Is My Betta Sick?

[destinyxrose]

Hey Everyone. I'm new here and I could use some help. It seems as though my male betta may be sick.. I'm not sure, maybe I'm just paranoid. Anyways, here's some background info first. My boyfriends sister was the one who actually purchased him and bought him for a pet of her own. So with that, I don't know a whole lot about how he is suppose to look when he is healthy, nor do I even know where he was purchased and if he was healthy at purchase.

So my boyfriends sister kept him in a 1 gallon bowl with a couple decorations but nothing much. She kept him in the kitchen and living in colorado, I am surprised he didn't pass then. I noticed one day that his water was so filthy that you could hardly see him inside it and I asked if I could care for him since she was failing to do so. So that's when I started to care for him.

Now I haven't really had a fish as a pet accept when I was in like 1st grade and we made some ecosystem bio dome thing out of soda bottles, so I don't really have a lot of experience in caring for fish. I knew that his water needed to be cleaned at very least once a week and that the water needed to have cleaner/Aged. (I usually age it for about 48 hrs and then add cleaner as well) He seemed to get a lot more energy and being down in our bedroom it was much warmer then in the kitchen.

On christmas, My boyfriend and I purchased a 2 Gallon tank for him with an UGF and we moved him in. He was seeing his reflection a lot and flaring a lot. I was concerned about it but then read through this forum that he just needs to get use to it and to keep the light off and it should help. So he did start doing better about it just a couple days ago.

When we were reading on here about his flaring we noticed that water temperature was a very important factor in the bettas health, so we went and purchased an automatic water heater set to keep the temperature at 78 Degrees farenheit. We put in a temporary heater two nights ago before we purchased the automatic heater yeaterday so the water was at temperature two nights ago, but last night we put in the automatic one.

My concern is now today, he has been lying inside his little cave on the gravel only coming up for air. I thought his eating habits were a little weird the last few days but he seems to still eat just not much. I feed him Aqua culture Betta pellets and the other day got him a few blood worms but thats bran new, never fed him them before. We gave him a pea to make sure he's not just constipated just a few minutes ago but my other concern is that he is not very vibrant in color, he hasn't ever really been but I don't know if that's how he is or if he is still sick or what. I think he's probably getting over some fin rot not sure but his fins don't look worse but they do look a little rough but I think they are getting better daily. My other concern is he has a large white area I guess on his belly and he has been floating kinda vertical when going up for air.

I don't have the ph on his water but I did about a 30% water change yesterday, and I change it quite often. Until recently I did wash his gravel with hot water but I have read up on that so I know not to do that now but I haven't done that in about a week. He has a little bit of plant life but I bought bulbs so they haven't grown yet.

Anyways, I tried to cover pretty much everything, just let me know if I missed anything. Gonna try to post some pics. Thanks.

 

[tibby25731]

Pics would be a great help. what does the white area look like? does it look fluffy? or like a sore? Good on you for taking him to care for, it sounds like you are very responsible and are trying your very best for him. Since you only just got a filter for the tank, the tank will not be cycled. Have you read up on cycling? In the meantime i would advise you do a water change every 2 days to keep his water clean until the filter cycles. it'll take about a month to cycle. If you can afford it, buy an API master test kit. Check the ammonia and nitrite readings every day whilst cycling, and if they are ever anything but zero, do a water change, at least 50%. You will see the ammonia at high levels at first, then as this starts to get closer to zero, start checking nitrite as this will rise too. When both readings have come in at zero for a few days, you are done! Then you just need to do about 25-30% water change weekly. You don't need to age the water, just stir in the water conditioner well before adding the new water.
Post pics ASAP and we can take a look and see what medicine may help him. Good luck!

 

[destinyxrose]

Thank you so much for your response. I will definitely get on testing the water asap. I have been doing about 30 percent water changes every other day but I will increase it for now. I just don't want to stress him out too much either. I guess my concern is that he was seeming less energetic after we installed the automatic heater... and I guess I thought he would be more energetic considering he'd actually be comfortable temperature wise.. so I thought. We took out the automatic heater last night and did a 30 percent water change (we have a thermometer keeping track of his water temp though of course never let it get lower then 75/76ish degress F) He seemed slighty more active this morning and came right up for food but now he is back sitting inside his cave on the gravel. I guess his white doesn't look like spotting, I just was concerned because I have read that there are actually so many illnesses this little guy can get and I panicked. I guess I'm not sure if the white he has is normal or not since like I said I didn't purchase him. I'm not sure what could be going wrong. I am trying so hard to heal him and he seemed to be doing better but its like the more I try to help now, the less he gets better. I will make sure I start checking the water stats. Maybe I will find a solution. His pictures make him look ok I think. But I will post them on here in a few minutes. thanks

 

[redbulldaiquiri]

Hi
I read the post from destinyxrose while I was looking for some information about my bettas.
The description is almost the same as the problem I see with my fish. It doesn't flare anymore and only lay at the bottom, sometimes sideway (not up right).
I see very minimum movement of the tail even when it smims to the surface to gulp for air.
I am not quite sure if this is caused by overfeeding or anything else. I feed about 4-5 pellets daily in 2 sessions (morning and afternoon).
The water is changed and cleaned regurally.
The fish seems to ignore the other fish which will flare and show some agresiveness from the other side of the separator glass (new betta bought 2 weeks ago). There is no sign of paleness in its coloration apart from the unusual behavior.
My questions are:
1. How much should I feed the betta (with pallets) just incase i overfed the fish
2. Does water feature such as plant important for the fish

thanks

 

[destinyxrose]

Hi
I read the post from destinyxrose while I was looking for some information about my bettas.
The description is almost the same as the problem I see with my fish. It doesn't flare anymore and only lay at the bottom, sometimes sideway (not up right).
I see very minimum movement of the tail even when it smims to the surface to gulp for air.
I am not quite sure if this is caused by overfeeding or anything else. I feed about 4-5 pellets daily in 2 sessions (morning and afternoon).
The water is changed and cleaned regurally.
The fish seems to ignore the other fish which will flare and show some agresiveness from the other side of the separator glass (new betta bought 2 weeks ago). There is no sign of paleness in its coloration apart from the unusual behavior.
My questions are:
1. How much should I feed the betta (with pallets) just incase i overfed the fish
2. Does water feature such as plant important for the fish

thanks

Hey there, from what I've read I've seen 4-5 pellets is about right. My Betta doesn't really seem to eat that much though. I've also read that giving them a pea every now and then helps them digest. Plants are pretty important for them just because it helps with water clarity and they like hiding places. He may be stressed out or may have just gotten use to the other fish which would stop him from flaring. My betta seems to be doing a lot better now. Make sure you test the water because my ammonia levels were high even though I changed the water so often. And just make sure water temperature isn't too cool. I'm not an expert what so ever but I just wanted to try and help if I could. Good Luck. Hope things get better.