Betta not looking good

[David P.]

Good afternoon, I have a 30 gallon tank with 11 neon tetras, 3 rummy nose tetras and 3 small betas. One Beta is not doing well. It looks thin, is lethargic, and may have an angle to its body. It also has been gulping air. Not sure what it could be because the water parameters are good and I have live plants with plenty of oxygen. I will add that about a month ago or so several of the plants started to die. Any ideas what this could be?

 

[powerdyne6]

Everyone who replies will want too know your water parameters, your water change routine and for you to provide a few pictures.

Other than that we can guess

 

[Boundava]

Along with the above questions I will add...

So are the 3 small bettas wild type or fighting (splendens), male or female, adult or juvenile?

 

[David P.]

Gotcha but like I said water parameters are good. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, like 10 nitrate. I do water changes as needed if anything gets out of whack but things have been pretty good for 6 months to a year. I just noticed another beta picking at the one that’s struggling. Pulled a scale off. I separated her into my separate 10 gallon for now. Any other suggestions are appreciated. Attached photos as well

 

[David P.]

Betas are adult female. Not wild type so I assume they’re splendens. Trying to post pics.

 

[David P.]

After some time, I don’t know that she was crooked. It may just have been how she was situated.

 

[TNG]

The betta has ragged fins, either fin rots or bitten off by other fish, possibly the former. Hard to tell from the photos if it's fungal or bacterial infection. Best to keep / treat in a hospital tank.

 

[Boundava]

The way that females keep a sorority is because they're used to each other's hormones/ pheromones in the water. If there's a slight change in the water where one of them is not recognized by the others, then the others will attack the now unknown beta, it's what they do. People think that because they're female that there are not as violent as the males, contrary they are equally violent. Many breeders do not keep male and females together after breeding because the females will turn around and kill the males. I know people can get sororities to work, I do not promote the idea of keeping splendids together at all. I'm pretty sure with your good water quality it was the other females that turned around and decided that they didn't like this female anymore and were going to pick her to death.

 

[David P.]

Thank you all for your feedback. Unfortunately the fish died this evening. I am surprised it didn’t do better in the other tank. I think it might have just been too far gone which really frustrates me because she was ok 2 days ago and went downhill pretty quickly after that. There was a few days in there I could have caught it or done something sooner but was out of town prior to that. Nothing stood out to me until yesterday aside from her chilling on the bottom but bettas do that sometimes so I didn’t think much of it bc she was still eating. Anyway, lesson learned.

 

[Boundava]

Sorry she didn't make it.