Sick Betta Behavior

[smashguitars]

Hello, we're new to having a betta as a pet.

We got our red betta (Mr Pickles) about a week ago. 2 days after putting him into his treated tank, he got this fuzzy cotton-like stuff on his head. He clearly wasnt feeling well, he virtually stopped moving, and just stayed in the corner. He refused to eat and his eyes were all red.

Picked up bettafix at the local pet store, unplugged the filter and started treatment. Another 2 days later and the fuzzy cotton stuff is gone, and Mr Pickles is zipping back and forth in his tank. He really digs the flakes that we feed him. He gobbles up everything. He also swims in some wild erratic patterns. (dunno if thats good or bad). Yesterday he also built a bubble nest....not sure what hes thinking.

So now we're trying to figure out what to do with the tank. Its getting somewhat dirty since the filter hasnt been running and we werent changing water since we put the medicine in. I'm not sure what to do here. do i let it be until i finish giving him the medication for 7 days? or do i start running the filter and/or do a water change?

the other thing is that his eyes a still red, (tho a bit of clear is starting to show), and it looks like hes loosing a bit of color on his head. it used to be all red when we got him, now his head looks pale red. The rest of him ok i guess. Not as vibant when we 1st got him, but definitely not pale. is that normal? what can we do to get the color to come back?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
thanks in advance.

 

[joycould]

Dirty water can make the fish weak and whatever he had can attack him again. I am glad the betta fix worked since I was thinking it was columaris which doesn't respond to betta fix from what I have read. What I would do is clean and give him a dose of betta fix again.

 

[Kaz1814]

You could just take the carbon out of the filter and leave that running... I would do a water change too.

Hope this helps

 

[smashguitars]

You could just take the carbon out of the filter and leave that running... I would do a water change too.

Hope this helps

i actually did exactly that last night. all it does it cycle the same water, its not cleaning it. i will do the water change as was suggested

thanks

 

[Kaz1814]

It should filter out the fine particles of waste... Mine are certainly gunky when i rinse them every week..

 

[Amunet]

Well it's good to hear that whatever it was that was on his head is gone.
And I would also do a partial water change just to clean it out some and dose again.


I'm not sure what a red eye would indicate though.

His color is probably faded some b/c he's sick. Maybe feeding him some hikari betta pellets or some frozen food (brineshrimp or blood worm) would brighten up his color some.
Flaked food should really be a last resort as food for bettas.
Just make sure not to overfeed him. Bettas are oinkers and can eat far far too much for their own good.


I hope he makes it out of whatever it wrong with him. And did I mention that Mr. Pickles is a totally AWESOME name?? lol I love it!

 

[smashguitars]

Well it's good to hear that whatever it was that was on his head is gone.
And I would also do a partial water change just to clean it out some and dose again.


I'm not sure what a red eye would indicate though.

His color is probably faded some b/c he's sick. Maybe feeding him some hikari betta pellets or some frozen food (brineshrimp or blood worm) would brighten up his color some.
Flaked food should really be a last resort as food for bettas.
Just make sure not to overfeed him. Bettas are oinkers and can eat far far too much for their own good.


I hope he makes it out of whatever it wrong with him. And did I mention that Mr. Pickles is a totally AWESOME name?? lol I love it!

well at first i tried feeding him the betta pellets (i forget the name on the package), he refuses to eat those. he'd swallow it, and then spit it out. so the food would just float in the tank till i remove it with a net. the flakes is totally different, he jumps on this stuff. I will pick up some brineshrimp tho. thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Amunet]

Well it's good to hear that whatever it was that was on his head is gone.
And I would also do a partial water change just to clean it out some and dose again.


I'm not sure what a red eye would indicate though.

His color is probably faded some b/c he's sick. Maybe feeding him some hikari betta pellets or some frozen food (brineshrimp or blood worm) would brighten up his color some.
Flaked food should really be a last resort as food for bettas.
Just make sure not to overfeed him. Bettas are oinkers and can eat far far too much for their own good.


I hope he makes it out of whatever it wrong with him. And did I mention that Mr. Pickles is a totally AWESOME name?? lol I love it!

well at first i tried feeding him the betta pellets (i forget the name on the package), he refuses to eat those. he'd swallow it, and then spit it out. so the food would just float in the tank till i remove it with a net. the flakes is totally different, he jumps on this stuff. I will pick up some brineshrimp tho. thanks for the suggestions!

*nods*
Every betta is different! heh
If you're gonna get the frozen brine shrimp, they come in small little squares. You could break off a small little chunk from it (ziplock and freeze the rest), get a little bit of his tank water and plop the chunk into the water to thaw it out, and then see if he'll eat it.
He might, he might not. My previous bettas would only take pellet food. I tryed feeding them blood worm and brine shrimp but they just weren't having any of it