Betta suddenly acting lethargic/weird? At a loss

[euphoni4m]

Hello, I am a relatively new betta owner. I did so much research before getting him and I feel like I'm at such a loss right now because I've ran out of options to try. I started him off in a 5 gallon Aqueon tank. I used the filter that came with it and separately bought rocks, decor, a heater, etc. He was lethargic and seemingly depressed and would not eat when I bought him and I figured out it was due to fin rot, so I treated him almost immediately with API's fin rot treatment and before I even finished the full treatment, he was like a new fish. Swimming all over the place, eating, following my finger outside the tank, playing with me, all that good stuff. He was like that for about four months and then all of a sudden about a week and a half ago he started getting lethargic again. I assumed it was fin rot creeping back up again, so I treated him with the same treatment as before, except this time, his demeanor didn't change. I did more research and thought he was just bored, I went out and bought him a 10 gallon tank with a new internal filter as well as a new giant log decor piece. I let him in there today and no change. Still hanging out in random places, only swimming forwards for food. I have to drop pellets one-by-one right in front of him or else he will not eat them. I'm really upset, I love this fish and I've put so much effort into his care. Please help!

Here is my routine:
Feed twice a day. He eats Omega One Betta Buffet pellets
Aqueon's betta water renewal once a week
Water change once every two weeks. I use Aqueon ammonia neutralizer with every water change
Full tank cleaning once a month (take out decor to soak, clean out base tank, etc)
Change filter cartridge once a week
Fast once every two weeks

And here is everything I have in my tank:
Tank itself is a standard 10 gallon Aqueon
Aqueon QuietFlow Internal Power Filter (model AT10)
Tetra HT10 Submersible Aquarium Heater and Electronic Thermostat
Fins First Gravel
Aqueon Deluxe Fluorescent Full Hood (the light)
ZooMed floating betta log
ZooMed leaf hammock
Sporn Star Polyps Coral Aquarium Decor
Sporn Artificial Anemone Aquarium Decor
Fins First Natural Drift Wood Decor (large)

 

[Lemon]

Try a mirror to make him flare. It will help him become more active. My beta never flared at mirrors. If yours doesn’t either you can always try adding new things or redecorating by moving things around. My bettas always get excited when I do this because it’s like having a new area to explore. Because you’re new at this I wouldn’t recommend trying to train the fish unless you’re really going to put a lot of effort in. I trained my female to eat from my hand and go through hoops and even jump out of the water, but this took a year and even though it kept my beta active it was a lot of effort on my part, if you really want you could try to first train your beta to eat from your hand this takes the least amount of time in my experience and it was very entertaining for my beta.

 

[euphoni4m]

Try a mirror to make him flare. It will help him become more active. My beta never flared at mirrors. If yours doesn’t either you can always try adding new things or redecorating by moving things around. My bettas always get excited when I do this because it’s like having a new area to explore. Because you’re new at this I wouldn’t recommend trying to train the fish unless you’re really going to put a lot of effort in. I trained my female to eat from my hand and go through hoops and even jump out of the water, but this took a year and even though it kept my beta active it was a lot of effort on my part, if you really want you could try to first train your beta to eat from your hand this takes the least amount of time in my experience and it was very entertaining for my beta.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought mirrors are bad for bettas?

 

[Lemon]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought mirrors are bad for bettas?

They are if they are left there for too long. They can stress the fish out if they have to be constantly flaring at this strange new fish. Kind of like if you put a person on a treadmill for hours on end and told them they had to keep running. In quick bursts they can help the fishes blood flow quicker and it’s a little bit like an exercise.

 

[Valkyrie_Lips]

It sounds like a water quality issue to me. You're constantly un-cycling your tank when you change up the filter cartridge each week. I would stop changing the filter and leave it. There is no need to change the filter, the companies want you to keep buying their products which is why they tell you to replace them. I would also suggest adding some course sponge and ceramic rings to the filter instead. When they become clogged simply rinse them in old tank water. This will help preserve your beneficial bacteria and give them a lot of surface area to colonize on. Beneficial bacteria are crucial to cycling a tank.

Something else I would do immediately to help him is do no less than one 50% water change every 2 days to help him feel better. Also, if you could test your water and post pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate numbers I could help you figure out where you're at in the cycling process and what to do moving forward. I highly recommend getting your own test kit so you can monitor your water parameters while cycling.

Another thing I would recommend is to stop using water renewal, depending on your pH and your source water it is probably not needed. Just use regular tap water with minerals already in it. I didn't see a water conditioner in your list, do you use one?

Here is a little more information on cycling and why it is crucial part of maintaining a healthy environment for your fish. Cycling refers to the process of growing enough beneficial bacteria to keep your aquarium stable. A fully cycled tank can process ammonia and nitrite on its own without added chemicals. The ammo-lock you are using is actually hurting your cycle because the bacteria need the ammonia as a food source. Therefore, when you use ammo-lock you are preventing access to the food they need to increase their numbers.

The trick with fish-in cycling is to keep ammonia and nitrite under 0.5 ppm each so you keep levels safe enough for your fish but also allow the bacteria to colonize. You should look into fish-in cycling and the nitrogen cycle to understand why this is so important.
Since your tank is uncycled this means that waiting 2 weeks for a water change is completely insufficient. His behavior is almost certainly a result of poor water quality. In that two-week period you wait to do a water change, ammonia and nitrite accumulate in the tank to dangerous levels which would affect the health of your fish. Once you read up on fish-in cycling you'll see why a lot of frequent water changes are needed to keep levels safe while you grow enough bacteria to handle it on their own. Depending on your current levels you may need daily water changes to lower them. If you post your current water parameters I can advise further.

