Help me save my betta!

[Adriel93]

Hi everyone,

I have had a paradise male betta for about 3 years now and I initially had gotten him from petsmart and I picked him because he was sad and fading away in his little bowl at the store. I had an already cycled 4.6 gallon tank for another betta that I was thinking of getting so I just decided to with this one and see him get better. Sure enough, he got beautiful with time and developed a lot of character.

He was very active and even responsive to me but, about a month ago, I started noticing different behaviors. First a scale came off of his side which had not happened before. Then he stopped showing interest in eating and he started hanging out at the bottom a lot.

I checked the parameters of the water and noticed the pH was high and the carbonate was up as well.

So I did a 50% water change and vacuumed the gravel. I went on Amazon and bought him betta fix which seemed to help for a very short break but then he has continued declining. I got him some extra plants, added some almond leafs in for him which he loved but still. He seems worse and has some white lumps on him.

I'm a little desperate at this point so I would really love if anyone could help me figure what's wrong with my betta who I think is dying.

Please help!!

 

[Adriel93]

Forgot to add that I checked for amonia and it was in normal levels between 0 and 0.5

 

[Rocky998]

I would not use any medications until you know what is actually going on as you may do more harm than good.
At 3 yrs old (or older) (depending on species) it could be that he is nearing the end of his life. But again, I would have to know the species.

I cannot affirmatively say what is wrong but do note give anymore meds until you have a surefire answer.
Just keep doing large water changes

 

[Rocky998]

Forgot to add that I checked for amonia and it was in normal levels between 0 and 0.5

No ammonia level is good besides 0. If there is just a little it can lead to health issues.

I would get the API liquid test kit. It's far more accurate as strip tests are known to be pretty inaccurate with readings

 

[Adriel93]

Thanks for responding, does anyone know anything about those white lumps in the picture?

 

[Colin_T]

If the pH is 6.8 and the GH is 80ppm, the water is soft and slightly acidic, which is what Bettas like.

The white stuff on the side of the fish looks like excess mucous. The fish might have injured itself and has produced a bit of mucous to cover the injury.

If the fish is 3 years old, it could be old age, especially if the fish was sick when you got it.

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You can try the following. It might not make any difference but would rule out a dirty tank.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

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What do you feed him?
You can try adding frozen and live foods to his diet. This can help if the fish is suffering from malnutrition.

 

[outofwater]

Hi, hope he improves with the suggestions already given.
A note about pH and carbonate. Have you tried finding out your local water company results? I ask because you mentioned these 2 parameters are "high". Do you know how much lower they were before? At least where I live I found out that during the summer months the water company drastically increases the carbonate content in the water, which in turn increases pH. Something similar might be happening where you are, and the fish might be reacting to this "sudden" change in water quality. Good luck.

 

[Adriel93]

Thank you all for all of your comments and suggestions, I did a 75% water change last night and will continue to do so for the next few days. I wanted to answer what I feed him

He used to love this food, I would give him 4 pellets in the morning and 4 in the evening.

 

[Adriel93]

Also didn't know about my local water company but I will look into it.

Thank you all!

 

[Colin_T]

When was the last time you bought his food, was it December 2020?
How long has the packet of food been open for?

You want to use up the contents of the fish food within one month of opening it. If there is too much food for the fish to eat in one month, take a small amount out and put it in an airtight container and freeze the rest in a couple of ziplock bags.

If you are using old food, it could be stale, have mould or fungus on it, or have no nutritional value left. If the food is more than a couple of months old, I would replace it.

You can get frozen brineshrimp, bloodworms, daphnia and prawn and feed him that. And get a small packet of betta pellets to use as well.

 

[DragonScales+Doubletails]

your fish is likely recovering from an injury and is getting older, you said he was sickly on the PetSmart shelf so it is quite possible that he's nearing the end of his lifespan. from my understanding he's about 3 1/2 years old. I will suggest either Fuval or OmegaOne fish food.

 

[Rocky998]

When was the last time you bought his food, was it December 2020?
How long has the packet of food been open for?

You want to use up the contents of the fish food within one month of opening it. If there is too much food for the fish to eat in one month, take a small amount out and put it in an airtight container and freeze the rest in a couple of ziplock bags.

If you are using old food, it could be stale, have mould or fungus on it, or have no nutritional value left. If the food is more than a couple of months old, I would replace it.

You can get frozen brineshrimp, bloodworms, daphnia and prawn and feed him that. And get a small packet of betta pellets to use as well.

I know it's a bit off topic but I have a bag of that fluval bug bites and I've had it way more than a month. But it seals like a ziplock bag. Is it still good? I've been feeding it...

 

[Colin_T]

I know it's a bit off topic but I have a bag of that fluval bug bites and I've had it way more than a month. But it seals like a ziplock bag. Is it still good? I've been feeding it...

Dry food is normally fine for a few months but you want to try and use it within 1 month. Flake food is the worse because it is thin and absorbs moisture from the air really quickly. Pellet foods don't take on moisture as quickly but they still go off. You could freeze half of them and use the other half for a month, then chuck the open lot and use the frozen lot.

It's a bit like a loaf of bread or packet of biscuits. As long as they are sealed up airtight or frozen, they last for years. But once the packaging is open, they go off pretty quickly.

If you buy a packet of dry food and can't use it all in 1 month, put some into a small airtight container to use now, and freeze the rest.

 

[Rocky998]

Dry food is normally fine for a few months but you want to try and use it within 1 month. Flake food is the worse because it is thin and absorbs moisture from the air really quickly. Pellet foods don't take on moisture as quickly but they still go off. You could freeze half of them and use the other half for a month, then chuck the open lot and use the frozen lot.

It's a bit like a loaf of bread or packet of biscuits. As long as they are sealed up airtight or frozen, they last for years. But once the packaging is open, they go off pretty quickly.

If you buy a packet of dry food and can't use it all in 1 month, put some into a small airtight container to use now, and freeze the rest.

Oh ok... I've had this more than a few months I believe...
But it still smells "good". And the fish still gobble it up. Maybe it's because I seal it nicely?

 

[Colin_T]

Oh ok... I've had this more than a few months I believe...
But it still smells "good". And the fish still gobble it up. Maybe it's because I seal it nicely?

Possibly. Having it in an airtight container and stopping moisture getting in will help keep it fresher for longer. But you still don't want it sitting around for months on end.