Red stain is it blood?

[ghostorchid]

I noticed a red stain coming from Charlie's gill a couple days ago. It looked like blood. I haven't seen it since but it has me scared he is sick. Charlie is three years old and still acts like he did when I first adopted him. Charlie knows me and knows his name, believe it or not. He has always been very healthy. Any ideas? Thank you.

[Lady Hobbs]

Charley is what kind of fish? Is he rubbing himself on gravel or rocks or anything like it itches?

[ghostorchid]

Opps, Charlie is a betta. I don't think he is rubbing on anything. I did see a small piece of his tail looked a little torn also. But it also is gone now. It was odd there was just a small amount of what looked like blood oozing from his gill area.

[Lady Hobbs]

Is he in the tank alone?

[Incredulous_Ed]

If the gill was inflamed and the fin was torn, try changing the water everyday until it goes away. But if he is in the tank with another fish, the other fish could be fighting with him.

[ghostorchid]

Nope, Charlie is all by himself so he doesn't fight with anyone. He just gets a little pouty at times with me. He seems to be fine now. It just alarmed me when I saw the streaks. I know he is getting old and I am always afraid I will find him sick. I keep his bowl pretty clean. I clean it with baking soda and rinse it well. Here's how hardy Charlie is. I did not have any baking soda so I thought uhmmm, I could use toothpaste, after all I can put it in my mouth. I rinsed well as usual. Well, when I put Charlie back in his home he nearly jumped out. As a matter of fact he jumped in to the net to get out. The mint had a very intense effect on him. He was fine though. This was three months ago and no effects afterwards. He was just happy to have his clean home again minus the mint.

[kimmers318]

Toothpaste to clean a tank....hmmm, haven't heard that one before! I guess I won't consider any minty kinds :) Any particular reason you were scrubbing the entire tank at once?

[Zepher03]

My betta has a mane that puffs out when he get's mad but it looks like streaks of blood when it's only sticking out a little bit. sometimes it appears sometimes it doesn't, but if your really concerned it'd either take him to a pet shop that seems to know alot about bettas ( the petctera here has an amazing girl working there and she's helped me alot already) or phone a vet and ask if they look at fish, our vet for our dogs took a look at his scales free of charge but they also have to be experienced with fish. alot of vets laugh when you ask about fish.