Betta Help!

Well, you should wait for other responses too, but Sometimes the red marks are just parts of their colouration. My two females which are black, pink, and blue, had bright pink stripes on their gill plates, and its nothing bad....

Nothing to worry about.

2) My Betta is ALWAYS hovering around the top of the tank now. And he keeps breathing air from the surface, and blowing them out his mouth. I am scared that the water is not suitable for him anymore.

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This is normal for a betta. Or did you not research the fish before you bought it?

www.bettatalk.com

Bettas do air breath, but not "ALWAYS".

Is he blowing bubbles out of his mouth that stay together in a clump on the surface? Thats a bubblenest. They do that when they like the water.

But excessive air-breathing can also signal water problems, like high ammonia or nitrite levels -- they both cause gill damage, so the fish will start to rely more heavily on its labyrinth to make up the difference. Have you tested for those two? Regular water changes?

dont bettas have barb things on thier gills??? maybe thats what your seeing

I'm sure it's not anything bad, but just wondering whether you "cycled" your tank before adding the betta. A five gallon is a decent sized tank for a betta! Good for you! He should enjoy the tank, but They generally prefer a calm water surface. You should adjust things so that he can make a bubble-nest if he wants. You may buy a small powerhead to power your UG filter. They don't need an air pump since they can breath O2 from the surface to suppliment their gill function.

I hope you are enjoying your betta. They really are great fish. I have one that is red and hard to see those lines that I think you are talking about but my daughters has a bluish face and he gets those red lines where his gills flare out. I've heard other people have the same thing happen and I know mine seems to be perfectly healthy otherwise.

I would work on your filter and get another kind like suggested. I don't know much about the UGF but I dont think they can be adjusted much as far as flow goes. I would try something you can cut the flow down a little so he can build a nest. The love to build them and are so proud of them. He may be trying to do that and that is why he is hanging out up there.

If he starts just hanging there vertically though with clamped fins we have a problem. Let us know how he is doing.

In the picture his fins look clamped down. I'd check your water for ammonia, nitrites & nitrates. Aside from that, bettas normally spend a great deal of time at the water surface blowing bubbles, etc.

Whatever you do, though, try to avoid using medications unless you are 100% sure of what is wrong & even then, be very conservative in dosage - better to treat with too little medicine than too much - I killed a betta by overmedicating it.