Sick Betta

[Mdg03]

Hi guys,

My betta has been a little under the weather recently and today was at his worst, he has eaten only 1 pellet of food in 2 days and today was sat at the bottom of the tank, not even moving his head when he had been pointing downward. His fins seem a bit worse for wear and he has lost a bit of colour. I have since placed him in a quarantine tank with some fin rot medicine and about a quarter of the recommended aquarium salt dose as I wasn’t sure if it was okay to use this in conjunction with the medicine. When he was out in he swam around a little to explore but quickly went back to sitting at the bottom of the tank, periodically going to the top of the tank for air until allowing himself to sink to the bottom. Just wanted to know if there’s anything extra I could do and the chances of him getting better? Thanks

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Hello! Sorry you've got a poorly fish...its difficult to know how to help without a bit more background info really, photos of him would help, including a full tank shot. Posting your water test results may give us some clear indication as to what might be wrong too

 

[Mdg03]

Hello! Sorry you've got a poorly fish...its difficult to know how to help without a bit more background info really, photos of him would help, including a full tank shot. Posting your water test results may give us some clear indication as to what might be wrong too

Hi sorry for the late response, it’s been about 3 days now since he last ate, I tested the water of the old tank, the test strips I have aren’t the greatest for telling the exact result but the ammonia levels seemed between 0 and 0.25. I put him in a bioorb tank I picked up off of Facebook market, putting 50% old water and 50% new water in it. I soaked the new media in old tank water with the media from the main tank and also added some of the clear ball products, I forget the brand name, as well as about a tablespoon of salt and some fin rot medicine. The tank is a 28L tank and since I’m very low on income at the moment I couldn’t afford any natural plants so it has 3 moss balls from the old tank in it for now. He still seems under the weather, before he was placed into the tank he was laying on the bottom of the main tank with his face into the substrate and when trying to get him out he didn’t try too much to swim away, but after being placed into the quarantine tank he had a quick explore before continuing to sit on the bottom. Just checked him this morning, water parameters are fine as well as temperature. He was sitting at the bottom and briefly swam to the top for some air but went back to the bottom again after. I’m not sure if fishes digestive system works the same as ours but he was over fed by someone looking after him a few weeks ago and put on some fat so im hoping this allows him some extra time if not eating. Going to try him with some brine shrimp a bit later but it’s hard as I have to catch him whilst he’s at the top or he will miss it and I don’t want to risk an ammonia spike. The main tank has some tetras, ammano shrimp and bridtlenose pleco and they all seem fine, the main tank also had a water change since I siphoned the water for the quarantine tank. I’m hoping I did nothing wrong and in an ideal world I would’ve tried to cycle the tank but I was worried for the betta and felt that any more time in the main tank would’ve been the end of him. If there’s anything I’ve done wrong please let me know.

 

[Mdg03]

Hi sorry for the late response, it’s been about 3 days now since he last ate, I tested the water of the old tank, the test strips I have aren’t the greatest for telling the exact result but the ammonia levels seemed between 0 and 0.25. I put him in a bioorb tank I picked up off of Facebook market, putting 50% old water and 50% new water in it. I soaked the new media in old tank water with the media from the main tank and also added some of the clear ball products, I forget the brand name, as well as about a tablespoon of salt and some fin rot medicine. The tank is a 28L tank and since I’m very low on income at the moment I couldn’t afford any natural plants so it has 3 moss balls from the old tank in it for now. He still seems under the weather, before he was placed into the tank he was laying on the bottom of the main tank with his face into the substrate and when trying to get him out he didn’t try too much to swim away, but after being placed into the quarantine tank he had a quick explore before continuing to sit on the bottom. Just checked him this morning, water parameters are fine as well as temperature. He was sitting at the bottom and briefly swam to the top for some air but went back to the bottom again after. I’m not sure if fishes digestive system works the same as ours but he was over fed by someone looking after him a few weeks ago and put on some fat so im hoping this allows him some extra time if not eating. Going to try him with some brine shrimp a bit later but it’s hard as I have to catch him whilst he’s at the top or he will miss it and I don’t want to risk an ammonia spike. The main tank has some tetras, ammano shrimp and bridtlenose pleco and they all seem fine, the main tank also had a water change since I siphoned the water for the quarantine tank. I’m hoping I did nothing wrong and in an ideal world I would’ve tried to cycle the tank but I was worried for the betta and felt that any more time in the main tank would’ve been the end of him. If there’s anything I’ve done wrong please let me know.

Update, brine shrimp was a success, seems he was bored with his food aswell as displaying fin rot symptoms. Started off with sitting at the bottom and waiting for it to float to him to him swimming round the tank looking for more which is probably his most movement in a few days. Took a few gasps of air aswell whilst he was moving around too, seems to have a bit more colour in him too which is a good sign.