Betta sick

[Pennyangus]

I got 2 bettas over a week ago. Both were doing fine until today I notice one on its side gasping heavily unable to swim and all fins and tail seem to be eaten at.

How can I help. It needs urgent help but not sure what's wrong or where to start

Is it likely its been attacked ? I'm sure it looks fine yesterday

 

[Lcc86]

Are they in the same tank or separate?

 

[Pennyangus]

Same I was told both females

 

[sharkweek178]

Same I was told both females

Separate them immediately.

 

[sharkweek178]

Same I was told both females

Bettas are naturally territorial. Putting them in with other fish is always a gamble. Exponentially more with other bettas. There are sorority tanks. But those are large tanks with lots of space for territories, a lot of hides and breaks in lines of sight. And they have more than a pair so that any aggression is spread out, instead of one fish being a constant victim. Sororities are advanced fish keeping. They require constant monitoring and back up tanks for when aggression happens. More often than not they just don't work out because of aggression issues.
The OP didn't say, but I suspect this is just a pair of females in a small space. One of them is trying to drive the other out of her territory. In nature, the weaker one would just leave. But in this case, she can't. Since she won't leave, the dominant one will keep attacking.

 

[Pennyangus]

Thanks for your support unfortunately it has passed I think we found it late stages and too late. I picked them up from from pets at home so maybe not the best advise given and maybe should have looked up the correct advice. We have 150l tank and was sold 2 female bettas. We have shrimp tetras platyd and Cory's all what pets at home also said we're fine to go with them. They just ensured we had no other bettas or male ones. I hadn't seen any issues with the bettas or other fish in the tank. Yesterday it seemed happy and eating. I had just found the fish at the bottom on the tank today gasping heavily with a lot of its fin and tail missing. I wasn't sure if this was due to another fish attacking or if the bottom feeders had maybe took advantage of a sick fish and started to munch away?

 

[sharkweek178]

Thanks for your support unfortunately it has passed I think we found it late stages and too late. I picked them up from from pets at home so maybe not the best advise given and maybe should have looked up the correct advice. We have 150l tank and was sold 2 female bettas. We have shrimp tetras platyd and Cory's all what pets at home also said we're fine to go with them. They just ensured we had no other bettas or male ones. I hadn't seen any issues with the bettas or other fish in the tank. Yesterday it seemed happy and eating. I had just found the fish at the bottom on the tank today gasping heavily with a lot of its fin and tail missing. I wasn't sure if this was due to another fish attacking or if the bottom feeders had maybe took advantage of a sick fish and started to munch away?

You unfortunately learned a lesson that many other fish keepers learned the hard way; pet store employees often give bad advice.

 

[Pennyangus]

Do people not advise to keep 2 female bettas together then I had not seen any aggression so assumed maybe shrimp had taken advantage when it was sick on the bottom I am not sure what I have learnt from this

 

[Lcc86]

Do people not advise to keep 2 female bettas together then I had not seen any aggression so assumed maybe shrimp had taken advantage when it was sick on the bottom I am not sure what I have learnt from this

Some people say it can work if you have a large group, but it can end in situations like this as well unfortunately. It may be that you have quite a territorial female which could have exacerbated it. As @sharkweek178 says its quite complex trying to keep more than one betta together. Sorry you lost your fish, you were given information you thought you could trust by the employee. Keep an eye on the betta you have remaining to check she doesn't target any other fish, she might be fine but just in case.

 

[sharkweek178]

Do people not advise to keep 2 female bettas together then I had not seen any aggression so assumed maybe shrimp had taken advantage when it was sick on the bottom I am not sure what I have learnt from this

It doesn't usually work out with just two. You might see it at a store, but the fish at the store are usually stressed and disoriented so that isn't their normal behavior. Once they get adjusted to a new home, then they can start becoming more territorial. You could be correct that the scavengers took advantage of an injured fish. But I'd be willing to be the other betta put her there in the first place.

 

[Pennyangus]

Thanks for everyone help. I am actually coming for some more advice since this happened I've had 2 more sudden deaths in the tank. Today I came home to find a platy dead floating nothing I notice visible and I went away Sunday came back Monday to find my spotted headstander stuck upside down in a plant it was still breathing but massively loaded. I tried to treat for swim bladder but it died soon after. I've just check My water and everything looks normal except my pH seems quite low.
Ammonia is 0
Nitrite 0 to 0.25 tiny pink tinge
Nitrate 0
Phosphate 0
Kh around 8-9
Ph looks around 6 it usually sits around 7.5 so not sure why it's low.

I'm not sure why my fish are dying one at a time and the day before they look fine?

The headstander was extremely bloated and pine coning when I found it and could not swim well kept falling to one side. However the platy no symptoms just found floating.

Any help extremely appreciated thanks

 

[Naughts]

How much and how often do you change water? Do you use anything that alters the pH? Is the betta still in the tank?

 

[Pennyangus]

Thanks for your response. I had 2 female bettas sold to me as they were fine to live together. The one passed away after I noticed it had barely any fins left. Since then I've lost 2 more fish. Platy today and headstander on Monday. I water change between every week to every other. Usually in the middle of this around 10 days. No I've not used anything to alter PH I've not really tracked ph so not sure how long it has been this low but I know last time we tested it was around the 7 to 7.5

 

[Naughts]

That water schedule sounds good, how much of the water do you change? Just so we can rule out 'old tank syndrome' causing the pH drop.

Fill a glass with source water (tap?) and leave it for 24 hours then test the pH so we can see if it is the same as the tank water. If not, the pH could be fluctuating and causing the deaths.

If the surviving betta is still in the community tank it could be killing the other fish.

Or, the new fish could have had a disease and introduced it to the tank and that is killing the fish. Post a picture of the tank/ fish so we can check for signs and symptoms.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

When did you first set up the tank?

Yes, I agree it's highly likely the female bettas fought and the loser couldn't escape the more dominant one - pet stores often give awful advice, then sell you more products and fish to "fix" and replace the disasters their bad advice caused.

Now I suspect that your tank is only a few weeks or months old, you've been gradually stocking according to what you see and like in store, asking the employees who say it should be fine?

And now your tank and stocking have reached the tipping point. New tank syndrome, rather than old tank syndrome.


I could be wrong, lots of things could be happening, but ultimately I think that's what's going on.

When did you first set up the tank? When did you first add fish? What filter, and any live plants?