Hi Everyone I bought 2 betta females yesterday and placed them in separate temp homes (since I hope to get 2 more soon ) and do a sorority tank...anyhow the smaller of the 2 is acting very weird..well yesterday i placed her in her temp home with a little cave..i noticed she liked to hide a lot i was like ok..anyhow today she is freaking me out she starts sweimming frantically really, REALLY fast...sometimes in circles..almost as if right after her tail and then she lays on the ground sideways and you see her gills moving up and down very fast as if shes trying to breathe...she'll stay like that for a while and then get up and swim around slowly as if nothing..but u still see her gills moving rapidly..Im really scared guys..Please, Please tell me what to do..I was thinking of doing a 100% water change? The only thing i can think of is that i did add some aquarium salt to her tank yesterday im afraid some of the crystals may not have dissolved completely as they shouldve...Please help!!
Female Betta dying??!!
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hmmm... im not sure really. hopefully someone else can help you more, but i'd say do a water change, maybe she's just getting spooked? when you say her gills are moving fast, do you mean she is gasping? I SERIOUSLY doubt it was the salt. Impossible really.
xxSarahxx
Fishaholic
Try the water change but be careful not to stress her out too much in the process. I too doubt it is the salt, in fact it should be helping as long as you haven't used too much. Did you add dechlorinator to the water??
yeah i added water conditioner--betta complete water conditioner..thanbks for the responses..im just so worried..what could be wrong..not an amonia prob(even did a test) and i just placed her in that water yesterday...
It could also partially be the stress from moving to a new home. All fish are different. 5 of my new platies settled in within, umm...well, 5 minutes really, but the 6th one acted strange and hid until the 3rd or 4th day.
Other than that, I'm not too sure...like everyone else said, it shouldn't be the salt causing any harm...
Let us know how she goes!
Other than that, I'm not too sure...like everyone else said, it shouldn't be the salt causing any harm...
Let us know how she goes!
xxSarahxx
Fishaholic
I agree, I think it is to do with the new environment and so on.
Can she see the other girl? Maybe if she could it might help if she knows her...sort of a comfort blanket if that makes sense!!
Can she see the other girl? Maybe if she could it might help if she knows her...sort of a comfort blanket if that makes sense!!
thanks for the responses guys 
Well i ended up doing a 100% water change just to be safe and am trying to let her be..I feel a little bad her tank is about 1 gallon and just has a little cave..its supposed to be temporary..I'll remove the paper i have so that both females can see each other..but they were able to see each other b4 and she had done that..acc to my bf she did it twice when he got home from work and then i saw her do it once..Ill keep any eye on her and hope for the best..trying to rack my brain if thats a symptom to some disease or disorder..ill keep my fingers crossed thanks guys
Well i ended up doing a 100% water change just to be safe and am trying to let her be..I feel a little bad her tank is about 1 gallon and just has a little cave..its supposed to be temporary..I'll remove the paper i have so that both females can see each other..but they were able to see each other b4 and she had done that..acc to my bf she did it twice when he got home from work and then i saw her do it once..Ill keep any eye on her and hope for the best..trying to rack my brain if thats a symptom to some disease or disorder..ill keep my fingers crossed thanks guys RandomWiktor
Rabid Betta Activist
Unless you added way too much salt, it really shouldn't have effected her, dissolved or not. I don't think she'd have eaten it; even if she stuck it in her mouth, she'd probably spit it out once she tasted it.
Hmm. It reminds me of the symptoms of ammonia poisoning; the erratic swimming, hard breathing, etc. but I doubt a female betta would make that much ammonia so fast. You've not sprayed anything near them, have you? Poisoning of some kind could also cause similar behavior.
My advice? Since she is spending a lot of time under water, she might not be air breathing much, so you might want to add an aerator to the tank so the water is better oxygenated. Bettas CAN gill-breath, after all, so it should help with the stress.
If this is a matter of stress, you can add more plants/ornaments to hide in, or even cover the tank. I had a betta who had almost starved to death in the store because he was so panicky that he would just slam into the sides of the cup if you got near him, then sink to the bottom and refuse to eat. I had to heavily, heavily plant his tank, and keep the lights off and the tank covered with a towel for almost two weeks before he calmed down enough to not hurt himself and eat something other than liquid fry food.
So: "bubbler," more hiding places, cover the tank, add some stress guard, get the temp up around 80, and hope for the best! It it always good to test your water as well, just in case something is dramatically off. Good luck ^^
Hmm. It reminds me of the symptoms of ammonia poisoning; the erratic swimming, hard breathing, etc. but I doubt a female betta would make that much ammonia so fast. You've not sprayed anything near them, have you? Poisoning of some kind could also cause similar behavior.
My advice? Since she is spending a lot of time under water, she might not be air breathing much, so you might want to add an aerator to the tank so the water is better oxygenated. Bettas CAN gill-breath, after all, so it should help with the stress.
If this is a matter of stress, you can add more plants/ornaments to hide in, or even cover the tank. I had a betta who had almost starved to death in the store because he was so panicky that he would just slam into the sides of the cup if you got near him, then sink to the bottom and refuse to eat. I had to heavily, heavily plant his tank, and keep the lights off and the tank covered with a towel for almost two weeks before he calmed down enough to not hurt himself and eat something other than liquid fry food.
So: "bubbler," more hiding places, cover the tank, add some stress guard, get the temp up around 80, and hope for the best! It it always good to test your water as well, just in case something is dramatically off. Good luck ^^
wow..thanks so much for you very detailed response I really appreciate..Ill try get her transferred to a bigger home that i can get filtered..i want to eventually-actuially within the next week or 2 add them all to a sorority tank--but if she keeps up this behavior I'd be too afraid to do it 
Once again, Many thanks I'll keep u guys updated
Once again, Many thanks I'll keep u guys updatedSimilar threads
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