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  L# Coloring up a betta?
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SubscribeColoring up a betta?
reun
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Big Fish
Posts: 332
Kudos: 216
Registered: 04-Nov-2005
male usa
I had to move tanks recently, and my betta lost alot of its color...i have tried to condition it with stress coat and live and frozen foods along with its diet...to no avail. it was loosing color before the move, and after the move the body turned almost silver.

is this a sign of age? the fins are in good condition, my lemons arent nipping them, and while they arent damaged by poor water conditions or anything, he rarely flares them anymore.

any suggestions? behavior hasnt changed and isnt having any swelling or swimming difficulties...no fungus or scales looking any differant than normal...and none of the other tankmates are experiencing any problems at all.

ph 7.0, no measurable n2o, nh3 or nh4...15% water changes twice weekly with gravel vac, water is slightly hard, and tempature 76 degrees.
Post InfoPosted 27-Oct-2007 23:45Profile PM Edit Report 
Twilight
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Hobbyist
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female canada
From what I understand, this can happen without any outward cause, from genetically unstable pigmentation. This tends to be the red pigment. Was your little guy red, by chance?

I vote! Do you?
Post InfoPosted 28-Oct-2007 01:49Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
reun
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Big Fish
Posts: 332
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Registered: 04-Nov-2005
male usa
it was actually a dark blue/purple fantail betta with blue and red highlights on the fins...now the fins have white coloring along with the old colors, and the body is loosing purple/blue color and is turning silver.

i would think if he had been dyed it woulda worn off before 4 months...maybe not, or maybe it is pigment, or maybe i am doing something wrong?
Post InfoPosted 28-Oct-2007 04:06Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
keithgh
 
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*Ultimate Fish Guru*
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male australia au-victoria
If he was loosing colour before the change that is where you should start looking. The stress of moving would not help at all. How old is he it could easily be age.
Is there a big difference between the two tanks before and after?

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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Post InfoPosted 28-Oct-2007 08:22Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
Callatya
 
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Moderator
The girl's got crabs!
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female australia au-newsouthwales
EditedEdited by Callatya
Could be the marble gene. As far as I know it is actually a group of genes that cause patchy colouration, white base plus any other number of colours, making it look like a pinto or roan horse, or sometimes giving it butterfly or piebald colour patterns (though they are separate genes also I believe, butterflies aren't necessarily marbles and vice versa). Visually they can all look the same, but the is a type that has morphing colour patterns and usually it is a bleaching effect where the pigment either changes position or disappears for stretches of time. It is more common for blues and blacks to change, but reds do a good job too (though they generally go streaky and somewhat like red wash, whereas blues and blacks will often speckle or splodge.)

IF it is marble doing this, and you don't like the new colour, wait 2 months, more than likely it'll look completely different again!

Any chance of a piccie?

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Post InfoPosted 28-Oct-2007 09:34Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
reun
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Big Fish
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male usa
EditedEdited by reun
I have a pic, however, the quality is poor due to my digital camera's inability to take clear moving shots...the area around the betta is flowing water from one of the filters making it worse.

I did notice today that instead of being silver....he is pink! you can barely make out from the photo that the silver splotches are almost gone and most of the body is a light pink...keep in mind his origional color was actually a very dark blue with dark red fins. the head and frontal fins are still the dark blue though...

there are still the weird white stripes in between his long flowing fins, and for somereason today the fins look more bedraggled than ussual...i am at a loss, i have no idea whats going on with this little guy...

http://mysite.verizon.net/reswyf0q/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/betta.jpg


maybe one of you will have some suggestions on what I am doing wrong...
Post InfoPosted 28-Oct-2007 22:00Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
Callatya
 
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female australia au-newsouthwales
He still looks nice and bright, albeit a bit stressed.

To me, the colour looks like a result of marbling, you can see the darker pigment changing along his body.

For the moment, given no other signs other than colour changes, just treatc as peer normal and keep an eye on him. He could just be reacting to the increased stress coat (I have had some issues with that and bettas, I'd be very wary of ODing it if you use it) or something simple like that. Nice clean water and good food, and just keep an eye out for anything else

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Post InfoPosted 29-Oct-2007 06:02Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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