# Brown face?



## Flipmyfish (Jan 31, 2014)

One of my bettas is developing a brownish face and near his beard. Is this a sign that he's malnutritioned or he's sick? Please lmk, I wanna deal with it asap


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## Flipmyfish (Jan 31, 2014)

Here's how it looks like


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

What's the nitrite reading on his water?


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## Flipmyfish (Jan 31, 2014)

I'm not sure. What do you recommend i use to test it out? Sorry I'm new so I don't really know much


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

No worries. Explain your cleaning regime to me please 

This is probably normal, some fish color with age. How does he act normally?


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## Flipmyfish (Jan 31, 2014)

Well today was his last day in his 1 gallon tank. Now, he's in a 5 gallon tank. With his 1 gallon, I did a 50% water change every monday and a 100% every thursday. I usually turn on the filter 3x a day but stopped this monday. 

I get the age part, but i recently bought him. He seemed lethargic and bored in his 1 gallon, but now when i transferred him he's really energetic and apparently loves tight spaces.

He does seem a bit constipated and his belly seems to have grown bigger. Do you suggest i fast him for a few days? Or?


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## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

My bettas pretty much always develop that as they get older. I wouldn't worry about it. It's been normal for all of my bettas, male and female.

But, if he looks like my betta, Firefly, I would worry about dropsy. His fins are torn because he got into another section with my CT.


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## Flipmyfish (Jan 31, 2014)

Well the brown is all on the under part of his face, belly, that line about his anal fin, and there seems to also be a red spot growing on his caudal fin. It looks like he's bleeding or something


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## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

Interesting ... can you get a picture of the red spot on the caudal fin and a good shot of the colors on the anal fin?


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

Turning on and off the filter isn't doing anything for you or your tank and it might actually be causing spikes in ammonia and nitrites. I was going to say brown-blood disease at first but that's caused by living in high nitrite water for extended periods of time; the cleaning you do shouldn't affect him in that way. 

I go back to my age thing. Unless this red spot becomes an issue. Try to get a picture if you can!


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## Flipmyfish (Jan 31, 2014)

Well the brown seems to be fading away. But the red spot is still there. It's not red red, it's more of a mahogany red that's really hard to spot.

What do you suspect Kiara?


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## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

Well, it would help a lot if you could get a side picture of him. That way we can see how bloated he is. He looks fine for the most part. The energetic-ness is good and I'm believing that the color is due to the age factor. A lot of bettas are around a year old by the time they find an owner. I've had a lot of bettas get that coloring while getting older. It's just bad if it appears very quickly and they become super bloated, lethargic, and pale. Then it's probably dropsy. I've also noticed that older bettas do not need to be fed as much because their metabolism slows down. When my bettas get over a year old, they tend to get fatter and can be fed less. The same thing applies for people.


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## Flipmyfish (Jan 31, 2014)

Here are some pics. The line above his anal fin has begun to brown, but his behavior hasn't changed. So you might be right Kiara, maybe he is getting old :/

Sorry about the pics. He's really iridescent so the colors seem to change and disappear a bit in the pictures


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## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

Yep! It's just color change. Gorgeous betta by the way.  My boyfriend said that some of his bettas started to have that color change when they were younger, so I wouldn't worry about anything.


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## Flipmyfish (Jan 31, 2014)

Thanks! I'm so confused about his color though. At one angle he's an awesome mint green, then at another, he's a baby blue-turquoise color -___-

Thanks for the advice Kiara and Laki!


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## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

xD That's bettas/fish for ya! And you're most certainly welcome.


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