Unwell Betta, Please Help

[natalie1737]

Thank you for the replies everyone, what I’ve been doing is feeding him as many frozen blood worms as he can eat like 3 times a day (which at most he’s eaten 4). He does have an appetite though, thankfully. I also changed his water again yesterday and I’m making garlic juice to soak his food in. Hopefully he feels better, I appreciate the advice!

 

[Avel1896]

You can feed hime preferably with bloodworms, mosquito larva, daphnia, vinegar eels....
The best pellets I know are OmegaOne Betta Buffet and Atison's Betta Pro.
Another interesting point : Betta long finned has to carry "heavy" fins. They have to develop their muscles by flaring in front of a mirror or a picture of a Betta.
You can also treat jim with small pieces (pellet size) of mussel/crab....

 

[natalie1737]

You can feed hime preferably with bloodworms, mosquito larva, daphnia, vinegar eels....
The best pellets I know are OmegaOne Betta Buffet and Atison's Betta Pro.
Another interesting point : Betta long finned has to carry "heavy" fins. They have to develop their muscles by flaring in front of a mirror or a picture of a Betta.
You can also treat jim with small pieces (pellet size) of mussel/crab....

Okay, thank you. I’m going to try to get brine shrimp or some other frozen food. I think he does sometimes flare because the light bounces off his glass so I do think he’s strong enough; he was swimming great prior to his current condition.

 

[FroFro]

It might be worthy to note that any freeze dried food you get should be thoroughly soaked in tank water so that they dont expand in your betta's belly. It can cause severe constipation which can lead to a slew of other health problems. Also, don't do what I did and buy the "jumbo" frozen blood worms. I had to pull one of these from an angelfish mouth because she couldn't swallow it or seem to spit it out all the way.

 

[natalie1737]

It might be worthy to note that any freeze dried food you get should be thoroughly soaked in tank water so that they dont expand in your betta's belly. It can cause severe constipation which can lead to a slew of other health problems. Also, don't do what I did and buy the "jumbo" frozen blood worms. I had to pull one of these from an angelfish mouth because he couldn't swallow it or seem to spit it out all the way.

Oh gosh thanks for the advice, I did put the worms in some tank water for a couple of minutes after they defrosted but I’ll put them there for longer to prevent that for happening. Also that must be very scary, hopefully they’re okay! I think these bloodworms are an okay size for him, he can swallow them in about two bites or so

 

[FroFro]

Oh gosh thanks for the advice, I did put the worms in some tank water for a couple of minutes after they defrosted but I’ll put them there for longer to prevent that for happening. Also that must be very scary, hopefully they’re okay! I think these bloodworms are an okay size for him, he can swallow them in about two bites or so

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

 

[NannaLou]

I can never seem to keep bettas for much longer than 2 years at a push they always seem to look knackered by the time they reach 1 and then go downhill from there, I do live in a hard water area so that may be a problem for them.

But Betta are soft water fish..? Do you not use anything to soften the water..? I use 50/50 tap and RO water to make my water suitable for my Betta.

 

[betta fish]

No I soften the water a bit with alder cones and catappa, I have bred bettas quite a few times in this water and have grown some healthy adults that have adapted to my water but have never kept the fish I breed. I guess they would live longer than the store ones that were probably bred at a fish farm overseas, I agree that r/o mixed with tap would be better for them though, do you purchase the r/o from a shop or make your own?

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Oh gosh thanks for the advice, I did put the worms in some tank water for a couple of minutes after they defrosted but I’ll put them there for longer to prevent that for happening. Also that must be very scary, hopefully they’re okay! I think these bloodworms are an okay size for him, he can swallow them in about two bites or so

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.

 

[NannaLou]

No I soften the water a bit with alder cones and catappa, I have bred bettas quite a few times in this water and have grown some healthy adults that have adapted to my water but have never kept the fish I breed. I guess they would live longer than the store ones that were probably bred at a fish farm overseas, I agree that r/o mixed with tap would be better for them though, do you purchase the r/o from a shop or make your own?

I buy mine, I only need 5ltrs to do a 10ltr change which is just under 50%. I’m looking at the small RO systems, but it would take about 80 weeks of water purchase to recoup the cost of a small system and then I’d have to work out how much extra cost would appear on my water bill. 2:1 wasteage . Not a high priority at the moment.

 

[Naughts]

The jury's out on whether or not to defrost frozen food before feeding.

Why would people feed frozen food that's still frozen?
Slices of the cube can be cut off for smaller amount and it only takes a minute in warm water to thaw.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Why would people feed frozen food that's still frozen?
Slices of the cube can be cut off for smaller amount and it only takes a minute in warm water to thaw.

Because it floats and, as it thaws slowly, the fish peck at it and hunt it down, as they would bugs on the surface of a pond/stream/river. The more they peck at it, the more bits come off it and the other fish get those bits. Within a very short time, all the fish are having a go and, when it finally melts proper, the remaining food disperses with the current and all fish get some.

NOTE that ground-feeding fish would probably miss out on most of this, unless there's more food for the rest to get, in which cse, the food will drop to the substrate and feed the bottom-feeders.

 

[dasaltemelosguy]

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.

 

[Avel1896]

NOTE that @FroFro is talking about freeze dried foods and NOT frozen.

Freeze dried foods swell up in the ridiculously small Betta stomach (as a pinhead) inducing serious constipation. I fed mine only twice a week with high protein pellets, live or frozen food the rest of time.

 

[natalie1737]

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.

Okay, thanks! I just take a worm/pellet at a time and give it to him close to his face