How To Treat A Depressed Betta

[Gizaroo2]

Hey all,

Big Red, one of my bettas has been acting very lethargic the last couple of days. He won't eat, and just lounges around the bottom of his tank or against his filter. (The lounging against his filter is normal behavior, but he used to kind of wrap himself around it. Now he is just laying against it vertically. I have pics) He's normally a pig when it comes to food, whether he is full or not. I also cannot get him to flare hardly at all. He's normally very quick to display, whether for a mirror or another fish. He just has no pep right now. I have noticed that the tips of his fins have lost a bit of color and are curly and kind of scraggly looking, which is a new development. (I'm not sure if that is from him spending extra time against the filter or not) I don't know if he is just depressed or something much worse. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I could barely get a reaction from him by putting Finneus near his tank in plain view. Even with Fins displaying, it took awhile for Red to display. He then gave up after about 4 secs of displaying and just kind of sank to the bottom, as if exhausted.

I can't give water stats currently as I have misplaced my 5 in 1 test strips, but the Ammonia level is 0. I did a 70% water change last night and had done a 25% one the day before. He's in a 2.5 gal planted tank which is filtered and heated. The water temp stays between 78-81 degrees F.

Here are the 2 of him against the filter. I can take more pictures upon request.

I have had him since March of this year. This behavior is completely new.

Thanks in advance!

 

[AstonN24vantage]

i dont think that wrapping around the filter is a good thing - probably quite a weak fish. not sure why though. good luck

 

[Gizaroo2]

i dont think that wrapping around the filter is a good thing - probably quite a weak fish. not sure why though. good luck

He's always done that...enjoys it. He spent just as much time swimming around his tank and goofing off. He's always very careful when he pulls away from it so that it doesn't rip his fins. Up until 2 days ago he was very active like normal. Then he stopped eating, flaring, being himself. Now he just sits against the filter (like the pics),on the bottom of the tank, or on a leaf next to the heater.

 

[zophie]

i dont think that wrapping around the filter is a good thing - probably quite a weak fish. not sure why though. good luck

He's always done that...enjoys it. He spent just as much time swimming around his tank and goofing off. He's always very careful when he pulls away from it so that it doesn't rip his fins. Up until 2 days ago he was very active like normal. Then he stopped eating, flaring, being himself. Now he just sits against the filter (like the pics),on the bottom of the tank, or on a leaf next to the heater.

Hi, can you please give us your water stats?
Also- when my bettas are down, I ameditly do a half-clean, and continue to do this daily. I feed them frozen bloodworms once a day. After a week of this rutine, if your betta is still down he might be really sick. I call this the "Blood-worm Test." You should try it out.

Zophie
P.S Also, feed him a boiled, de-shelled pea. THis helps if he has a constipation problem.

 

[Gizaroo2]

i dont think that wrapping around the filter is a good thing - probably quite a weak fish. not sure why though. good luck

He's always done that...enjoys it. He spent just as much time swimming around his tank and goofing off. He's always very careful when he pulls away from it so that it doesn't rip his fins. Up until 2 days ago he was very active like normal. Then he stopped eating, flaring, being himself. Now he just sits against the filter (like the pics),on the bottom of the tank, or on a leaf next to the heater.

Hi, can you please give us your water stats?
Also- when my bettas are down, I ameditly do a half-clean, and continue to do this daily. I feed them frozen bloodworms once a day. After a week of this rutine, if your betta is still down he might be really sick. I call this the "Blood-worm Test." You should try it out.

Zophie
P.S Also, feed him a boiled, de-shelled pea. THis helps if he has a constipation problem.

I am at work currently and cannot get the water stats. I unfortunately only have API test strips, as I haven't been able to get a liquid test kit yet. I will be getting one soon. But according to my test 2 days ago (I've misplaced the strips since then) everything was fine. I've tried soaked freeze dried bloodworms, a pea...he shows no interest in food.

I'm not sure why this topic is posted twice...but my sister texted me earlier this morning and said he is now lying on his side on a leaf breathing very heavily. I don't think he is going to make it. We've been changing the water in his tank every day to day and a half (25% one day, even more the next) for the last few days. he hasn't eaten for 3 days now.

