My bettas gills have gotten redder and she seems a bit bloated. Shes been hiding a lot more then usual but her appetite is fine and everything. I've had my tank for about 2 weeks. Also is it normal for fish to poop a lot? Whenever I look at my 2 platies it seems as if they're always pooping. Am I doing anything wrong?
The stats in my tank are
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
PH: 6.7
Ammonia: .7 (a little high)
Hardness: 180-200

Any help would be great!!!

The redness can be from a few things, including the ammonia in your tnak, a bacterial infection, or a parasite.

.7 is more than just a little high, it has the potiential to be lethal to some fish. You need to begin immediate partial water changes, about 25% until this is back at zero. I would do two a day until it is under .25, then one a day until it iz zero.

Looking at your fish, does it seem to be scratching on objects in the tank? Does there seem to be mucous on the gills, or little parasites? If you look at the edges of its fins, are they even and smoothe? or have they been eaten away and the edges turned white or black?

The bloating can also be from a number of things. How long ago did you last feed your betta and how much did it eat?

I fed her about 20 min ago, like 4 betta pellets, she ate them all. Looking at her tail its a bit jagged, looks like its been eaten. I am doing the water changes to lower the ammonia I didn't think it could be tail rot because I treated the tank for tail rot (ick, cotton mouth and eye cloud) when one of my other fish was ill. Shes not scrathing, no mucus or parasites.

the bloating can be from eating. I have seen mine do that before.

See if she perks up after a few water changes. Does the tail look shreded or does it look like it is eroading away? What color is the edge of the tail (compared to normal)

Do the gill have any excess mucas on them, do they look like they are bleeding, check behind the gill plates to see if you can see anything attached, and on the front as well, is she heavy breathing, and is she flicking on things.

Her Gills look red but not bleeding. She seems a little perkier, not itchy or anything. Its just the bloating, redness of the gills and that fact that her tails a bit jagged that are bothering me.

It that a lump near the gill.

No, that was just a shadow because of the angle the pic was taken at

It could be anything from bacterial to parasite, it hard with out having a gill scrape done to see if it is parasites.
Can you slighty pull the gill flap back to take a look behind.

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/hdgilld.htm

This post has been edited by Wilder: Feb 10 2006, 08:37 PM