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My new Betta (who, thankfully, is getting along just fine with all his new tank-mates)seems to have a problem.

The flap of scales covering his gills seems to be bent on one side. Is this a major problem? Is there any way to fix it? It's only on one side. Also, he's not very active. Just kind of casually floating around. He doesn't respond at all to reflections of himself or flare up for anything.


http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii121/Khoax_90/MrBettaFish.jpg
Here's a photo of him.

The gill thing isn't a major problem in and of itself, he can get through life fine with a crooked gill plate, but it does tend to indicate bad water quality somewhere along the line. His case seems very minor in comparison to some, so it could be that or it might even be a fighting injury somewhere along the line as the angle on it is a bit severe. Has he only recently developed this issue?

Do you have test kits for ammonia and nitrite? If so, test your water and come back with the results. If not, grab a sample of water and take it down to the LFS for testing. Make sure you get the numbers, not just an answer like "it's fine" or something. The numbers are very important. Ideally, you want ammonia, nitrite and nitrate tests.

He does look clampy, but it isn't too bad. Do be careful though as it can easily slip over the edge into a fairly serious infection if it isn't fixed up. At the moment, it just looks like he needs good clean water and maybe some ketapang extract (Atison Betta Pro would do, though that has added salt so be careful if he's in a tank with cories or scaleless fish) to clear it up. If he's been like that since you got him, it'll be for bad water in the cup. If he's developed this behaviour and apperance afterwards, increase your water changes and reassess your biological filtration.

Is he eating OK? What are you feeding?

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

My male betta just sort of poked quietly around for a day or so. It was like he had a fear of open spaces, having spent most of his life in a cup.
Is that the gill part they flare up in battle? Perhaps a rival grabbed it when first raised and it stayed like that?
He is a lovely looking betta to me, but then I am no expert, just a new betta fan.

I'm getting some tests today to check the levels.

His gill plate has been like that since I got him. The water he was in looked kind of scummy,and he was very inactive when I got him.

He's still getting along great with the other fish, even swimming with them occasionally and playing with bubbles once and a while.

He's currently eating flakes and bloodworms(I think that's what they are) as treats.