Betta Flicking Against Plants

[Lacuna]

During the past few days I have noticed that my betta has started to flick against plant leaves and objects in his tank. Other than this his behaviour is normal, he is very active and still eating like a pig. Does anyone know what this might be a sign of? He has been in the tank since October last year and has pygmy corys and kuhli loaches as tankmates. The water stats are 0 for ammonia and nitrite, and 20 for nitrate, ph 7.6. I also think he is starting to do it more often than he was.

 

[-Rob-]

During the past few days I have noticed that my betta has started to flick against plant leaves and objects in his tank. Other than this his behaviour is normal, he is very active and still eating like a pig. Does anyone know what this might be a sign of? He has been in the tank since October last year and has pygmy corys and kuhli loaches as tankmates. The water stats are 0 for ammonia and nitrite, and 20 for nitrate, ph 7.6. I also think he is starting to do it more often than he was.

sounds like the first signs of ich (what mine had) or could be internal or gill parasites.

 

[silverrabbit]

Does he look like he has grains of salt on his fins/body? as said above, sounds like Ich/whitespot. If you can't see any salt-like grains, it could be something like Velvet (another spot disease), which is like a layer of gold dust coating the fish. It can be seen if you turn out the lights and shine a torch on him.. should be able to see the dustyness.

I found a good treatment to be eSHa EXIT, doesn't seem too harsh for bettas IMO

 

[melave]

During the past few days I have noticed that my betta has started to flick against plant leaves and objects in his tank. Other than this his behaviour is normal, he is very active and still eating like a pig. Does anyone know what this might be a sign of? He has been in the tank since October last year and has pygmy corys and kuhli loaches as tankmates. The water stats are 0 for ammonia and nitrite, and 20 for nitrate, ph 7.6. I also think he is starting to do it more often than he was.

If I was you I would get some medication for your betta. I used to have a Gourami which kept rubbing against the thermometer in my tank and he didn't last too long after that. You'd best try and treat it now in case its bad. It might not be the same thing though.

 

[Lacuna]

Thanks for the replies. I don't have a torch, so can't try shining a light on him. At the moment he doesn't seem to have any other symptoms like grains of salt or gold dust coating, though he is resting more than normal. I have Interpet Anti White Spot in the cupboard, should I treat the tank with that? There are other fish in the tank. Will it effect the filter bacteria?

 

[-Rob-]

Thanks for the replies. I don't have a torch, so can't try shining a light on him. At the moment he doesn't seem to have any other symptoms like grains of salt or gold dust coating, though he is resting more than normal. I have Interpet Anti White Spot in the cupboard, should I treat the tank with that? There are other fish in the tank. Will it effect the filter bacteria?

my fish took a while to show signs of it, apart from the flicking against things. if your fish is healthy it wont make it very ill straight away, but is best to sort asap. i used waterlife white spot treatment, worked well for me, cant be used with invertabrates tho.

i dont know about what temprature your other fish can take, but turning the temp up a bit too can help kill off the whitespot.

 

[Lacuna]

Many thanks, I think I'll proceed as if it's white spot and use the Interpet stuff unless anyone else suggests I do something else. I'll let you know how he goes.

 

[loraxchick]

id say this is the best course of action. treat the entire tank. will not bother the filter. be careful of inverts in the tank as it may harm them depending on what the active ingredient is.(anything with copper=bad for inverts. shrimp in particular) as mentioned, if able, turn the thermostat up to 85, but increase aeration(as warm water holds less O2 than cooler water). continue treating for 5 days PAST when the symptoms disappear.
good luck
cheers

 

[Lacuna]

Well, I treated the tank for a week with the Interpet anti white spot stuff. I haven't seen him flick against anything since last Friday, and he is extremely active as normal. All the other fish are fine too. So I did a water change today, and haven't added any more medication. I'll keep a close eye on him, but he seems fully better. Thanks all

 

[loraxchick]

AWESOME! glad hes feeling better-i bet you are too
cheers

 

[Mauricia]

good to hear! Just make sure that you're using the medication as directed on the package for the right length of time. If the package says to treat again do it even if your fish looks better because treating external parasites is hard. I think a lot of them say to treat again in a week or so so make sure to listen or they could come back.

 

[Lacuna]

Yeah, thanks. It said to treat for a week in two doses and then you can redose if necessary for another week. I haven't redosed for a second week, but I'll use it again immediately if any of the fish show any signs of illness.