my betta

[Teelie]

After a week you'll know for sure which way his progress is. Either it'll be a steady down hill or a steady uphill though he may "limp" some until he feels completely up to speed. The cloth covering you can probably remove after a day or so but make sure not to do it in the middle of the day. If possible, remove it in the morning before it's bright so that it's not like a sudden blinding light.

 

[cutecotton]

thansk a lot for your help, i'm guessing for the next day or so i should leave the cloth on it during the day too? what are some signs of GOOD uphill progress and what are some signs of downhill progress?

He seems to swim around a lot still...

 

[Teelie]

Yes, leave the cloth on for the day then take it off in the morning or at night before going to bed. I usually do that with healthy fish when I first add them to my tanks as well. It's a really simple but effective way to calm them down.

Swimming is definitely a good sign. A few other signs is if he acts normal and if he floats or sits straight up correctly. A few bad signs are if he's constantly on the bottom of the tank or at the surface and rarely moving at all. If he's laying off to the side even at an angle it may mean he's not doing so well. That doesn't mean he won't recover, it just means he'll have a longer recovery rate than if he was swimming and moving about like normal, which appears to be happening.

 

[cutecotton]

hmmm he and my red fish are both lying at the bottom of the tank right now (possibly sleeping due to the nighttime/cloth affect) i do see the blue one move around nad swim around the tank a litlte before settling down again...i'll check on him constantly to see if he swims on an angle (i did see a little bit of that earlier in the night...)

actually, now that you mention it...it seems like since day 1...everytime he flares he'd always float towards his left side a bit, like a small tilt, i dont 'know if tha'ts nromal or not..first i thought it might be a swim bladder's problem so i stopped feeding him for a few days, but it ddint' seem to help...

his tilt isn't anything too obvious, you porbably wouldtn' ntoice it too much unless you stared at him for a long time.

he's an adorable betta, i hope he'll recover

p.s. thanks for the cloth tip, i'm gonna keep that in mind if i ever get another fish

 

[Teelie]

He's always done that? It might be a swim bladder problem but if it's slight and always has been then it shouldn't be anything to worry about unless it gets worse. At night they usually do sleep on the bottom of the tank I've noticed though my old male used to sleep on the suction up for my heater near the surface sometimes.

 

[cutecotton]

hehe it's funny to watch them sleep...yeah i think my blue oen does have a swim bladder problem, thought i might be overfeeding him the first couple days so idid'nt feed him for a while...kept a little sideways tilt which is only really obvoius when the flares with his gills...

in any case, it's sleepy time for me too thanks fo rall the hlep teelie (Y) learned a lot tonight

 

[Teelie]

No problem, I have gained a lot of knowledge through message boards so it's only fair to pass on what I've learned.

I've heard feeding peas will help fish with swim bladder problems though I don't know if a Betta will eat one or not.

 

[cutecotton]

hmm i've heard that too, never tried it wtih my betta htough.. the water temperstaure is getting really cold for my betta bowl right now (it's early in the morning just before i head off to school), is there any way i can bring the temprature back up? there's really not that much sun outisde at the moment...

 

[cutecotton]

well, i just went to feed my blue betta and he's eating normally ate allt he pieces of foodt aht i gave him almost right away, still seemed happy when i came to feed him too, glad i got some response out of him...gonna try and raise the temperature for them if i can..

oh crap i fed the red one too, completely forgot that i was supposet to wait for it todigest through the fins....ahhhh

it all the pellets befor ei could take them back otu

 

[Teelie]

He should be alright, he might be a little fat for a few days though.

 

[cutecotton]

i'ts been 2 days now, my betta looks extra bad tongiht i dont' know if it's just sleeping or something, but here's what i noticed:

betta is really unresponsive, before when he was alright i'd put my finger near the tank in front of him and he'd at least see it, acknolwedge it and move away or whatever. Now he sits at the bottom of his bowl, and i move my finger close but there is aboustely NO response, not a flinch, not even a movemetn of fins.

Speaking of fins, when hes resting at the bottom fo the tank, his front fins (the see through tiny ones right behind the gills), don't move at all. I thought they were always supposet to be moving? i could be wrong

either way, it seems pale, tail seems curly at the end and really calmped together, like he can't open it. I noticed small signs of fin rot on the ends of his tail, and he just overall seems really depressed.

I take it that these are downhill signs right that amkes me sad, he was such a beatiful betta, i'll never find another one lik him again

 

[Teelie]

It doesn't sound good, sorry. He might pull through but it's sounding not so good. Have you got any Bettafix or other treatments to try?

 

[cutecotton]

my betta's condition seems to be changing constnatly. This morning i put him in the sun a little to raise his water tempreature and he seems alright now. Reacted to me when i came closer to him, seemed almost normal. His tail seems to be opening up a little and he ate every pellet i fed him.

Umm, i'm getting mixed signs from this little guys. Seomtimes he'll look like he's about to die, other times he'd loook like h'es perfectly normal...i havent' put in any medication yet, hoepfully that he might make it wtihout the meds

 

[Teelie]

If you can keep his bowl warm constantly that would be better. I am not sure how you can do that though without a heater. It sounds like the colder it gets the more sluggish he is which makes sense.

 

[cutecotton]

hmm yeah that is true. The problem is that his bowl is so tiny that i can't put a heater in it. This won't be a problem when i put him in his 10G. But for now, i just put him in the sun during teh day when i get the chance and that brings his water temp back up. There's nothing much i can do during the night tho, it can drop to high 60s sometimes.