anyone please help betta
- Thread starter mll6966
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outofwater
Fish Addict
I see, I took your comment to mean you used some cleaning agent of sorts. Was anything "new" (like the gloves or brush you mentioned) or soaked in non-treated water before or during the cleaning? Only other thing that comes to mind, to rule out water issues, would be to test your tap water to ensure the pH, GH or KH are withing the usual parameters. Barring water contamination of sorts, then its a disease that somehow is now manifesting and I think Colin_T already addressed that with his usual thoroughness
Its okay, I didn't phrase it that well its been a bad day. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary. I dechlorinate before I refill the tank obvs ( and then I just the brush after that. I have tested all my water parameters tap-wise in the past (i'm a little crazy) and I put so much effort into him. Then when I refill the tank I scan the temp of the tank water then refill a pitcher, scan the pitcher water to match, and then repeat that till the tank in full again. he just went to his leaf and almost looked like he was coughing / spazzing I don't know!
outofwater
Fish Addict
Not sure what I can add other than recommending you test both your tank and tap water now and compare/post results. If water isn't an issue then it's some disease, and besides the water changes the first thing to try will probably be aquarium salt until (hopefully) he gets better or (hopefully not) more signs show up that can help figure out exactly what is going on to go for actual meds if needed. Is he eating normally/at all?
so I have some videos on the camera I have set up outside his tank.. my mom was the one who rushed up with morning after checking on him and i'm going through them all now, he's clearly really panting and its been like that all day. I added salts earlier. I've never uses them before... any idea on how long its takes to do anything?
outofwater
Fish Addict
What salt are you using and what dosage? If you just search for "salt" in the forums and find posts by Colin_T you'll find that if you are using the right dosage you can expect to go for a few days, 2 weeks, and up to 4 weeks, depending on how your fish responds to it.
You'll also find that bettas and other fish are more sensitive to exposure to salt so you have to be thorough both with the dosage and the time you keep it under treatment.
Once again though, it is better to start with salt and not try to jump to actual "hard" medicine until you have near 100% certainty of what you're treating, otherwise you can end up doing more harm to the fish.
Keep an eye on him, confirm your water parameters at tank and off the tap, check his current feeding activities and check if his poop looks abnormal (too stringy, white/discolored) as any of those signs will help the more experienced members here try to diagnose whatever is going on with him.
Good luck!
SALT
Using Salt to Treat Fish Health Issues.
For some fish diseases you can use salt (sodium chloride) to treat the ailment rather than using a chemical based medication. Salt is relatively safe and is regularly used in the aquaculture industry to treat food fish for diseases. Salt has been successfully used to treat minor fungal and bacterial infections, as well as a number of external protozoan infections. Salt alone will not treat whitespot (Ichthyophthirius) or Velvet (Oodinium) but will treat most other types of protozoan infections in freshwater fishes.
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.
Using Salt to Treat Fish Health Issues.
For some fish diseases you can use salt (sodium chloride) to treat the ailment rather than using a chemical based medication. Salt is relatively safe and is regularly used in the aquaculture industry to treat food fish for diseases. Salt has been successfully used to treat minor fungal and bacterial infections, as well as a number of external protozoan infections. Salt alone will not treat whitespot (Ichthyophthirius) or Velvet (Oodinium) but will treat most other types of protozoan infections in freshwater fishes.
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.
Do you use hand sanitiser, have moisturising cream, grease, oil or anything else on your hands?
Did you have visitors (maybe someone stuck their fingers in the tank)?
Does anyone smoke, paint, use hair spray, deodorant, perfume, etc, in the room?
----------------------
As mentioned by outofwater, check the tap water for anything you can and make sure the water company hasn't been changing things at their end.
Adding salt is fine at this stage because it would appear the water is possibly ok. I would still do a couple of water changes just to rule out contamination.
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I used API aquarium salt! He didn't make much progress I was up very late just checking on him and seeing his gills and breathing! To my surprise and I got up this morning and he's swimming around breathing normally all happy again. I'm still going to keep a very close eye on him! I was thinking maybe he had gotten a pellet stuck in his throat and he couldn't move it. I don't know but I'm just thankful he is acting better. And thank you so much to everyone who jumped in and helped!
Does anyone know if I should hold off feeding him today or until tonight as a precaution or anything else I should think of?
Does anyone know if I should hold off feeding him today or until tonight as a precaution or anything else I should think of?
outofwater
Fish Addict
Well that's awesome news! I'd recommend taking it slowly and either wait one more day for feeding, or start with half the usual portion and ramp up for 2 to 4 days to ensure all continues well. Also, you have to follow up on the salt. Again erring on the side of caution I'd keep the salt for another day or two, and assuming all continues well, get the salt off your tank by doing a big water change. Good luck, glad to see things are getting better.
Thanks so much again. And as in follow up on the salt just keep what I put in so far? And then do a water change it may be 50%??
I gave him a tiny bit of food and I soaked it in water it was freeze dried brine shrimp and I was just wanted to be extra careful.. he gobbled it right up ! I also have frozen brine shrimp but I want to get a new batch because I’ve had that for a bit. Still being very cautious !
If this was the case you might want to avoid them and give smaller food.
Yes, stop adding salt at water changes to reduce the salt levels slowly to allow his body to adapt gradually. You can change 10% of the water a day for a week, then 20% a day for a week, then return to 50% weekly.
I often rescue fish and the reason in many cases for your betta behaving the way it is often due to incorrect diet or nigh nitrites and low oxygen levels. My own Betta are kept at 26C 79F and this is the right temperature to have a betta. My own betta are all fed crushed brine shrimp flakes, crushed dried daphnia, mini cichlid pellets and betta gold which i put into a container and mix together and then feed a pinch of the mix to my betta almost daily. Mine also get live bloodworm and live daphnia. Do be careful what treatments you put into the water with a betta as some coat their labyrinth and can cause them to struggle to breathe. On facebook there is a group called freshwater aquariums for newbies, their moderator team have experienced people who keep betta and can give accurate info and advice
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