Black spots on female Betta

Question
I currently have 3 female bettas that live in a 5 gallon tank, all of which get along very well and are not aggressive towards each other.  I recently noticed that one of my creme colored bettas has black spots, which appear to be a discoloration in the fins and tail.  They have a balanced diet and a clean tank that I test every other week.  Can you help me diagnose this problem?

Answer
Hey Alycia,

Sounds to me like a bit of black spot. Black spot is kinda disgusting to think about. What you see is cysts in the skin and muscles caused by a parasite in the fish resulting in black spots all over the body. There are commercial fixes for it that your local petshop should have in stock, (bettamax, and other like products) but what's odd is I've only seen it in saltwater fish. I did some quick research, however, and found that it is quite possible to have in freshwater tanks.

Because i don't know as much as I'd like to about saltwater tanks and how they work, I can't offer too much more insight as to how to help.

Also, it's possible your fish have flukes or fish lice. Something of that nature is fairly easily cured, you just need something like maracide. It's more then likely that this is the problem, because the spots are isolated to the fins. If you do, however notice spots all over the body, I would start with black spot treatments.

It seems you've done all the prevention possible, and are doing all the right things. But, sometimes there are things we cant control. Don't take this as a sign to stop doing a great job as a caretaker of fish!

Best of luck and if you have any other questions please feel free to ask!