Sick Betta…

[Sir Guppy]

I have friend who’s betta fish is constantly laying on the bottom of his fish tank, and if I remember correctly it also rubs against the substrate.

I cannot provide a photo, although I can describe its appearance.
Ragged fins, otherwise appears healthy.

It lives in an 5 gallon aquarium with about 7 female Endler Livebearers.
No plants, but still has plenty of hiding places.

The betta fish was purchased almost three months ago from a poor quality fish store. Has been acting this way the entire time.

 

[BettaFishGirl]

It will be very very hard to distinguish the problem without pics.

What are your exact water parameters?
Is the tank cycled?
Does it have a filter and heater?
How often are you doing water changes?

Betta fish should always be kept alone, I'm not expert on endlers but 7 embers and a Betta cannot be in a 5g together. The endlers might be nipping at the bettas fins.

He is very stressed if he is rubbing on the substrate and needs to be moved away from those endlers ASAP.

 

[Colin_T]

We really need pictures and if possible video of the fish to identify diseases. Without pictures it's like going to the doctors and saying "Doc, I have a sore on my leg". The doctor says "Can I have a look at the sore?" and you say No. How is the doctor meant to identify the issue if they can't see it?

Fish rubbing on objects can have an external protozoan infection (white spot, velvet, Costia, Chilodonella, Trichodina). Or they can be in poor water quality, or are being exposed to harmful irritating chemicals.

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BASIC FIRST AID FOR FISH
Test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. Post the results (in numbers) here.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week or until the problem is identified. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

 

[Sir Guppy]

Thanks for the replies!
I’ll try to pass these replies on to my friend.

I am not sure about the water permitters, but they are probably not very good as his filter only contains a bio cartridge. He earlier gave me three of his endlers, and only after a short while they already began to gain colour after I placed them in my fish tank.

 

[BettaFishGirl]

Thanks for the replies!
I’ll try to pass these replies on to my friend.

I am not sure about the water permitters, but they are probably not very good as his filter only contains a bio cartridge. He earlier gave me three of his endlers, and only after a short while they already began to gain colour after I placed them in my fish tank.

That's good that at least 3 of them are happy. If you have a testing kit then you could test the water for him.