Sick Betta

[Gill Passman]

My Betta is not looking too good...he is hanging around the heater or
lying on the gravel or balancing on a leaf of his one remaining plant.
He has now stopped eating. He will occassionally take a swim around but
not like his normal behaviour of coming to greet me everytime I go near
the tank. His fins and tail seem fine on the rare occassions he flares
or ventures out and his colour seems normal. There is no rapid gill
movement. This has been since yesterday morning. There have been a
couple of changes in his tank.

I borrowed some of his filter medium to seed a QT tank for a Ram last
week....I've done this before with no ill effect. The filtration system
on the tank is external and in the hood - a bio wheel and two pieces of
foam - I took some of the first piece of foam.

The second thing was that when I did his water change a couple of days
ago (Monday) I had a clean up on the plants...as the tank is only a 5
gall/20L it gets quite warm if the light is left on so I tend to have
them off most of the time. This of course means that the plants tend to
die off. I was/am going to take some cuttings from one of the other
tanks that I won't be to fussed about if they die but haven't done this
yet. The result of the clean up is that he is left with one plant that
is still thriving. I spruced up the tank with some plastic ones that I
had lying around after washing them in his tank water from the water change.

The effect of all the above is a small nitrite spike - a very small pink
tinge - less than 0.1 but present nonetheless. I did another 20% water
change today and added 1 tsp of salt. There is no change in his
condition :-( His stunted Platy companion (who got the message and
stopped nipping) is perfectly fine.

As well as the salt I tried giving him a pea for his tea last night in
case it is a digestive problem. His normal diet is bloodworm, freeze
dried and frozen daphnia, brine shrimp and very, very occassionally
flake. He nibbled a little but then went off into a corner again.

Apart from the nitrite trace I can't think of anything else that might
be wrong and the nitrite isn't exactly at the high toxic level where I
might expect it to impact the fish badly. I've had him since February
this year and the tank was fully cycled before it became his home - it
had been a nursery for around 6 weeks plus before he went in there.

I'm at a loss as to what else I can do other than stick more plants in
there. I'll test for nitrites again in the morning and do another water
change (if he's still around - fingers crossed).

Does anyone else have any ideas/suggestions as to what I can do to save
my Betta Mr Bluey? He has a wonderful personality and I don't want to
lose him

Gill

[Gill Passman]

Gill Passman wrote:
> My Betta is not looking too good...he is hanging around the heater or
> lying on the gravel or balancing on a leaf of his one remaining plant.
> He has now stopped eating. He will occassionally take a swim around but
> not like his normal behaviour of coming to greet me everytime I go near
> the tank. His fins and tail seem fine on the rare occassions he flares
> or ventures out and his colour seems normal. There is no rapid gill
> movement. This has been since yesterday morning. There have been a
> couple of changes in his tank.
>
> I borrowed some of his filter medium to seed a QT tank for a Ram last
> week....I've done this before with no ill effect. The filtration system
> on the tank is external and in the hood - a bio wheel and two pieces of
> foam - I took some of the first piece of foam.
>
> The second thing was that when I did his water change a couple of days
> ago (Monday) I had a clean up on the plants...as the tank is only a 5
> gall/20L it gets quite warm if the light is left on so I tend to have
> them off most of the time. This of course means that the plants tend to
> die off. I was/am going to take some cuttings from one of the other
> tanks that I won't be to fussed about if they die but haven't done this
> yet. The result of the clean up is that he is left with one plant that
> is still thriving. I spruced up the tank with some plastic ones that I
> had lying around after washing them in his tank water from the water
> change.
>
> The effect of all the above is a small nitrite spike - a very small pink
> tinge - less than 0.1 but present nonetheless. I did another 20% water
> change today and added 1 tsp of salt. There is no change in his
> condition :-( His stunted Platy companion (who got the message and
> stopped nipping) is perfectly fine.
>
> As well as the salt I tried giving him a pea for his tea last night in
> case it is a digestive problem. His normal diet is bloodworm, freeze
> dried and frozen daphnia, brine shrimp and very, very occassionally
> flake. He nibbled a little but then went off into a corner again.
>
> Apart from the nitrite trace I can't think of anything else that might
> be wrong and the nitrite isn't exactly at the high toxic level where I
> might expect it to impact the fish badly. I've had him since February
> this year and the tank was fully cycled before it became his home - it
> had been a nursery for around 6 weeks plus before he went in there.
>
> I'm at a loss as to what else I can do other than stick more plants in
> there. I'll test for nitrites again in the morning and do another water
> change (if he's still around - fingers crossed).
>
> Does anyone else have any ideas/suggestions as to what I can do to save
> my Betta Mr Bluey? He has a wonderful personality and I don't want to
> lose him
>
> Gill


