Depressed Betta Please Help!

[katiefairyinnit]

hey everyone - Just an update.... My betta has taken a turn for the worse tonight. He's been lying on the floor and a few of the others have noticed him behaving weakly and have pecked at him, now my betta is looking really bad and breathing heavily so Ive put him into the breeding trap. He's refused food and is scared of anything swimming past him so I'm gonna set up the hospital tank now and put him in there. Its not ideal but i really think if I leave him he won't make it til I can come up with a better plan

Will i be ok soaking his filter sponge in my main tanks dirty sponge water? This is what I was advised to do when I first set up my little tank but im not convinced its a substitute for an actual cycle?

I think the betta is gonna have to live alone to be honest as he's worked himself up so badly. If anyone has any advice of what i can include in the tank to make him comfortable please let me know.

I hope he makes it!

 

[LucyB]

Will i be ok soaking his filter sponge in my main tanks dirty sponge water? This is what I was advised to do when I first set up my little tank but im not convinced its a substitute for an actual cycle?

If I ever have to set up another tank, I put the un-mature filter media and cram it into my 100litre tanks' filter (which is mature) and leave it in there for a few days, Then put it back into the filter of the hospital tank... Someone will probably tell me this is wrong but I have never had any problems with it...

Just re-read that and it sounds very confusing Hopefully you can understand, it made sense in my head anyways...

Best of luck and I hope he makes it!

 

[katiefairyinnit]

thanks, it did make sense I didnt have time to do anything but soak the filter sponge now he's in the hospital tank and ive put him his favourite slate cave in. He's been in for about 45 mins and unfortunately he's still sitting at the bottom. Its like he's just given up I had to turn off the filter cuz its blowing him around the tank. He's not trying to swim so its just whirling him around. Will he be ok without a filter? This is really all I could think of doing and i know its not ideal but I think if i'd left him in the main tank he wouldnt have made it through the night At least he's by himself now. Do you guys think he'll recover or do weak fish tend to just give up on life? Sounds like a stupid question but thats what it looks like he's doing!

 

[Rummynose]

I've instantly cycled a tank by rinsing the mature filter media of my established tank in front of the intake valve of a new filter and then turning the filter on. It basically seeded the new filter with the beneficial bacteria, all I needed to do was checking my ammonia-, nitrite- and nitrate levels to be sure not to miss any of those toxicities!

To add to the previous discussion, oftentimes fish will behave differently during the day than they do at night. If the bullying and attacks happened at night you would not have had a chance to see it!

I hope your Betta can recover! You may need to keep him in the 10 gallon for his own safety or consider rehoming him or the offending fish of your bigger tank! Good luck!

 

[katiefairyinnit]

Hi guys,

Unfortunately my betta passed away in the early hours of this morning I guess he just didn't want to try any more, poor little guy. I wanna say thank you to everyone who offered me advice, I really appreciate the help x

 

[Rummynose]

I'm so sorry to hear that!