new to the hobby, my betta fish keep dying

[puprrgard]

hello all, i'm relatively new to the fish keeping hobby and this is my first time on a forum site.

i really love betta fish, but i can't seem to keep any alive for more than six months. they always end up with dropsy, and before i realize it, pass away. my most recent betta was a crowntail, and i noticed he was getting constipated quite often, so i fed him every other day with less pellets as well as using the pea method. he got better, and then got constipated again, and then before i realized he had dropsy, he pineconed and passed as soon as i treated the tank with salt and a dosage of seachem.

my other bettas just get very lethargic before getting dropsy. i'm not sure what to do at this point; i've watched so many videos and read so many posts to try and fix the problem. here are some of my tank specs:

i have a 5 gallon with sand substrate. my filter is the Aqueon Submersible Internal QuietFlow Model AT10. i put a sponge where the water flows out to decrease the flow since i realized it was too strong for my bettas. i keep a heater inside that is set to a constant of ~80, and a thermometer which tells me the temperature. i live in a hotter area, so i make sure to monitor the temperature. i keep the overhead light off most of the time, since i know bettas prefer the flourescents to be off.

i treat the new water every time i clean with API tap water conditioner, and do a 30% water change monthly. i have the API test kit as well, and i know i don't check the water often enough, so that may be part of my issue. everytime i do put a fish in the tank, though, i make sure the water is stable and ready for the fish.

i feed my fish a mix of freeze-dried blood worms, fuval bug bites, betta bio-gold, and frozen brine shrimp. the fuval bug bites are my main go-to. i don't feed on sundays.

i have 3 snails— an assassin snail due to an old pond snail infestation when i used to have frog bit plants, a nerite snail, and a rabbit snail. all my of snails are happy and healthy, i've had them for months now.

there are two live anubias plants and a smaller plant attached to a rock i got at petsmart, can't remember the plant-type.

my fish are fine the first couple of months, and then mysteriously get lethargic and die within a week. it's not even a consequence of me doing water changes, it just Happens randomly. i only keep 1 betta and the 3 snails in the 5 gallon, and my bettas haven't had any problems with my snails.

any help would be appreciated. i've spent a lot of money on my tank and i love bettas so much. i don't know where else to turn to.

i've attached a picture of my current tank. i know the water is really low, i was going to clean the tank this weekend, but my fish passed unexpectedly last night. i have been really busy due to health issues.

 

[BettaFishGirl]

This is going to be a long response so sorry in advance.

First off, some questions:
Have you cycled the tank?
What are you using the test the water? (Test strips, liquid test kit)

i really love betta fish, but i can't seem to keep any alive for more than six months. they always end up with dropsy, and before i realize it, pass away. my most recent betta was a crowntail, and i noticed he was getting constipated quite often, so i fed him every other day with less pellets as well as using the pea method. he got better, and then got constipated again, and then before i realized he had dropsy, he pineconed and passed as soon as i treated the tank with salt and a dosage of seachem.

How many pellets are you feeding each time? Do not feed peas, Betta fish can't digest them. How much salt did you dose? And what "Seachem" did you use? Did you get a pic of him?

Your tank size is good, but you have to fill up the water when you have a Betta in that tank. You need to be doing 50% water changes weekly, a 30% water change once a month will end up with your Betta dead. Test the water asap, before you do a tank cleaning. We need to know the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.

Another thing, rabbit snails need at least 10 gallons, but 20 gallons is preferred. You should give away the rabbit snails to somewhere that has a bigger tank.

I don't know what you mean by "clean it" but all you have to do is do a very large water change and gravel vac. Do not take out all the stuff and replace or scrub it, as that will end up causing the tank to re-cycle.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Hi there, sorry to hear you're having so much trouble. It can be so disheartening! But we can help you, sharing a picture of your tank is a great start, I can already see bits we can work on.

Firstly, knowing what the gh of your water is is very important as Bettas need very soft water to thrive.

I can see you've made great efforts in decorating your tank however your water level is unnecessarily low, and with all the ornaments there's not actually a lot of water volume. My suggestion would be to fill up the tank to a couple of inches from the top (if you don't have a lid), and take out a few ornaments replacing them with live plants, bettas really love the natural cover they provide especially from those that float.

Secondly and most importantly, a 30% water change once a month is just not enough unfortunately. Bettas need nice fresh and clean water to keep their long finnage healthy. Baffling the filter is a great idea, but I recommend increasing your water changes to 50% every week. Make sure the new water is dechlorinated and roughly the same temperature as what is already in the tank.