 

[euphoni4m]

It sounds like a water quality issue to me. You're constantly un-cycling your tank when you change up the filter cartridge each week. I would stop changing the filter and leave it. There is no need to change the filter, the companies want you to keep buying their products which is why they tell you to replace them. I would also suggest adding some course sponge and ceramic rings to the filter instead. When they become clogged simply rinse them in old tank water. This will help preserve your beneficial bacteria and give them a lot of surface area to colonize on. Beneficial bacteria are crucial to cycling a tank.

Something else I would do immediately to help him is do no less than one 50% water change every 2 days to help him feel better. Also, if you could test your water and post pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate numbers I could help you figure out where you're at in the cycling process and what to do moving forward. I highly recommend getting your own test kit so you can monitor your water parameters while cycling.

Another thing I would recommend is to stop using water renewal, depending on your pH and your source water it is probably not needed. Just use regular tap water with minerals already in it. I didn't see a water conditioner in your list, do you use one?

Here is a little more information on cycling and why it is crucial part of maintaining a healthy environment for your fish. Cycling refers to the process of growing enough beneficial bacteria to keep your aquarium stable. A fully cycled tank can process ammonia and nitrite on its own without added chemicals. The ammo-lock you are using is actually hurting your cycle because the bacteria need the ammonia as a food source. Therefore, when you use ammo-lock you are preventing access to the food they need to increase their numbers.

The trick with fish-in cycling is to keep ammonia and nitrite under 0.5 ppm each so you keep levels safe enough for your fish but also allow the bacteria to colonize. You should look into fish-in cycling and the nitrogen cycle to understand why this is so important.
Since your tank is uncycled this means that waiting 2 weeks for a water change is completely insufficient. His behavior is almost certainly a result of poor water quality. In that two-week period you wait to do a water change, ammonia and nitrite accumulate in the tank to dangerous levels which would affect the health of your fish. Once you read up on fish-in cycling you'll see why a lot of frequent water changes are needed to keep levels safe while you grow enough bacteria to handle it on their own. Depending on your current levels you may need daily water changes to lower them. If you post your current water parameters I can advise further.

I managed to pick up a pH testing kit, the pH was too high so I put in a solution to lower it. I'll stop changing my filter so often and I just did my 50% water change and I'll set an alarm to do another one in two days. Yes, I forgot to add my water conditioner(to the post, not to the tank), I use standard Aqueon conditioner and I always let it sit for at least 24h before putting my little guy it.
Thank you for this information. I'm now looking into cycling and tomorrow I will take another trip to the pet store to see if I need anything else.

 

[euphoni4m]

They are if they are left there for too long. They can stress the fish out if they have to be constantly flaring at this strange new fish. Kind of like if you put a person on a treadmill for hours on end and told them they had to keep running. In quick bursts they can help the fishes blood flow quicker and it’s a little bit like an exercise.

Just ordered the ZooMed mirror.

 

[Valkyrie_Lips]

I managed to pick up a pH testing kit, the pH was too high so I put in a solution to lower it. I'll stop changing my filter so often and I just did my 50% water change and I'll set an alarm to do another one in two days. Yes, I forgot to add my water conditioner(to the post, not to the tank), I use standard Aqueon conditioner and I always let it sit for at least 24h before putting my little guy it.
Thank you for this information. I'm now looking into cycling and tomorrow I will take another trip to the pet store to see if I need anything else.

I would forget the mirror at this point and suggest focusing on stabilizing the tank. His behavior is not due to lack of flaring. Like I said it is probably related to poor water quality in a chronically uncycled tank. Over time this takes a toll on the fish. The hardier the fish the longer they can tolerate poor water quality before symptoms show up.

Depending on how filled or bare your tank is I would maybe suggest adding more plants/decor for enrichment instead of a mirror. Bettas love exploring their environment and it helps to reduce both boredom and stress. The more places to hide in and to swim around/under the better imo. I personally wouldn't use the mirror nor would I recommend it. It is unnecessary and can be stress inducing if left in the tank too long.

pH is the least important parameter you need to be monitoring at this point. There may even be repercussions from chemically lowering his pH too drastically. Time will tell. Right now, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are more important to test regularly for since they will tell you how much/many water changes you'll be needing to do to keep levels safe for a fish. Once you do more research on the nitrogen cycle and cycling you'll see why.

Also, what is "too high", what is the exact number and what did you lower it to? A stable pH is MUCH more important than the number. Betta splendens have been domesticated for so long that they are able to tolerate harder water with a high pH water unlike their wild counterparts. Moreover, messing with pH can often do more harm than good. Fluctuations in pH can be incredibly stressful for fish. We want to avoid stressing out our fish at all costs since they are so delicate. A stressed fish is often a sick fish. This is because stress lowers their immune systems and leaves them vulnerable to opporunistic infections since bacteria are omnipresent in the tank.

Adding chemicals is never the answer imo so I would suggest stopping with the pH down immediately. The primary goal should be stabalizing the tank through water changes and cycling it properly.

 

[Lemon]

I agree with Valkyrie_lips a mirror is not first priority I would say plants and water conditions first. A mirror would be very sparsely used and I just use a makeup mirror no need for anything expensive unless you want to go the extra step