Unwell Betta, Please Help

[natalie1737]

Just to add to what everyone already said and correctly so, he is a labyrinth fish so don't use any 'oils' like Stress Coat or Melafix etc. I've seen it kill weakened labyrinth fish because it hampers the gill function.

I partially disagree with the salt option. It will improve osmotic function and ease external discomfort by stimulating the slime coat so even for a few months, it's safe and productive.

I think you may need to accelerate the digestive process for him. Add 1 teaspoon of Epsom Salts to the 5 gallon tank and leave it without a water change for a week. Stop feeding him for 2-3 days and see if he regains his appetite. If not, wait the full week. and do a 50% WC then.

BTW if your ammonia and nitrites are 0, your filter is working. But constipation can be fatal in fish. In these situations you can't know what exactly is going on but safe treatments like these salts can save lives and not damage the plants or the biofilter and they are less stressful on the Betta.

Thanks for the reply, Naughts also said this so I bought Seachem Prime instead as a dechlorinator. He does seem to be eating though, I just fed him 2 bloodworms and 2 pellets soaked in garlic juice so should I still do the salt treatment? I believe he pooped yesterday as well, and I removed his waste from the tank so I'm not sure if he is constipated.

 

[natalie1737]

This was a while ago, but let me tell you it wasn't easy wrangling an adult angelfish with a net and then trying to grab a blood worm from her mouth while keeping her inside the water so she didn't do the fish flop boogie. I tried with tweezers but eventually just pulled it out with my fingers. It was gross, not nearly as bad as the time she half way ate a neon tetra and couldn't swallow it

The same angelfish too?? What a problem child, I can imagine that wasn't very pleasant LOL

 

[Mary~ECole]

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

Hello,
I would say take a few cups of water and put it in a bowl with the betta fish. Then take everything out including the substrate and clean everything with white vinegar and water mixture and then rinse well including rocks. And completely change the water but leave enough space for to add the water you took out with the fish. You need a good filter. A whisper filter is good about a 5 gallon filter it won’t stir the water too much. Once the betta is back in the tank add in a tablet of tetra all in one treatment. You can get it at Walmart. The stuff is amazing and has saved my fish many times over!
Read the dose directions carefully cuz you don’t want to overdose. You might want to melt the tablet in water and then put it in.
Also your betta might need a bigger tank to stretch out. A 10 gallon would be perfect. And remember betta fish need at least 8 hours of constant good light a day.

 

[Mary~ECole]

Thanks for the reply, I’m going to buy him some different food for variety. I also didn’t know they like zucchini, that’s an awesome idea! : )

They like cucumber slices too. You can buy a clip magnet that goes inside the tank for them to much on the veggie all day long

 

[Tannie]

for the immediate I would add some melafix that would help his fins and general condition. Add for at least five days.

 

[Mary~ECole]

for the immediate I would add some melafix that would help his fins and general condition. Add for at least five days.

O dear no! Melafix is tricky and it’s killed my fish before

 

[Spyro]

Thanks for the reply, Naughts also said this so I bought Seachem Prime instead as a dechlorinator. He does seem to be eating though, I just fed him 2 bloodworms and 2 pellets soaked in garlic juice so should I still do the salt treatment? I believe he pooped yesterday as well, and I removed his waste from the tank so I'm not sure if he is constipated.

Hey Natalie,

I would recommend reading article Naughts posted on salt treatment with input from scientists. (if you haven't read it already)

Garlic is popular choice with some hobbyists and is supposed to be natural remedy for everything. From appetite to bacterial infections and immune system.
Although there might or might not be some truth to this, I'll just quote this part of garlic equation:
"Several hobbyists consider garlic to boost the immune system and compare it to vitamin C in humans. However, factual data has never been produced to support this idea."
However, there is some anecdotal evidence that supports garlic as anti-bacterial anti-fungus preventative treatment.
If it was me: I'd go with what scientists, vets, etc from Naughts's article say regarding salt. And leave voodoo treatments for healthy fish care. (with consideration of your personal circumstances; fish condition, set up, etc).

Having said that: garlic doesn't seem to cause any adverse effects so there isn't a reason why not do both garlic and salt, even if garlic benefits might not be supported by factual data.

GL

 

[FroFro]

NOTE that @FroFro is talking about freeze dried foods and NOT frozen.
The jury's out on whether or not to defrost frozen food before feeding.
I sometimes do, defrosting a cube, or a portion of a cube, in warm tank water. Adding this to the water flow scatters the food quickly across the tank. Whilst you can cut cubes into smaller pieces, defrosted food is easy to serve in smaller portions. This obviously stops excess falling away, to contribute to tank waste.
When I add the food frozen, it floats for a while and the fish will chase the cube about, pecking at it. (This is a useful feeding technique for me, when I want to do a head count. ).
NOTE that I don't have any fish with mouths begun to bite large frozen chunks. If I did, then I'd most likely defrost the food first.

