possibly sick Betta

[Jasper]

I have a male Betta in a 5.5 gal tank with 3 Platties and one small Upsidedown Catfish. The water quality is very good and the tank is well filtered. For the last 2 days, my Betta has been hiding near the surface in a plant. When I took the cover off of the tank he didn't even move, he just sat there looking up at me. He is usually very active. Also this morning when I checked in on him he was at the surface with a large patch of bubbles eminating from him, (could he be sick and still be building a bubble nest?) Its also possible that his eyes are bugging out but its difficult to say for sure, I might just be thinking he has pop eye out of vicarious hypochondria. Can anyone shed some light on this.

 

[FishyLoveBug]

Gosh thats a tough one. Do you have any pictures of him with the bubbles? Whats the temprature of the tank? Is he eating?

 

[BettaMomma]

I might just be thinking he has pop eye out of vicarious hypochondria.

I have a severe case of that myself. Well the vicarious hypochondria, not popeye.

What's the temp of the tank?
How long have you had the tank set up??
Is it possible that he's just gotten really comfy with that plant and decided to beach himself up there, and therefore making a bubble nest?

Is he breathing heavy or anything?

 

[Jasper]

He's not breathing heavily, and he's not eating either. However this afternoon he has begun to flare at his tank mates (this was only after I turned the filter off) is it possible I've added too much current to the little tank? Its a 5.5 gal and I'm running an Aquaclear 150 at the lowest setting. For the last month he seemed to like the mild current, as he would play in it. The way I have the tank set up, the current is broken up and isolated to one half of the tank. (I previously had an appropriate sized 5 gal filter in the tank and found it to be the most under achieving piece of garbage) it didn't seem to have enough media to hold a steady growth of denitrifying bacteria (readings were erratic). I've had the the Betta for 2 mos now and this is the first problem I've had with him, other than being a bit of a Prima Donna with his food, which I vary to no end. Is this type of thing normal? Is he holding out for a mate? Does he have some variant of Betta Eubola? Please advise.

 

[Jasper]

Also.. I forgot. The tank has been well cycled for 2 mos & the temp is 80 deg F with a PH of 7.

 

[BettaMomma]

Hmm - it sounds like he may just be REALLY irriated with the current.

Can you try him somewhere else without current?
See if he perks up?
My only betta casualty was to a tank with current - it drove him crazy, and he died from the stress it caused him eventually.

 

[Raechal]

The higher temp may be causing him to act lethargic. I know when I raised my betta's tank to 80 he hung in one corner and barely moved. Then when I slowly lowered it to around 76 he was darting around and eating like a pig again.

 

[Jasper]

Thanks for the info, I'll try to lower the temp by maybe 2 degrees, and break up the current a little bit more. The LFS had a closing out sale, so I've got an abundance of Mopani wood. Once its done soaking I'll use it against the filter outlet to reduce the raw current.
I realise its a small tank, (I originaly intended it to be a quarantine/breeding tank, so much for self discipline) do you know of any filters/powerheads that would do at least a half decent job of filtering this, without turning the little aquarium into the opening scene from Hawaii 5 0? I find the little 5 gal filters do nothing at all. It was almost impossible to get steady readings out of the the tank until I installed a filter with more surface area. Thanks for the info, "Betta Momma" & "Raechal", I'd appreciate any other insights you might have regarding my Betta "Buckwheat"