Sick Betta? Looking For Advice

[sebbutcher]

We've owned our male betta for 6 months and he's always been quite active and had a good appetite. Around a month ago, I noticed the end of his fins were slightly clamped but he was still active and eating fine so I didn't worry about it too much.
 
However in the last week he has become a lot less active, spends a lot of time just lazing in his plants and isn't interacting with us as much (i.e. not swimming over to the front of the tank when someone walks in the room, which he would usually do.) He is also less keen to eat (although he is still eating at the moment) and his fins are looking more clamped.
 
Tank conditions look fine and have been stable since it was cycled a year ago. These are the results after testing with an API liquid test kit this evening;
 
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10 - 20ppm
 
The water temperature is steady at 78f. The only thing we ever add to the water is tap safe and health guard. I don't use any CO2, plant fertilisers or add any other additives or chemicals to the water. 
 
it's a 5 gallon nano tank, live plants of different heights from floor level through to tall and also some floating fern. There's an internal filter which has quite a low flow rate and the lighting is not overly bright. I have also been using Indian almond leaves in the tank for the last 4 months.
 
The only significant thing which has changed in the last week is we introduced an Oto Catfish to the tank yesterday to help control algae growth, on advice received from our local store who have always been trustworthy with stocking recommendations. Prior to this, the betta was the only fish in the tank. We had previously tried keeping snails and shrimps to help control algae but they just turned out to be expensive snacks for him! The Oto is still alive and keeping out of the Betta's way.
 
Basically I'm at a loss, I'm concerned something is wrong with the Betta, but aside from his clamped fins and change of attitude, there are no other visible problems with him and the tank conditions seem ideal based on everything that I've read they need.
 
Any advice welcomed...

 

[NickAu]

 
The only significant thing which has changed in the last week is we introduced an Oto Catfish to the tank yesterday to help control algae growth, on advice received from our local store who have always been trustworthy with stocking recommendations.

I think your LFS gave you bad advice, That tank is too small for the catfish.
 
 

 
Originating from fast-moving rivers in South America, the Otocinclus Catfish should be housed in at least a 30-gallon aquarium with high filtration, good water movement, and high aeration. A planted aquarium with rocks and driftwood will provide plenty of hiding spaces to prevent the Otocinclus Catfish from becoming stressed. As a peaceful and very social fish, the Otocinclus Catfish prefers to be kept in small schools.

http/www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830+2855+923&pcatid=923

 

[sebbutcher]

That's interesting, it seems there's a difference of opinion about them then as the Think Fish website recommendations are different;
http/www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/otocinclus.html
 
That aside though, if it turns out the catfish is not suited to the tank, I can take him back or sell him so that shouldn't be an issue.
 
I'm more concerned about the Betta in this thread, thanks.

 

[betta fish]

Hello, it sounds like your betta is stressed for some reason, how often do you change the water and do you dechlorinate before adding it in and making sure it is the same temp as the tank water? if bettas are chilled they can fin clamp but it may be water quality even though tests say otherwise, I would still do a 25% water change, how are you measuring the temp? do you have a full tank shot and a pic of the betta too please.

 

[gmc1]

How often are you feeding and how much.is his stomach swollen at all?

 

[sebbutcher]

Thanks for your replies.
 

Hello, it sounds like your betta is stressed for some reason, how often do you change the water and do you dechlorinate before adding it in and making sure it is the same temp as the tank water? if bettas are chilled they can fin clamp but it may be water quality even though tests say otherwise, I would still do a 25% water change, how are you measuring the temp? do you have a full tank shot and a pic of the betta too please.

 
I usually change 25-30% of the water every 2 weeks, the water is treated with tap safe and left to sit for at least 24 hours before its added to the tank. I do try and match the temperature by putting a heater in the container which stores the water, but it's not always 100% the same if I'm honest and is occasionally very slightly cooler.
 
Temperature is measured with a thermometer like this one (http/www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/fish/tropical-fish-tanks---accessories/fish-tank-heaters/glass-thermometer-for-aquariums) which is always attached to the side of the tank.
 
I will take some photos and post them up later this evening after I'm home from work.
 
 

How often are you feeding and how much.is his stomach swollen at all?

