Sick Betta
 

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 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

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

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

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.