Lost him a few minutes ago :-(

It was like he had suddenly become very old and was tiring quickly. He
was making an effort to come and greet me and then would just flake out
again. He will be very much missed

Gill

[Elaine T]

Gill Passman wrote:
> Gill Passman wrote:
>
>> My Betta is not looking too good...he is hanging around the heater or
>> lying on the gravel or balancing on a leaf of his one remaining plant.
>> He has now stopped eating. He will occassionally take a swim around
>> but not like his normal behaviour of coming to greet me everytime I go
>> near the tank. His fins and tail seem fine on the rare occassions he
>> flares or ventures out and his colour seems normal. There is no rapid
>> gill movement. This has been since yesterday morning. There have been
>> a couple of changes in his tank.
>>
>> I borrowed some of his filter medium to seed a QT tank for a Ram last
>> week....I've done this before with no ill effect. The filtration
>> system on the tank is external and in the hood - a bio wheel and two
>> pieces of foam - I took some of the first piece of foam.
>>
>> The second thing was that when I did his water change a couple of days
>> ago (Monday) I had a clean up on the plants...as the tank is only a 5
>> gall/20L it gets quite warm if the light is left on so I tend to have
>> them off most of the time. This of course means that the plants tend
>> to die off. I was/am going to take some cuttings from one of the other
>> tanks that I won't be to fussed about if they die but haven't done
>> this yet. The result of the clean up is that he is left with one plant
>> that is still thriving. I spruced up the tank with some plastic ones
>> that I had lying around after washing them in his tank water from the
>> water change.
>>
>> The effect of all the above is a small nitrite spike - a very small
>> pink tinge - less than 0.1 but present nonetheless. I did another 20%
>> water change today and added 1 tsp of salt. There is no change in his
>> condition :-( His stunted Platy companion (who got the message and
>> stopped nipping) is perfectly fine.
>>
>> As well as the salt I tried giving him a pea for his tea last night in
>> case it is a digestive problem. His normal diet is bloodworm, freeze
>> dried and frozen daphnia, brine shrimp and very, very occassionally
>> flake. He nibbled a little but then went off into a corner again.
>>
>> Apart from the nitrite trace I can't think of anything else that might
>> be wrong and the nitrite isn't exactly at the high toxic level where I
>> might expect it to impact the fish badly. I've had him since February
>> this year and the tank was fully cycled before it became his home - it
>> had been a nursery for around 6 weeks plus before he went in there.
>>
>> I'm at a loss as to what else I can do other than stick more plants in
>> there. I'll test for nitrites again in the morning and do another
>> water change (if he's still around - fingers crossed).
>>
>> Does anyone else have any ideas/suggestions as to what I can do to
>> save my Betta Mr Bluey? He has a wonderful personality and I don't
>> want to lose him
>>
>> Gill
>
>
>
> Lost him a few minutes ago :-(
>
> It was like he had suddenly become very old and was tiring quickly. He
> was making an effort to come and greet me and then would just flake out
> again. He will be very much missed
>
> Gill

Sorry to hear that. :-( Bettas can be so mysterious - I'm sure it's
nothing you did.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[Gill Passman]