 
I usually feed him 1 micro pellet in the morning and 2 in the evening and try to give him 1 day a week of no food (usually Sunday). We have tried feeding him a variety of frozen food (once fully defrosted of course!) in the past as a treat / to mix up his diet, but surprisingly he never wants to eat it. We do also occasionally add a crushed pea in to the tank but again, he often won't eat it.
 
Edit to add: He's not been looking swollen or bloated as yet.

 

[betta fish]

Hi, I would up those water changes to 30% every week, I match the temperature in my tanks just by mixing hot and cold and using my hand to test between the two then I add the dechlorinator before adding to the tank, the replacement water should always be the same temp or as close as you can get it, in smaller tanks changes in temperature of new water are more sudden than larger tanks so this may stress the fish.
The thermometer you have looks pretty reliable but I prefer the digital ones that sit on the outside tank, they are relatively cheap too, got mine for around £2 they are very easy to read with just a quick glance.
It's unusual your betta won't eat frozen foods I usually have the opposite problem of them not eating pellets but I just mix the bloodworm juice to soak the pellets and this often gets them going, have you tried live?

 

[sebbutcher]

Thanks, I'll increase the frequency of water changes to weekly, it's not a lot of effort on this little tank

 
I've taken a couple of photos of the fish and the tank as a whole... By the way, am I the only person who thinks their tank looks OK until you see a photo of it? Please don't judge me too harshly!
 

 
He still has his colour and doesn't look unwell to my relatively novice eye. His fins are still clamped at the bottom as you can tell, he's also still fairly lethargic. Not the best photo of him I realise, but he's fairly camera shy and kept trying to swim away from me. At least he has the energy to do that still I suppose...
 

 

[betta fish]

He doesn't look too bad to me and his tank is nice as bettas age their fins do become more tatty looking so this may just be it, he is an interesting fish, looks to be a cross between a crowntail and a veiltail, I've not seen one of them before and a nice colour too 

 

[sebbutcher]

Thanks he is a pretty fish, he also has some nice flashes of blue in his fins which show when he flares.
 
However, he is just a normal veiltail so this may explain the problem. After you pointed that out, I looked at the photo of him and noticed his 2 fins which hang down under his chin (not sure of the technical name) look torn.
 
After looking at him closer up, they don't look quite right, I tried to get him to flare up so I could get a better look at his fins, by holding a mirror to the tank, but he refused to flare and kept swimming away to hide from the reflection. Definitely not right.
 
Could this be fin rot?

 

[betta fish]

Without a clearer pic of the fins it is hard to say 

 usually fin rot has black edges to the torn bits however, looking at the photos you have posted his ventral fins which are the ones hanging beneath his chin look like that because of the crowntail genetics I believe he has, if you look up crowntails see if their ventrals match up.

 

[sebbutcher]

Interesting, I will check that out, I've not got any other good recent photo's of him unfortunately. Here is one of him back in February shortly after we got him though, do you still think he bears similarity to a crown tail?
 

 
I'll keep an eye on him over the next couple of days, I just hope we can work out what's up with him. He's not interested in eating any food this evening so I've turned his lights out early to give him a good rest 

 

[betta fish]

I would say he definitely has crowntail genetics, it is worrying he is refusing food though, something is clearly not right, I don't have a huge amount of luck keeping store bought bettas longer than one year, not sure if it is to do with keeping them in hard water or that they were on the old side when I bought them.

 

[sebbutcher]

Interesting you should say that actually. Previous to owning this betta, we had another one who only lasted 6 months (our first) but thought he might have been quite old when we bought him and also wondered if there were some beginners mistakes. This time, we specifically tried to buy a young one and was told our current one was less than 6 months old when we got him so hoped we would get a good couple of years from him if we looked after him properly.
 
We also have hard water though - very hard actually, Norfolk is known for it. That's why we add Indian almond leaves, in the hope it will lower the ph and soften the water slightly for him, but if you've had problems as well it makes me wonder... Otherwise I'm left wondering what we're doing wrong!
 
I'll just have to wait and see how he is tomorrow.

 

[sebbutcher]

Little update for today, he was a bit more responsive this morning and happy took a pellet and did a little victory swim afterwards which was a good sign so I thought he might be getting better.
 
I decided to leave the lights off all day anyway, but this evening he's hiding again and not interested in eating or swimming around so there's still something up.
 
I still have no idea what else to do or try, if anyone else has any ideas I'd be grateful to receive them.