Help My Boy! He's My Favorite!

[guppy2002]

In the past 3 or 4 days, my Betts has been squeezing himself under rocks and not coming out. He has become very slow and has to wriggle his whole body to move. He had clamped fins about a week ago. He seemed to be doing fine, until now. He IS an older betta. 4 years, probably. He also has a couple white blotches on his head. I hope this is not the end of my boy.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Do you have pictures?
 
What are the tank parameters? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH?
 
Have you done a water change since he started acting like this? If yes, how did he act afterwards?

 

[guppy2002]

He's been in this tank for two weeks maybe. One water change towards the beginning. He didn't react to it. The tank is heated to about 78 degrees. Sorry no paremiters.

 

[Gizaroo2]

How large is the tank?

 

[guppy2002]

7.5 gallons.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Did you cycle the tank before you added him?
 
Might be worth doing a water change now and see if his condition improves. Make sure to use dechlorinator and try to match the temperature of the water.
 
Do you think you would be able to get your LFS to test your water for you? If you can, make sure to ask for the exact parameters, don't just except "its fine".

 

[l_l_l]

Please have your water tested!
I'm thinking your fish might be poisonned from something (Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate)
Clamped fins is a sign that something is wrong, and as soon as you see this, you should ask yourself what's going on!
 
As Blondie said, ask for the numbers from your LFS, don't ever accept: "it's fine" as an answer.

 

[guppy2002]

Chase is gone. R.I.P.

He had a good long life. 4 years!

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Sorry to hear that

 

[372xp]

Some times they dont react to well to change, and at 4 years i guess he was kind of stuck in his ways. I had one die just because I changed to a different type of filter. ? This being said the change could just have been the catalyst. Although often being described as easy fish to keep IMHO this is not entirely true. They are very tempramental fish and to care for them everything has to be just right otherwise things go wrong fairly quick.