Betta sick?
mle asked:
Soooo my poor betta fish is sick i think. i had to transport him from my school to my home (it was about an hour long drive) and since then he just hasn’t been himself. it might be the water here. he sits at the bottom with his face in the rocks (like…buried underneath the rocks) and wont move at ALL. he’ll come up for air, and then drift back down. he hasnt eaten in days (i think he stopped eating a couple days before the trip). i give him a bettafix remedy thing (trying to keep fin rot at bay) and pellets (although he doesnt eat them). help! please! would a water purifier work? or can i used distilled water? i really dont know whats wrong with him. i dont think hes constipated…i fed him half a pea before he stopped eating..maybe that was bad? i read it helped constipation, and before that he had been floating at the top uncontrollably.
umm i’ll go ahead and add some details.
i was thinking he might just have been traumatized, and hasn’t gotten over it (i was changing his water and he fell out of the bowl and into the sink….twice in the past two weeks…i felt terrible) and he HATES travelling…i have another betta and he travels great, but finkle just cant handle it. i only have a one gallon tank…so after i “dropped” him the first time he was floating uncontrollably at the top for atleast two days. i fed him a pea (i thought maybe it wasnt the trauma and maybe was constipation–he’s had troubles with that before) and it stopped that day. but after that he just didnt seem to want to swim anywhere else…i noticed one white scale on his body that i hadnt noticed before, and i cant be sure, but i think the top of his head might be turning white-ish. although i might be making it up…idk…does that help? thanks a bunch!
Dee
Soooo my poor betta fish is sick i think. i had to transport him from my school to my home (it was about an hour long drive) and since then he just hasn’t been himself. it might be the water here. he sits at the bottom with his face in the rocks (like…buried underneath the rocks) and wont move at ALL. he’ll come up for air, and then drift back down. he hasnt eaten in days (i think he stopped eating a couple days before the trip). i give him a bettafix remedy thing (trying to keep fin rot at bay) and pellets (although he doesnt eat them). help! please! would a water purifier work? or can i used distilled water? i really dont know whats wrong with him. i dont think hes constipated…i fed him half a pea before he stopped eating..maybe that was bad? i read it helped constipation, and before that he had been floating at the top uncontrollably.
umm i’ll go ahead and add some details.
i was thinking he might just have been traumatized, and hasn’t gotten over it (i was changing his water and he fell out of the bowl and into the sink….twice in the past two weeks…i felt terrible) and he HATES travelling…i have another betta and he travels great, but finkle just cant handle it. i only have a one gallon tank…so after i “dropped” him the first time he was floating uncontrollably at the top for atleast two days. i fed him a pea (i thought maybe it wasnt the trauma and maybe was constipation–he’s had troubles with that before) and it stopped that day. but after that he just didnt seem to want to swim anywhere else…i noticed one white scale on his body that i hadnt noticed before, and i cant be sure, but i think the top of his head might be turning white-ish. although i might be making it up…idk…does that help? thanks a bunch!
Dee
March 11, 2009 - 6:12 AM
larsor4
March 12, 2009 | 1:35 PMJust a shot, but if he was swimming near the top and couldn’t seem to swim back down, it might be a sign of a swim bladder infection. That’s the organ that helps regulate buoyancy in him. If you think this might be the case, there are treatments you can buy to add to his water. The one I used was a yellow powder. Follow the directions on the medication for dosage and water changes. Also…don’t feed him for at least a few days, then switch to a flake food. I suspected pellets were causing blockages in my bettas and after I switched to flakes, they were fine.
Tammy
March 13, 2009 | 11:58 PMWhat else has changed since before the move? How is his color? What have you been feeding him? What kind of container is he living in, before and after the transport? Have you treated his water to remove the chlorine’s and chemicals in our tap water? What is the PH of the water from your tap?
I sure feel for you, I love my little female Betta girl too.
ksd
March 16, 2009 | 1:12 AMhe probably got stressed out from the trip or he has a disease from before. The proble is that it would be hard to tell which disease, since you dont tell use any other symptoms.
it could be that the water is cold, he suffered from shock from different ph water (the ph of tap water from your school area is differant than the tap water from your house area). Distilled water is not for fish (no minerals) and it is a waste of money, a “water purifier” (filter?) wont fix the problem if it is a disease.
the bowl/tank must be atleast 1 gal and you have to change the water every week, or every 5 days is better. Get him a heater if the water is cold (to have a heater the tank/bowl must be atleast 2gal, for which you could get a mini 7.5 watt junior from wal mart for 7$or the hydor mini heater from petco for 14$)
add a water conditioner called “stress coat”
and add aquarium salt
keep a very close eye for disease symptoms, or if you already have noticed disease symptoms, post them and maybe i could give you better advice.
Ugly Artwork
March 16, 2009 | 3:42 AMFor now I’d keep the water warm and clean and let him adjust. It’s just not necessary to add meds or salt which are just extra irritants.
If he were mine I’d only add regular water conditioner, and throw the bettafix in the garbage.
There are dissolved minerals in regular water than they need, so distilled water is the way to go.
Bettas can go 14 days without eating.
If you decide that he does need meds, get some Jungle brand Fungus Eliminator or Fungus Clear. You can get it at your local pet store or Walmart.