Is there something wrong with my betta?

[Catladynew2fish]

Hi
New to owning fish and have had a betta for about 2 weeks. He’s a mermaid and when I first brought him home he was eating fine, however for the past 5 to 7 days he has not eaten. Hides in the back of corner of his tank behind a plant and sometimes swims around. He does come up to the side of the tank when I approach. He’s all purple but has some pale white large spots on his body (he came this way from Petco) and his dark purple face has white speckled dots (these have seemed to appear in the past couple of weeks shortly after bringing him home). Not sure if this is normal or if it could be ich or fungal infection. The fact that he is not eating food and hanging in one corner of tank has me worried. Been treating the tank with Maracyn oxy (at the recommendation of Petco). Anyone have any ideas?

 

[connorlindeman]

I wouldnt treat the tank unless you know the problem.

What are your water parameters?

 

[KiwiGal77]

I'll let someone else more clued up about fish diseases give advice on what might be wrong and any appropriate treatment, but to start with the basics...

- How long has the tank been set up, and was it cycled before you put the fish in?
- How big is the tank?
- How often are you cleaning and doing water changes, how much water do you replace each time, and do you use dechlorinator/water conditioner?
- What's your water's pH and hardness?
- Have you tested for ammonia, nitrite & nitrate?
- What sort of filter is on/in the tank and have you done any cleaning of it?
- How much and how often are you feeding? What do you do with any uneaten food?

While waiting for further advice from the experts here, do a large (75%) water change, making sure you treat your tap water with dechlorinator/water conditioner before adding it to the tank.

 

[Catladynew2fish]

I'll let someone else more clued up about fish diseases give advice on what might be wrong and any appropriate treatment, but to start with the basics...

- How long has the tank been set up, and was it cycled before you put the fish in?
- How big is the tank?
- How often are you cleaning and doing water changes, how much water do you replace each time, and do you use dechlorinator/water conditioner?
- What's your water's pH and hardness?
- Have you tested for ammonia, nitrite & nitrate?
- What sort of filter is on/in the tank and have you done any cleaning of it?
- How much and how often are you feeding? What do you do with any uneaten food?

While waiting for further advice from the experts here, do a large (75%) water change, making sure you treat your tap water with dechlorinator/water conditioner before adding it to the tank.

Tank

 

[Catladynew2fish]

He’s been in this tank about a week- when brought home middle of July he was temporarily in a one and a half gallon tank with conditioned water. Moved him over to the 5 gallon tank about a week to a week and a half ago. I used prime conditioner before putting him in but did not cycle the tank. Tank cleaning is weekly taking about 25% of water.
Replacing with conditioned water. (Prime)
Also vacuuming out any uneaten food… The tank is an aqueon minibow 5 gallon w/smart clean technology-power filtration.
I have ordered a master test kit for freshwater fish and awaiting shipment. In the meantime I’ve taken water samples up to Petco and they said everything looks good except maybe a small bit on the acidic side which I was directed to put a pinch of baking soda in the tank.
As far as the food I have been feeding him, the beta pellets he seems sort of interested but then spits them back out. He was not doing this before. He was actually eating. I also tried the beta worms but he doesn’t touch those. Tried flakes too. Checks them out then swims away…

 

[DragonScales+Doubletails]

He’s been in this tank about a week- when brought home middle of July he was temporarily in a one and a half gallon tank with conditioned water. Moved him over to the 5 gallon tank about a week to a week and a half ago. I used prime conditioner before putting him in but did not cycle the tank. Tank cleaning is weekly taking about 25% of water.
Replacing with conditioned water. (Prime)
Also vacuuming out any uneaten food… The tank is an aqueon minibow 5 gallon w/smart clean technology-power filtration.
I have ordered a master test kit for freshwater fish and awaiting shipment. In the meantime I’ve taken water samples up to Petco and they said everything looks good except maybe a small bit on the acidic side which I was directed to put a pinch of baking soda in the tank.
As far as the food I have been feeding him, the beta pellets he seems sort of interested but then spits them back out. He was not doing this before. He was actually eating. I also tried the beta worms but he doesn’t touch those. Tried flakes too. Checks them out then swims away…

has he been defecating?

