My Poor Betta! Urgent Need Of Help!

[Mr.September15]

My female betta is staying on the bottom of the tank and rolling over and not coming up. Shes acting quite weak at the moment, She may have a disease of some sort! i hope its not that serious...Is something wrong with her...

 

[redbetta]

Hey,
I don't know what it could be, but take some water out that she can come up for air easier. Hope this helps, I'm sure someone will come along with more advice.

 

[RandomWiktor]

I'm afraid I need more information before I can give you any real help.

- What is the current bowl/tank temp?
- What are your water parameters?
- When was the last water change?
- Have you been using dechlorinator?
- What is the fish's color like? Is she pale?
- Are there any bumps, growths, swelling, raising of the scales, white or gold flecks, fungus-like growths, etc.
- Is there distention of the abdomen?
- What has the animal's diet been? (flakes, pellets, live, freeze-dried, etc.)
- Has she recently released eggs?

re-edit: You have two females in a tank that small? Eeek. Female bettas can not and should not be kept in groups unless there are at least 4-6, in at least 10 well planted gallons. There is a good chance the other female has wounded her severely. You must separate them immediately.
Having two female bettas AND two ADFs in that small of a tank is probably a big part of the problem; you'd need to be doing very frequent water changes with the amount of waste a group like that would put out. So, please test your parameters and reply. I have a hunch that your water quality is the issue.

 

[Mr.September15]

Hey,
I don't know what it could be, but take some water out that she can come up for air easier. Hope this helps, I'm sure someone will come along with more advice.

Thanks for the advice I'll try doing that...But the thing is that it's not kept in a bowl its kept in a 3 gallon tank which is pretty hard to empty...

I'm afraid I need more information before I can give you any real help.

- What is the current bowl/tank temp?
- What are your water parameters?
- When was the last water change?
- Have you been using dechlorinator?
- What is the fish's color like? Is she pale?
- Are there any bumps, growths, swelling, raising of the scales, white or gold flecks, fungus-like growths, etc.
- Is there distention of the abdomen?
- What has the animal's diet been? (flakes, pellets, live, freeze-dried, etc.)
- Has she recently released eggs?

re-edit: You have two females in a tank that small? Eeek. Female bettas can not and should not be kept in groups unless there are at least 4-6, in at least 10 well planted gallons. There is a good chance the other female has wounded her severely. You must separate them immediately.
Having two female bettas AND two ADFs in that small of a tank is probably a big part of the problem; you'd need to be doing very frequent water changes with the amount of waste a group like that would put out. So, please test your parameters and reply. I have a hunch that your water quality is the issue.

My tank tempreture has been at 75F. I'm not sure about my tanks perameter.My last water change was 2 days ago. She isn't pale but just laying face down and tail up in the tank. I didnt use decholorinator because I thought if I use drinking water it wont have harmful effects that tap water has. there aren't any bumps or distention. She's has only been eating the bloodworms that I give to my frogs. She hasnt released any eggs. And for the 2 females in the tank she has a scaratch on her side which came from the male betta that used to be with her but then I found out that males and females shouldnt be mixed ...Now she has this scratch thats almost scab like but doesnt have any crusty blood just a red spot maybe from blood...

 

[nino]

If her tail is floating up could she be dead??

 

[RandomWiktor]

Ok. Here's a few things I see going on here. I hate to say it, but once they go nose down, tail up, they are usually dying. However, for furture reference, here are some issues:

- While bottled water is generally safer, it is still advised to always use dechlorinator, as it removes more than just chlorine. Also, if the water was distilled, it would kill the fish.
- A blood worms-only diet is not nutritionally balanced and can lead to constipation. It is possible your female is suffering from a fatal bout of constipation, common in bettas. A betta's diet should be a mix of primarily pellets, as well as a variety of frozen or live foods, and an occasional bit of frozen pea to help prevent constipation.
- She could also have a secondary infection from the injury, but I doubt it. Or, the other female could have hassled her, causing internal injury. If she does not pass on, you really must get a separate tank from her. They will otherwise eventually kill one another.

Good luck, I hope she makes it. If you could move her to a shallow separate tank kept at close to 80 with salt, stress coat, and maybe even some collodial silver or blackwater extract, it may help, however, the stress might be too much at this point. Sorry =(

 

[jollysue]

Could the healthy Betta and ADFs be moved? Will she eat? Will she take some smash pea from your finger?

Umm! actually she said nose down, tail up. And I'm sorry to say that is not much more promising.

I think I would take the other residents out and try getting her some fresh treated water. Add salt. Yes, peat or blackwater. If she's eating, some smashed pea.

 

[RandomWiktor]

Yeah... that was a typo on my part. ::goes to fix that::

 

[Mr.September15]

Ok. Here's a few things I see going on here. I hate to say it, but once they go nose down, tail up, they are usually dying. However, for furture reference, here are some issues:

- While bottled water is generally safer, it is still advised to always use dechlorinator, as it removes more than just chlorine. Also, if the water was distilled, it would kill the fish.
- A blood worms-only diet is not nutritionally balanced and can lead to constipation. It is possible your female is suffering from a fatal bout of constipation, common in bettas. A betta's diet should be a mix of primarily pellets, as well as a variety of frozen or live foods, and an occasional bit of frozen pea to help prevent constipation.
- She could also have a secondary infection from the injury, but I doubt it. Or, the other female could have hassled her, causing internal injury. If she does not pass on, you really must get a separate tank from her. They will otherwise eventually kill one another.

Good luck, I hope she makes it. If you could move her to a shallow separate tank kept at close to 80 with salt, stress coat, and maybe even some collodial silver or blackwater extract, it may help, however, the stress might be too much at this point. Sorry =(

Yeah...She's doing a lot better...I bring her up for air with my net only letting out the mouth and not the whole body for 2 seconds. so far she stays flat on the ground (not sideways) which is a good thing I think...

 

[nino]

I think netting her would stress her out. Why not lower the water levels in the tank instead?

 

[jollysue]

How is she? I'm sure she appreciates all you are doing. Betta are strange creatures. Although they aren't pack animals like dogs, they seem to connect to their owners/handlers. Maybe it's all they can connect to. Maybe it's just the food. But they all respond to my voice and not just to feed. They come to look.

I really have to say, as RW pointed out, I think the bio load in that tank was a little heavy. You had four notorious poopers in 3 gallons not good, I think. When water goes bad, one water change doesn't necessarily restore it. I have a constant battle with my goldies' tank. One time I had to do two water changes a day for a week to restore it to healthy levels. There is a common goldie that poos logs with two adult veil tail Orandas and a youngster mix Oranda fan tail in 60 usg. I know, the common goldie needs to go to a pond with her own kind. )