Unwell Betta, Please Help

[Avel1896]

the nitrates could’ve been a bit higher

That is to say ? 10 ppm ? 15 ppm ?

 

[Avel1896]

Avel, please try and read all of the post so we don't need to repeat things. Thanks.

I did.

OP said about 5 ppm and nitrates could’ve been a bit higher that's why I asked to OP :

That is to say ? 10 ppm ? 15 ppm ?

Waiting for the next results.
Hopping waterchanges are at the same temperature and composition as tanK.

 

[Avel1896]

@MsRed I don't generalize. Mine and others from friends spit out any flakes and many pellets except for OmegaOne and Atison's Betta Pro which are high in protein.
However, as they are carnivorous/insectivorous, mosquito larva, vinegar eels, daphnies, plankton, turn him wild. Not to mention lil treats I gave him from time to time.

 

[Spyro]

Hello, I recently noticed my betta fish hasn’t been feeling well. He’s been laying around much more than usual, and I think his gills are more red, but I’m not sure. He also has been struggling to eat and I noticed tears in his tail. Does anybody have any idea why this is and what I could do to help him? I’m thinking that one possibility might be that I accidentally waited too long for the last aquarium change as I noticed some white clumpy algae? I’m also going to try to thicken him up a bit with blood worms.

I attached a few images of him now, as well as him 2 months ago and when I first got him. Any advice is very appreciated



Housing:
How many gallons is your tank? 5 gallons
Does it have a filter? A bubble filter
Does it have a heater? Yes
What temperature is your tank? About 78 degrees Fahrenheit
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? I use a bubble filter
Does your Betta have tank mates? What kind? No tank mates

Food:
What food brand do you use? Aqueon Betta Food
Do you feed flakes or pellets? Pellets
Freeze-dried? No
How often do you feed your Betta? How much? Usually every morning about 4 pellet dots

Maintenance:
Before your Betta became ill how often did you perform a water change? I try to once a week/ 2 weeks
What percentage of water did you change? 50% 3 days ago
What is the source of your water? My tap
Do you vacuum the substrate or just dip out water? It depends, I haven’t vacuumed in the past 2 changes
What additives do you use other than conditioner? What brand of conditioner? API Aquarium salt. I use API Stress coat+ Conditioner

Water Parameters:
Im testing the parameters right now, 3 days after the water change

Ammonia: about 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: about 5 ppm
pH: 6.6

Symptoms and Treatment:
When did you first notice the symptoms? 3 days ago
How has your Betta’s appearance changed? I noticed that his tail fin appears to have 2 unusual tears in it
How has your Betta’s behavior changed? He’s become more lethargic and lays on the gravel. He also struggles to swim and kind of jerks when swimming.
Is your Betta still eating? He is trying, but has a hard time aiming and he seems to often misses.
Have you started treating your Betta? If so, how? No, I’m not sure what the issue is but I did a water change
Does your Betta have any history of being ill? No
How long have you owned your Betta? Since February 2020, so a year and 6 months
Was he or she ill or suffering some sort of damage when purchased? No

Hey Natalie,

From what you wrote I would guess you have bacterial/fungal and maybe parasitic infestation going on in your tank.
My guess is that uneaten food and waste drops between large substrate pebbles and decomposes there. Creating potent environment for bacteria/fungus breeding ground. (Weird white algae is probably fungus/bacteria that is blooming due to decomposing organic matter). Plus you seem to have active substrate.

I'd recommend having few salt baths for your Betta as well as adding aquarium salt into the tank.
-dissolve salt in a cup with tank water - turn off all filters to stop water movement - pour salt into tank so it will sit on the bottom for 30min - 1 hr - turn on filters, etc. Leave salt for at least 3-4 weeks in the tank. (Replace salt you take out with smaller doses so you have 50% less salt after first week higher salt concentration. Until you have very little salt left by week 4)
Watch out that you don't overdose with salt (having small amount of salt in the aquarium at all times benefits most fish in the tank far more than negative impact of salt. A teaspoon or two per gallon depending on fish type. Scaleless fish don't benefit from salt (Pleco, catfish, etc) but Betta will due to tendency for fin root and bacterial infections.
Obviously: use higher doses for salt bath and initial Aquarium salt treatment.

If that doesn't work you might need some stronger anti-bacterial meds, but salt should do the trick.