Hope that helps some

 

[TNG]

Sorry to hear about your bettas.
Your post suggests that something slowly weakened your fish as they lived for a few months before fading away.
As mentioned in previous posts, do you know the GH and pH of your water? Ideally I prefer pH to be below 7.5 and GH below 8 for bettas. High GH and pH affect the long term health of the bettas.
If your water is not suitable for bettas, you could look at different fish that thrive in harder water (high GH).

 

[Naughts]

do a 30% water change monthly.

Do 50-75% each and every week.

feed my fish a mix of freeze-dried blood worms,

Freeze dried foods can swell up inside the fish, blood worms have a hard head, so these risk causing an internal blockage. Put them in the bin.
Instead use live foods like daphnia, baby brine shrimp or mosquito larvae.

 

[puprrgard]

This is going to be a long response so sorry in advance.

First off, some questions:
Have you cycled the tank?
What are you using the test the water? (Test strips, liquid test kit)

How many pellets are you feeding each time? Do not feed peas, Betta fish can't digest them. How much salt did you dose? And what "Seachem" did you use? Did you get a pic of him?

Your tank size is good, but you have to fill up the water when you have a Betta in that tank. You need to be doing 50% water changes weekly, a 30% water change once a month will end up with your Betta dead. Test the water asap, before you do a tank cleaning. We need to know the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.

Another thing, rabbit snails need at least 10 gallons, but 20 gallons is preferred. You should give away the rabbit snails to somewhere that has a bigger tank.

I don't know what you mean by "clean it" but all you have to do is do a very large water change and gravel vac. Do not take out all the stuff and replace or scrub it, as that will end up causing the tank to re-cycle.

thank you so much for even taking the time to reply!

yes, the tank is cycled. i used API quick start when first setting it up, and now i use a tap water conditioner to treat the replacement water for every water change. there is a sponge within the filter. i use the API master test liquid kit.

i feed 4-5 pellets each time. i only fed the pea because it was recommended on a website to relieve constipation, but i'll keep that in mind for the future. i dosed about 3 tbsp of salt. i used kanaplex seachem. unfortunately, i didn't get a picture of him while he was sick, but i will attach some pictures of him right after i did a tank cleaning last month.

the only reason the water was so low because of some health issues going on with me that made it hard to move. usually i fill the water to the top, but i keep space so he can get air from the surface because of that special organ that bettas have. i will make sure to start doing the water changes weekly, most likely every sunday.

pH: 7.4 - 7.6
ammonia: i attached a picture of the sample since i always have a hard time telling what the ppm/color is. but it looks fairly yellow to me?
nitrite: 0 ppm
nitrate: i have also attached a picture because this is the first time i've ever seen my nitrate levels above 0 ppm. obviously this is an issue considering how dark the color is...

by clean it, i mean that i use a syphon to get the debris from the bottom and pour in new conditioned water at a similar temperature to the tank water, but i usually move decor to be as thorough as possible while syphoning. since i have sand as my substrate, i crimp the hose while syphoning to keep the sand from getting sucked up.

the attached photos of my past fish/tank were before i added the live anubias plants. that is usually how my tank looks after a water change + syphon. you can see my nerite and assassin snails as well before the rabbit snail was added. i will find the rabbit snail a good home; i didn't realize the tank was too small for him. i should've done more thorough research before picking him up.

 

[puprrgard]

Do 50-75% each and every week.

Freeze dried foods can swell up inside the fish, blood worms have a hard head, so these risk causing an internal blockage. Put them in the bin.
Instead use live foods like daphnia, baby brine shrimp or mosquito larvae.

thank you so much for replying. i have tossed the blood worms in the trash. i will see if i can get my hands on any live food; i don't really have the space to breed my own baby brine shrimp, but i would like to.

i will also start doing a 50%-75% weekly. that's my biggest issue going forward that i will definitely work on.

 

[puprrgard]

Sorry to hear about your bettas.
Your post suggests that something slowly weakened your fish as they lived for a few months before fading away.
As mentioned in previous posts, do you know the GH and pH of your water? Ideally I prefer pH to be below 7.5 and GH below 8 for bettas. High GH and pH affect the long term health of the bettas.
If your water is not suitable for bettas, you could look at different fish that thrive in harder water (high GH).

thank you so much for your kind words.

the pH is 7.4-7.6 currently. i have never tested the GH of my tank, so i will pick up a kit this weekend and test it. i didn't even know that was something i had to test for! so thank you for bringing it to my attention. i will reply again with the results after i test for it.

 

[puprrgard]

Hi there, sorry to hear you're having so much trouble. It can be so disheartening! But we can help you, sharing a picture of your tank is a great start, I can already see bits we can work on.

Firstly, knowing what the gh of your water is is very important as Bettas need very soft water to thrive.