I said freeze dried

 

[FroFro]

The same angelfish too?? What a problem child, I can imagine that wasn't very pleasant LOL

Oh lawd no. The neon was dead and half way down her mouth. She couldn't and WOULD NOT spit it out on her own, had to gently pry it out while holding her with my fingers wrapped around her. She lost some scales in that fight I think, but she never ate another neon... that I know of... She remains one of my favorite angels I've ever kept, she even mated and laid eggs a few times.

 

[FroFro]

for the immediate I would add some melafix that would help his fins and general condition. Add for at least five days.

Melafix damages a betta's labyrinth organ, so its best not to use it. That, or its counterpart bettafix

 

[carligraceee]

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

Everyone replying has a different opinion and I am so sorry because that can be quite confusing sometimes. However, this is a place where we get to share opinions and sometimes even engage in debates.

However, this is what comes to mind.

-Old age
-Fin rot

Bettas, sadly, do not last extremely long. Now, this is the average betta. Some bettas live longer but every betta I have had has lived around 3-4 years.
You cannot tell the age of bettas when you get them in the store. Your little man could be closer to 3 years old than you think.

If it is fin rot, you need to treat with aquarium salt and warmer waters ( I think I saw someone go over this already.)

Definitely invest in live, frozen, or freeze dried foods. They are great for overall health.

Nothing in your parameters is out of the ordinary. So I am leaning towards old age.

So sorry he isn't feeling well

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Bettas, sadly, do not last extremely long. Now, this is the average betta. Some bettas live longer but every betta I have had has lived around 3-4 years.
You cannot tell the age of bettas when you get them in the store. Your little man could be closer to 3 years old than you think.

Bettas that have been properly cared for can live for 4-5 years...and this figure is apparently rising, as more get to learn how not to abuse these fish.

 

[FroFro]

Hello,
I would say take a few cups of water and put it in a bowl with the betta fish. Then take everything out including the substrate and clean everything with white vinegar and water mixture and then rinse well including rocks. And completely change the water but leave enough space for to add the water you took out with the fish. You need a good filter. A whisper filter is good about a 5 gallon filter it won’t stir the water too much. Once the betta is back in the tank add in a tablet of tetra all in one treatment. You can get it at Walmart. The stuff is amazing and has saved my fish many times over!
Read the dose directions carefully cuz you don’t want to overdose. You might want to melt the tablet in water and then put it in.
Also your betta might need a bigger tank to stretch out. A 10 gallon would be perfect. And remember betta fish need at least 8 hours of constant good light a day.

I would advise against medicating with an "all in one" or broad spectrum medicine. Especially if the cause of these symptoms are undetermined. Tetra is a very cheap brand in the aquarium hobby, while I've had good experience with their air pumps and clip on lights, the rest is pretty iffy. The food they sell has a lot of filler and "meal" ingredients that are not nutritionally viable for long term feeding. The water conditioner works, but it takes 10mL to treat 5 gallons of water. I used this for a long time when I first started the hobby, then folks on here got me into using seachem prime. It goes a LONG way. One capful (or 5mL) treats 50 GALLONS of water. I was buying a bottle of tetra water conditioner every two weeks, vs buying one small bottle of prime every month or so.

As for the medicine, I once used their liquid meds to treat an outbreak of ick in my very first tank, full of mollies and platys from petsmart, and it stained my silicone a BRIGHT BLUE. Back in the day I didn't fully understand the water cycle but now I'm sure it not only destroyed my healthy bacteria colony in the filters/substrate, but it also stressed my fish to the point some died (in combination of the whacked out water being the cause too).

Also, the Jungle brand of medicine is equally iffy. I have a personal rule of not buying medicine/food/decor/or heaters (basically anything that goes in the water or submerged partially) from Walmart. It's rare now, but if you ever happen upon a walmart that still sells fish, you'd agree with me. A big box store that is ten times worse than a petsmart in the treatment of their livestock will have no idea what proper aquarium care items to sell in store.

 

[natalie1737]

Hello everyone, I really appreciate all of the replies. I’ve been feeding Octavius at least twice a day with his pellets and blood worms and I believe he has gotten stronger. He still sometimes sits around but when I come up to the tank he swims up and even chases after his food; he doesn’t appear to be as lethargic anymore. However, I do think he has fin rot at this point because his fins just don’t look good anymore. They have a shreddy appearance so I’m doing the salt treatment that was recommended to me. He seems to sometimes be breathing heavy though, I’m not sure if I’m just seeing things but his gills open quite a bit even when he’s resting. But today he swam up to me VERY fast and I’m not sure if this is bad or good but he swam faster than I’ve ever seen him swim. Hopefully he will get to 100% with the help of everyone’s advice