My fish is white and his fins receding!!!

[Sarah022]

Please help! I've had my betta fish, Narwhal, for over a year and I love him so much! This afternoon I noticed he is all white and his fins color is gone by the body! I don't know what to do! I've moved him to a quarantine tank with aquarium salt. I don't want him to die. I read it may be caused by a tumor but the thing is I don't see a tumor on him! I attached pictures. Please help!!!!!

 

[Metalhead88]

How has he been acting?

Fish do change colors throughout their life.... Some more drastically than others.

For starters, keep your water in good condition. He looks fine in the pictures.

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[MrDankYT]

He looks very sad You should really get a bigger tank for him, atleast 5 gallon and get a good filter and do water changes, but yes the colors look like normal colors and not something bad, just looks too depressing please do something about his small tank, also get some natural decor not neon pink stones... maybe some driftwood and java fern, also try java moss

 

[Naughts]

He looks very sad You should really get a bigger tank for him, atleast 5 gallon and get a good filter and do water changes, but yes the colors look like normal colors and not something bad, just looks too depressing please do something about his small tank, also get some natural decor not neon pink stones... maybe some driftwood and java fern, also try java moss

The OP has him in quarantine, I imagine he normally has more space.

 

[MrDankYT]

Poor guy looks 10x worse than when he wasn't in quarantine

and see the second picture, im sure that doesn't look like a quarantine tank, it's seriously so tiny! and neon blue and pink gravel with a single castle as decoration, it might be "enough" for this fish but this is so depressing to see him in such a small and unnatural aquarium

 

[Sarah022]

Thanks for all the input! So, he normally is in a 3.5 gallon tank that has a heater that keeps it about 80 degrees and a filter that runs constantly. He has a light which is on for about 14-16 hours a day then off at night. He also has a plant. And he loves the castle when I got it he swam in and out and in and out and he sleeps in it each night! What worries me so much is it was overnight that he changed like this. There is no reason for it. The quarantine tank is 1 gallon. He is looking worse this afternoon. I don't know what to do or if I should do anything or what. Here are more pictures. His fin is transparent and white by his body and now his top fin is too. Maybe nothing is wrong. But I'm so worried about my poor Narwhal.

 

[MrDankYT]

He is fine I can pretty much guarantee that, you're making him stressed by moving him, all that he has may be a minor problem of fin rot but that's it, put a big leafed plant with the roots under the castle, this will be a much better and natural sleeping spot for the Betta, it will also allow him to better hide.

 

[Metalhead88]

Usually when you quarantine its to keep the fish from spreading disease.

Assuming that he is alone, he should be kept in his normal tank.

By moving 1 fish around all you are doing is stressing the fish and possibly losing your cycle.

I'm assuming there is no filter on the bowl? How about on the 3.5 gallon tank?

This could very well be a water quality issue. He does look worse after being moved. I would not worry about the color change. His color looks just fine.

 

[MrDankYT]

Usually when you quarantine its to keep the fish from spreading disease.

Assuming that he is alone, he should be kept in his normal tank.

By moving 1 fish around all you are doing is stressing the fish and possibly losing your cycle.

I'm assuming there is no filter on the bowl? How about on the 3.5 gallon tank?

This could very well be a water quality issue. He does look worse after being moved. I would not worry about the color change. His color looks just fine.

Yes i agree, she did say the 3.5 gallon tank has a filter, with the tank being so small it can be very disturbing for the betta since it has so much surface area and will be pushed around a lot.

 

[Metalhead88]

Yes i agree, she did say the 3.5 gallon tank has a filter, with the tank being so small it can be very disturbing for the betta since it has so much surface area and will be pushed around a lot.

A small sponge filter or something similar would work well without being too disturbing.

I'm not sure what filter the op was using, but as you have mentioned, an over sized filter can be extremely disturbing towards a beta.

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[FishFinatic77]

I would put him back in his tank. He just looks like he's marbling (changing colors). Like @MrDankYT said, he may have some finrot so I would buy some aquarium salt and follow the directions on the back to see how much to put in the tank. Make sure you dissolve the salt in a clean cup first though because otherwise it could burn his gills.

 

[Sarah022]

Thank you guys so much!! Such a relief to know that he's going to be okay! I will get him a plant with roots hopefully by the end of the week! I have one more question. When they change color, is it usually so drastic so fast? He used to be a dark red to purple, and now he's almost white and its just very interesting. This happened in less than 6 hours. It seems so unusual and weird. Even his fins are turning white, and it just seems unnatural, but you guys know more than me! I just want to take the best possible care of my sweet fishy. Thanks!

 

[FishFinatic77]

It's really great to see a new hobbyist taking interest in things like this. Yes, they can change that quickly, but each betta is different. Some will change overnight and others (like my betta) will take months to completely change. Here is a really great video by Creative Pet Keeping that will explain marbling in more detail:

 

[Sarah022]

Wow that's so cool! I love my sweet fish and he just keeps getting better and better!!! Thank you so much for sharing the video! Thanks to everyone for their replies, I'm glad I didn't treat him for a disease he didn't have! I didn't know I had a marble betta, I got him at a free fish event in college in September of 2018. He is super sweet and I love watching him swim and he follows my finger on the glass of the tank and he is such a friendly fish! So glad he's okay, thanks again!