I can see you've made great efforts in decorating your tank however your water level is unnecessarily low, and with all the ornaments there's not actually a lot of water volume. My suggestion would be to fill up the tank to a couple of inches from the top (if you don't have a lid), and take out a few ornaments replacing them with live plants, bettas really love the natural cover they provide especially from those that float.

Secondly and most importantly, a 30% water change once a month is just not enough unfortunately. Bettas need nice fresh and clean water to keep their long finnage healthy. Baffling the filter is a great idea, but I recommend increasing your water changes to 50% every week. Make sure the new water is dechlorinated and roughly the same temperature as what is already in the tank.

Hope that helps some

thank you.

i had no idea that GH was something i needed to test for; i had heard of water hardness/softness but was unsure how to check for it. i will pick up a kit to test it this weekend and see whether or not my water is suitable for bettas at all.

yes, the water is very low. this was mainly because of health issues going on with me that made it hard to move; i usually keep the water level very high. i've attached a picture of what my water usually looks like after a cleaning. my previous fish have died with a high water level as well.

i will increase my water changes to every sunday; that seems to be my primary issue with my fish right now. thank you!

 

[BettaFishGirl]

thank you so much for even taking the time to reply!

yes, the tank is cycled. i used API quick start when first setting it up, and now i use a tap water conditioner to treat the replacement water for every water change. there is a sponge within the filter. i use the API master test liquid kit.

i feed 4-5 pellets each time. i only fed the pea because it was recommended on a website to relieve constipation, but i'll keep that in mind for the future. i dosed about 3 tbsp of salt. i used kanaplex seachem. unfortunately, i didn't get a picture of him while he was sick, but i will attach some pictures of him right after i did a tank cleaning last month.

the only reason the water was so low because of some health issues going on with me that made it hard to move. usually i fill the water to the top, but i keep space so he can get air from the surface because of that special organ that bettas have. i will make sure to start doing the water changes weekly, most likely every sunday.

pH: 7.4 - 7.6
ammonia: i attached a picture of the sample since i always have a hard time telling what the ppm/color is. but it looks fairly yellow to me?
nitrite: 0 ppm
nitrate: i have also attached a picture because this is the first time i've ever seen my nitrate levels above 0 ppm. obviously this is an issue considering how dark the color is...

by clean it, i mean that i use a syphon to get the debris from the bottom and pour in new conditioned water at a similar temperature to the tank water, but i usually move decor to be as thorough as possible while syphoning. since i have sand as my substrate, i crimp the hose while syphoning to keep the sand from getting sucked up.

the attached photos of my past fish/tank were before i added the live anubias plants. that is usually how my tank looks after a water change + syphon. you can see my nerite and assassin snails as well before the rabbit snail was added. i will find the rabbit snail a good home; i didn't realize the tank was too small for him. i should've done more thorough research before picking him up.

API quick start doesn't have the right beneficial bacteria to cycle a tank. The tank is cycled now though, seeing the test results.

You should only be feeding 2-3 pellets each time since pellets expand in the water

Do a water change to lower the nitrates..they are quite high.

You added 3 tablespoons of salt?? You are only supposed to add one rounded table spoon for ever 5 gallons, if you did add 3 TB that might have killed the Betta. Also what salt did you use?

Hope this helps

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

What a beauty he was

 

[puprrgard]

API quick start doesn't have the right beneficial bacteria to cycle a tank. The tank is cycled now though, seeing the test results.

You should only be feeding 2-3 pellets each time since pellets expand in the water

Do a water change to lower the nitrates..they are quite high.

You added 3 tablespoons of salt?? You are only supposed to add one rounded table spoon for ever 5 gallons, if you did add 3 TB that might have killed the Betta. Also what salt did you use?

Hope this helps

what good alternatives are there instead of API quick start? or is there anything i can add to the quick start that helps establish the beneficial bacteria? not that i plan to start a new tank anytime soon, this is mainly for curiosity's sake.

i will keep that in mind about the amount of food.

i will do a water change + add more water in general this weekend and then reply with another set of results afterwards.

i used dr. teal's epsom salt, with no extra additives/scents. i only added that much because my betta was already pineconing, but i will be more careful in the future. this is only the second time i have been able to actually try and treat drospy, but i know it's really unlikely for fish to recover from the pineconing stage.

thank you so much for all the help.

 

[puprrgard]

What a beauty he was

i know!! i was so sad when i realized he was sick.

 

[Essjay]

what good alternatives are there instead of API quick start?

Tetra Safe Start and Dr Tim's One & Only.

Are you on mains water or a well? If it's mains water, see if your water provider's website gives your hardness before spending money on a tester. You need a number and the unit of measurement (there are several units they could use)

 

[BettaFishGirl]

Epsom salt is used for baths only, and can't go in the tank. If you need to treat with salt again get aquarium salt and use the amount listed on instructions.