Betta Breathing Fast at Bottom of Tank

itiwhetu said:

Don't think they will die. Make sure your light is on a timer for 10 hours per day. 10 hours is a good starting point depending on what happens that can be adjusted to suit your plants. By the way it doesn't matter what 10 hours as long as the tank is lit for 10 hours per day.

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carlyb9 said:

I turn the lights on when I wake up and turn them off before I go to sleep so they are on for about 10-12 hours a day.

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itiwhetu said:

Please put them on a timer. I have talked about constants in another thread the more constants we have the easier it is to control the tank and what happens in it.
So.
We have constant temperature
We have constant water changes
We have constant feeding
We have constant filtration
We have constant fish numbers ()
We have constant Light
Now if anything goes wrong we know it is an outside influence or one of our constants has failed.

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carlyb9 said:

Went out to the pet store and bought some live plants and some new gravel. I also did about a 50% water change and didn't add any more salt or medication. I turned off the air stone to decrease water flow. After I put Sour Patch in the tank, he swam right back down to the bottom and is still breathing fast like he has been. He is also a little bit bloated. Any advice on this?

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carlyb9 said:

I saved the cup he came in when I bought him at the store. I fill it with the aquarium water and scoop him out of the tank.

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carlyb9 said:

I really hope so. Is there anything I should do about the bloating?

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OliveFish05 said:

you could treat him for constipation? Don't feed him for two or three days, then feed him a little bit of a thawed, peeled pea or thawed spinach

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carlyb9 said:

He hasn't eaten since Sunday but I can try to feed him a pea or spinach and see if he eats it.

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OliveFish05 said:

Ok, a pea is better if you have it, but I used spinach. So either should work.

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carlyb9 said:

I held a small piece of a pea in front of him. He took a small bite but then spit it back out.

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OliveFish05 said:

Hmmmmmmmm. I am not sure. Maybe try again in a day or two when he has adjusted more to his new setup. Fish can go two weeks without eating, so he shouldn't starve!

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carlyb9 said:

Ok. I really hope he gets better soon. He got like this basically overnight so I'm not really sure what happened.

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