How stress affects betta fins

[Rizen]

Hank, my black orchid male betta, finally got his regular water change yesterday - a couple of days late, I might add. The filter output was pulsating pretty wildly afterwards, so I've had it mostly off until now. Just finished rinsing and cleaning his filter pad, and I'm having a bit of trouble reassembling the filter. That's when I noticed his fins are darkening up.

He lost some color after his last illness, and it's been slowly coming back, but now the white areas on his fins are more of a clear. Now, it looks like someone's poured ink all over him - I'm talking a pretty drastic change. His back fin's almost entirely black now, whereas before it was blue and white/clear. I know I tend to worry about everything, but this is definitely something new I've never seen before.

His appearance now is shown in the first two pics, and the third one's what he looked like before - just for comparison. To clarify, he didn't look like this morning.

[Rizen]

I just realized I fed Hank a couple minutes before cleaning the filter, and I didn't notice the darkening fins at all back then.

[juicebox]

I'm more concerned about the rapid change in his fin color, to be honest.

[Rizen]

I'm more concerned about the rapid change in his fin color, to be honest.

He's even darker now than when I first posted - it's like he's a completely different fish. His forehead has this light marking that just showed up an hour ago, I'm getting a little worried it might be ich, but I have no idea how to tell or what to do about it. He's still swimming around fine and acting normal, so that's a good sign, I guess. I just dosed the tank with safestart since it's been 24 hours after adding prime. Wish my pictures were clearer, but he never stays still long enough for me to get a good shot.

[kingrise]

I'm having a bit of trouble seeing the difference in the pics, to be honest. You're saying the color's what's changed, right?

[kingrise]

Are the spots on his head flat or slightly raised? They don't look like typical ich spots in your pics, but I'm no expert.

[Rizen]

I'm having a bit of trouble seeing the difference in the pics, to be honest. You're saying the color's what's changed, right?

It's more like a white patch on his scales, really. No distinct border, and there are these faint tiny splatters around the color.

[juicebox]

Maybe he's just coming into his own now, you know, getting his true colors. My guy was pretty pale when I first got him, almost white, but he's turned into this gorgeous vibrant blue. Could be your Hank's just less stressed now.

[Rizen]

I'm more concerned about the rapid change in his fin color, to be honest.

I really hope that's all it is - him getting his true colors, I mean. I loved the way the white and blue contrasted on his fins, but if stress was causing it, I'd be more than happy to see it go.

I'm probably overthinking this, but it's hard not to when you're reading about all these diseases that can be fatal for fish. It's not exactly great for my anxiety, lol.

I'm going to try to stay positive and assume he's just feeling vibrant enough to show it off - forehead spot and all.

[Rizen]

My mom stopped by and was all about feeding him, says he's looking the most vibrant and healthy he's ever been, so I'm gonna take that as a win. Maybe all this color change fuss is just him feeling his best - new coloration and all, Hank's rocking it.