup of water, that usually how I regulate my feedings. Although NLS doesn't swell too much so you can generally feed a good amount ^_^ But loosing of any color is from stress.

I have one Betta that looses color right before a water change because he's scared, while another get's stress stripes when I put the lights back over the tank but neither are really sick, just stressed out.


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