 

[Catladynew2fish]

has he been defecating?

Honestly not sure

 

[DragonScales+Doubletails]

Honestly not sure

ok, try to find feces and tell us what they look like. (if possible)

 

[Catladynew2fish]

I wouldnt treat the tank unless you know the problem.

What are your water parameters?

According to the test strips Petco does, everything looked ok. Slightly acidic and was advised to add a pinch of baking soda to tank. Have master test kit on order.

 

[Catladynew2fish]

ok, try to find feces and tell us what they look like. (if possible)

Don’t see any, just pellets which I’ve vacuumed out. What would I be looking for? What’s normal?

 

[KiwiGal77]

Awesome that you're using the Prime for your tap water, keep that up along with removing the uneaten food and fish waste daily.

Since your tank wasn't cycled before the fish went in, you're effectively doing a risky fish-in cycle now. Would recommend daily min 50% water changes with the Prime and get some beneficial bacteria such as API QuickStart or Tetra SafeStart asap to help boost the population to manage the ammonia & nitrite spikes. Some live floating plants could help too. Do you know of anyone with an established tank that would let you have some of their filter media that's already seeded with beneficial bacteria?

 

[Catladynew2fish]

Awesome that you're using the Prime for your tap water, keep that up along with removing the uneaten food and fish waste daily.

Since your tank wasn't cycled before the fish went in, you're effectively doing a risky fish-in cycle now. Would recommend daily min 50% water changes with the Prime and get some beneficial bacteria such as API QuickStart or Tetra SafeStart asap to help boost the population to manage the ammonia & nitrite spikes. Some live floating plants could help too. Do you know of anyone with an established tank that would let you have some of their filter media that's already seeded with beneficial bacteria?

I don’t actually know anyone with tanks. I do have some aquon pure life beneficial bacteria in enzyme balls. It says add one ball to a 10 gallon tank. Do you think I could use one in my 5 gallon tank to help? I have that here on hand tonight. And if so would you still recommend getting the quick start tomorrow?

 

[Catladynew2fish]

Awesome that you're using the Prime for your tap water, keep that up along with removing the uneaten food and fish waste daily.

Since your tank wasn't cycled before the fish went in, you're effectively doing a risky fish-in cycle now. Would recommend daily min 50% water changes with the Prime and get some beneficial bacteria such as API QuickStart or Tetra SafeStart asap to help boost the population to manage the ammonia & nitrite spikes. Some live floating plants could help too. Do you know of anyone with an established tank that would let you have some of their filter media that's already seeded with beneficial bacteria?

I thought about life floating plants. Any recommendations for those? Do plants need to be quarantined before adding to the tank?

 

[KiwiGal77]

I don’t actually know anyone with tanks. I do have some aquon pure life beneficial bacteria in enzyme balls. It says add one ball to a 10 gallon tank. Do you think I could use one in my 5 gallon tank to help? I have that here on hand tonight. And if so would you still recommend getting the quick start tomorrow?

I hadn't heard of them before, but a quick Google search and it looks like they would definitely be better than nothing for now - do a 75% water change, treat the water with Prime & then once refilled add in 1 of those balls.

I'll let someone else who's knowledgeable on them say if they're as good as the Quickstart or Safestart or not.

 

[Catladynew2fish]

I hadn't heard of them before, but a quick Google search and it looks like they would definitely be better than nothing for now - do a 75% water change, treat the water with Prime & then once refilled add in 1 of those balls.

I'll let someone else who's knowledgeable on them say if they're as good as the Quickstart or Safestart or not.

Thank you! You’ve been a great help!