Elaine T wrote:
> Gill Passman wrote:
>
>> Gill Passman wrote:
>>
>>> My Betta is not looking too good...he is hanging around the heater or
>>> lying on the gravel or balancing on a leaf of his one remaining
>>> plant. He has now stopped eating. He will occassionally take a swim
>>> around but not like his normal behaviour of coming to greet me
>>> everytime I go near the tank. His fins and tail seem fine on the rare
>>> occassions he flares or ventures out and his colour seems normal.
>>> There is no rapid gill movement. This has been since yesterday
>>> morning. There have been a couple of changes in his tank.
>>>
>>> I borrowed some of his filter medium to seed a QT tank for a Ram last
>>> week....I've done this before with no ill effect. The filtration
>>> system on the tank is external and in the hood - a bio wheel and two
>>> pieces of foam - I took some of the first piece of foam.
>>>
>>> The second thing was that when I did his water change a couple of
>>> days ago (Monday) I had a clean up on the plants...as the tank is
>>> only a 5 gall/20L it gets quite warm if the light is left on so I
>>> tend to have them off most of the time. This of course means that the
>>> plants tend to die off. I was/am going to take some cuttings from one
>>> of the other tanks that I won't be to fussed about if they die but
>>> haven't done this yet. The result of the clean up is that he is left
>>> with one plant that is still thriving. I spruced up the tank with
>>> some plastic ones that I had lying around after washing them in his
>>> tank water from the water change.
>>>
>>> The effect of all the above is a small nitrite spike - a very small
>>> pink tinge - less than 0.1 but present nonetheless. I did another 20%
>>> water change today and added 1 tsp of salt. There is no change in his
>>> condition :-( His stunted Platy companion (who got the message and
>>> stopped nipping) is perfectly fine.
>>>
>>> As well as the salt I tried giving him a pea for his tea last night
>>> in case it is a digestive problem. His normal diet is bloodworm,
>>> freeze dried and frozen daphnia, brine shrimp and very, very
>>> occassionally flake. He nibbled a little but then went off into a
>>> corner again.
>>>
>>> Apart from the nitrite trace I can't think of anything else that
>>> might be wrong and the nitrite isn't exactly at the high toxic level
>>> where I might expect it to impact the fish badly. I've had him since
>>> February this year and the tank was fully cycled before it became his
>>> home - it had been a nursery for around 6 weeks plus before he went
>>> in there.
>>>
>>> I'm at a loss as to what else I can do other than stick more plants
>>> in there. I'll test for nitrites again in the morning and do another
>>> water change (if he's still around - fingers crossed).
>>>
>>> Does anyone else have any ideas/suggestions as to what I can do to
>>> save my Betta Mr Bluey? He has a wonderful personality and I don't
>>> want to lose him
>>>
>>> Gill
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Lost him a few minutes ago :-(
>>
>> It was like he had suddenly become very old and was tiring quickly. He
>> was making an effort to come and greet me and then would just flake
>> out again. He will be very much missed
>>
>> Gill
>
>
> Sorry to hear that. :-( Bettas can be so mysterious - I'm sure it's
> nothing you did.
>
Thanks for that Elaine.

I'm still mulling over in my head what might have happened to him - it
was all so quick. I even tested the tap water as he went downhill hours
after the water change and plant changes but that was fine. His platy
buddy is looking quite lost so I'll move him into the main Community
Tank in a few weeks time where he can be with his own kind - don't want
to move him yet as I don't know why the betta died

I've had two bettas now and both have only lasted around 6 months. They
both had identical colouration - pale blue/grey fins and pink and blue
bodies...I wonder if there are variations in hardiness with each strain

The kitchen is empty without my betta even though there is the 15 gall
in there. I grew very attached to him. I doubt it will be long before
another arrives but no way will it be the same colouration....

Sadly cooking tea :-(

Gill

[Beano]

Sorry Gill,

I saw your post yesterday but I had no idea. You never know, maybe you
just bought some old ones? It could have died from old age.