Hello all!
this past December we got a beautiful little half moon koi betta we named Gary. He has been doing great. We had a scare with ich late December but after quarantining and giving medication he made a recovery. Otherwise he’s been a joyful little wiggle worm and we love him so much!
unfortunately yesterday, he became lethargic and overall not being his silly self. I kept an eye on him and saw that he barfed up something very small. I couldn’t identify it exactly, but it looked like very small plastic, about half the size of his eyeball. He was doing ok until he became so lethargic he began lying on the ground of his tank. He would go through cycles of being very tired, then swim around, then become exhausted again. About twice I was concerned he was dying and panicked. After my husband and I did some research, we came to the conclusion it is likely swim bladder. He is off-kilter, he sort of loses his balance and floats at times, and will have these odd moments where it appears like he is trying to vomit. He will purse his mouth out, and today I saw him lying on his side flaring his gills multiple times before falling asleep again. He will have these moments of normal behavior between these times of fatigue. He will swim, go to the top, blow bubbles, and then become tired again.
we have experienced ich and neon tetra disease and he doesn’t look like he has an infection. His coloration is normal. Our tank parameters are as follows:
- five gallon tank, heated and planted
- this morning we decided to reduce some of the water so he struggles less swimming around and going to the top. We keep the light on dimmed so the plants still release oxygen. He also has a betta log
- he has a snail and baby snails as tank mates. They’ve never had conflict.
- temperature yesterday was 79, today it is 80.7 I’m assuming due to us removing some water.
- pH has always been around 6.6 a 6.8. I have been checking twice a day since this occurred.
- no ammonia, no nitrites, 0-5 ppm of nitrates. Again this hasn’t fluctuated
- water last changed yesterday and we always give conditioner
- in hindsight we likely have been over feeding. He gets a sprinkle of bug bites about once or twice a day and brine shrimp once a day or once every other day that is frozen.
we love this little guy so much and it’s hard to see him like this. Right now he is resting and breathing normally. Do you all have any advice going forward ? We think fasting him for 3 days and seeing how he looks, but wonder if there are any techniques such as adding aquarium salt or the frozen pea method he may benefit from. I’m hesitant to change anything drastically to avoid inducing issues. We called the aquarium store and they said maybe add quick cure but it doesn’t seem bacterial or fungal to me, especially since his water parameters are fine.
Thank you all for your time.
Here is a link to videos of his behavior:
this past December we got a beautiful little half moon koi betta we named Gary. He has been doing great. We had a scare with ich late December but after quarantining and giving medication he made a recovery. Otherwise he’s been a joyful little wiggle worm and we love him so much!
unfortunately yesterday, he became lethargic and overall not being his silly self. I kept an eye on him and saw that he barfed up something very small. I couldn’t identify it exactly, but it looked like very small plastic, about half the size of his eyeball. He was doing ok until he became so lethargic he began lying on the ground of his tank. He would go through cycles of being very tired, then swim around, then become exhausted again. About twice I was concerned he was dying and panicked. After my husband and I did some research, we came to the conclusion it is likely swim bladder. He is off-kilter, he sort of loses his balance and floats at times, and will have these odd moments where it appears like he is trying to vomit. He will purse his mouth out, and today I saw him lying on his side flaring his gills multiple times before falling asleep again. He will have these moments of normal behavior between these times of fatigue. He will swim, go to the top, blow bubbles, and then become tired again.
we have experienced ich and neon tetra disease and he doesn’t look like he has an infection. His coloration is normal. Our tank parameters are as follows:
- five gallon tank, heated and planted
- this morning we decided to reduce some of the water so he struggles less swimming around and going to the top. We keep the light on dimmed so the plants still release oxygen. He also has a betta log
- he has a snail and baby snails as tank mates. They’ve never had conflict.
- temperature yesterday was 79, today it is 80.7 I’m assuming due to us removing some water.
- pH has always been around 6.6 a 6.8. I have been checking twice a day since this occurred.
- no ammonia, no nitrites, 0-5 ppm of nitrates. Again this hasn’t fluctuated
- water last changed yesterday and we always give conditioner
- in hindsight we likely have been over feeding. He gets a sprinkle of bug bites about once or twice a day and brine shrimp once a day or once every other day that is frozen.
we love this little guy so much and it’s hard to see him like this. Right now he is resting and breathing normally. Do you all have any advice going forward ? We think fasting him for 3 days and seeing how he looks, but wonder if there are any techniques such as adding aquarium salt or the frozen pea method he may benefit from. I’m hesitant to change anything drastically to avoid inducing issues. We called the aquarium store and they said maybe add quick cure but it doesn’t seem bacterial or fungal to me, especially since his water parameters are fine.
Thank you all for your time.
Here is a link to videos of his behavior:
keep us posted!