P.S. you might want to do parasitic meds if your Betta weight doesn't improve with improvement of fins, etc. It might have some parasitic worms.

GL

 

[Corypower]

Looks like a bit of fin rot to me , it could be ripping it’s fins on the decorations too

 

[natalie1737]

@MsRed I don't generalize. Mine and others from friends spit out any flakes and many pellets except for OmegaOne and Atison's Betta Pro which are high in protein.
However, as they are carnivorous/insectivorous, mosquito larva, vinegar eels, daphnies, plankton, turn him wild. Not to mention lil treats I gave him from time to time.

I’m not exactly sure what the parameters were previously. I’m going to continue doing water changes to hopefully keep nitrates down. Also, I will get him some blood worms for variety but he does seem to like his aqueon pellets : )

 

[natalie1737]

Hey Natalie,

From what you wrote I would guess you have bacterial/fungal and maybe parasitic infestation going on in your tank.
My guess is that uneaten food and waste drops between large substrate pebbles and decomposes there. Creating potent environment for bacteria/fungus breeding ground. (Weird white algae is probably fungus/bacteria that is blooming due to decomposing organic matter). Plus you seem to have active substrate.

I'd recommend having few salt baths for your Betta as well as adding aquarium salt into the tank.
-dissolve salt in a cup with tank water - turn off all filters to stop water movement - pour salt into tank so it will sit on the bottom for 30min - 1 hr - turn on filters, etc. Leave salt for at least 3-4 weeks in the tank. (Replace salt you take out with smaller doses so you have 50% less salt after first week higher salt concentration. Until you have very little salt left by week 4)
Watch out that you don't overdose with salt (having small amount of salt in the aquarium at all times benefits most fish in the tank far more than negative impact of salt. A teaspoon or two per gallon depending on fish type. Scaleless fish don't benefit from salt (Pleco, catfish, etc) but Betta will due to tendency for fin root and bacterial infections.
Obviously: use higher doses for salt bath and initial Aquarium salt treatment.

If that doesn't work you might need some stronger anti-bacterial meds, but salt should do the trick.

P.S. you might want to do parasitic meds if your Betta weight doesn't improve with improvement of fins, etc. It might have some parasitic worms.

GL

Thank you for the reply! For the salt bath, would I just use regular aquarium salt? And cI usually add about a teaspoon to his tank with every water change but I’m not sure if that’s a good idea anymore. Also, do you know how parasites could get in the tank?

 

[Corypower]

Thank you for the reply! For the salt bath, would I just use regular aquarium salt? And cI usually add about a teaspoon to his tank with every water change but I’m not sure if that’s a good idea anymore. Also, do you know how parasites could get in the tank?

Any new things, and never regularly dose the tank in salt

 

[natalie1737]

Th

Looks like a bit of fin rot to me , it could be ripping it’s fins on the decorations too

Thanks for the reply, I thought that fin rot could be a possibility as well. I don’t think he’s ripped his fins on decorations though since I don’t have anything sharp in the tank and he’s never had the tears until now

 

[Corypower]

Th

Thanks for the reply, I thought that fin rot could be a possibility as well. I don’t think he’s ripped his fins on decorations though since I don’t have anything sharp in the tank and he’s never had the tears until now

I can tell that he did since I see clear fin which mean fin regrowth i would do a quick check on all the decorations ,run a finger past them

 

[natalie1737]

Any new things, and never regularly dose the tank in salt

Thanks for the info! I haven’t added anything new in a long time so hopefully it isn’t parasites. Also regarding clear fins, I think he’s had them his whole life but I’ll be sure to check for anything that could possibly tear his fins

 

[Corypower]

Thanks for the info! I haven’t added anything new in a long time so hopefully it isn’t parasites. Also regarding clear fins, I think he’s had them his whole life but I’ll be sure to check for anything that could possibly tear his fins

I would just check better safe than sorry ,did you change your water source?

 

[natalie1737]

I would just check better safe than sorry ,did you change your water source?

Agreed, I definitely will. Also, sorry what do you mean by water source?

 

[Corypower]

Agreed, I definitely will. Also, sorry what do you mean by water source?

When you change the water where do you get the freshwater from

 

[natalie1737]

When you change the water where do you get the freshwater from

Oh, I've always gotten it from my kitchen tap and then used API Stresscoat conditioner. I bough Seachem conditioner to use instead now though