He's always been one to very quickly display at any sign of another fish or his reflection. I can't even get him to respond to a mirror. I even brought Finneus in yesterday to try to see if he would react to him...nothing. I got maybe a 2 second response, then he went back to the bottom of the tank and just stayed there breathing heavily.

 

[Gizaroo2]

As of this morning he's still hanging in there....not breathing as heavily today, but still lounging at the bottom of the tank and occasionally swimming around one of his decorations. Still no interest in food. His eyes are still clear, and when you come up to the tank he looks at you, but that's it. Have my sister doing water changes for me while I'm at work.

 

[Bettawhisperer]

Sounds to me like his has bloat. Fish can go up to 7 days without food so don't worry about that yet. Fast him for about 4-5 days. then try the peas. Frozen peas.Thawed, blanched, squeezed out of shell and mashed. My other thought is his age. Where did you get him. If you got him at your LFS he could be an old fish when you got him. The Asians are the biggest exporters of Bettas and they are the ones that supply our LFS. They only supply our stores with the fish they don't want for breeding or showing. usually these fish are out bred, old, or the coloring is not what they want. Generally the fish in the LFS are crap. Occasionally you'll find a nice one but that's rare. Also the test stripes are very unreliable

 

[Gizaroo2]

Sounds to me like his has bloat. Fish can go up to 7 days without food so don't worry about that yet. Fast him for about 4-5 days. then try the peas. Frozen peas.Thawed, blanched, squeezed out of shell and mashed. My other thought is his age. Where did you get him. If you got him at your LFS he could be an old fish when you got him. The Asians are the biggest exporters of Bettas and they are the ones that supply our LFS. They only supply our stores with the fish they don't want for breeding or showing. usually these fish are out bred, old, or the coloring is not what they want. Generally the fish in the LFS are crap. Occasionally you'll find a nice one but that's rare. Also the test stripes are very unreliable

Hes from petsmart. I don't think he was very old when I got him; he was half his current length when I got him back in march. All the bettas I've had have been from there. My first betta lived for 4 and 1/2 years. He's a bit more perky today, so maybe he'll pull through. I know the test strips aren't accurate now, but I didn't when I bought them. I'm in the process of getting a liquid API test kit, but I had to wait to get paid as I just had to pay over 770$ for a mechanic bill. His coloring is still perfectly normal.

 

[Bettawhisperer]

You were lucky on your purchase of him. Good luck and hope he keeps getting better for you.

 

[Gizaroo2]

You were lucky on your purchase of him. Good luck and hope he keeps getting better for you.

Almost all of the bettas I've gotten from there have been pretty long lived. Oscar, my first, has beat them all so far though. I think I'm just good at picking them out

Today, Red looks the best that I've seen him. He actually greeted me when I walked in the room just a few minutes ago! He swam around the tank then settled back to where he was. I will post water stats in a few minutes. I bought a liquid test kit today, and am waiting to check the results now.

Keeping my fingers crossed for him! He's been getting 2 partial water changes a day and I think I might give him an Epsom Salt bath today and see if that helps.

Red's water stats:

pH- 7.4
Ammonia- 1 ppm (just did a 50% water change like I have been doing)
Nitrite-0 ppm
Nitrate-40 ppm

 

[bettafish15]

40 Nitrate is pretty high D:

 

[Gizaroo2]

40 Nitrate is pretty high D:

Have been getting different opinions on that, but he is 95% better...pretty much back to his old self and his fins look good. He's been getting water changes every day. I'll be testing his water tomorrow, and Levi's and Fin's, to check all parameters. Red and Levi's tanks are still cycling as far as I know...

 

[Thedoctor]

Easily one of the best Fighters I've ever seen.

 

[loraxchick]

40 Nitrate is pretty high D:

not really unless you own a particularly sensitive species of fish. MOST fish can tolerate into the 100s ppm of nitrate. it does not do the damage of ammonia/nitrite. in fact some folks have more than 40ppm nitrate directly from their tap water.
cheers

 

[Gizaroo2]

Update: Red is due for a water change today, but is otherwise doing absolutely fantastic. I really didn't think he was going to make it! He is currently begging for food...we are still dieting him until I think he can go back to more normal feedings. He's getting fed about once, maybe twice, a week right now with flakes. I really hope he doesn't get sick again. He's a fighter!