Siamese Fighter - breathing?

[happymoggy1]

We got a male fighter on Thursday which was perfectly fine, we put him in the tank in the right mannor (getting him used to the temp of the tank water etc), but in the last 30 minutes he's been floating around the tank with his mouth at the surface of the water ... looking like he's breathing. He does this for a bit, and then has a swim.

Is this right?

[TheMightyQueenPixie]

Yes, he is a-ok....Bettas are labyrinth fishes...This extra organ allows them to breath directly from the surface air...

[happymoggy1]

Yes, he is a-ok....Bettas are labyrinth fishes...This extra organ allows them to breath directly from the surface air...

Thanks for the quick reply - we were getting rather worried as he was literally floating vertically from the surface with his mouth at the surface - we thought this organ which they used to breathe was on the top of their head.

[happymoggy1]

Our poor fighter has just died :o( only a little while after I had just posted after we were concerned about him.

We previously had a fighter in the tank but he got attacked and didnt recover, what would have caused the fighter to die, for him to be literally trying to breathe at the surface of the water?

We really love these fish, but obviously dont want to put another one to it's death!

Any ideas?

[happymoggy1]

just so you guys dont think i'm heartless, I'm not sure how I got a smiley face after 'has just died' as we're a bit upset about him.

[TheMightyQueenPixie]

I dont think you are heartless...What is going on in your tank...What are your readings, temp etc?

[happymoggy1]

The temperature of the tank 27.5C.

We've just done some water tests, the nitrite is 0.25ppm mg/l, the amonia is 0.25ppm mg/l and the nitrate is 4 parts per million.

Do you think it's worth ringing the place up we bought him from (Pets at Home) and asking their advice - as they did say we have a 7 day guarentee on the fish.

[coolwade]

Nitrite and ammonia seems high... Needs a Water Change.

[coolwade]

Whoops thats bugger all actually!!

[happymoggy1]

Nitrite and ammonia seems high... Needs a Water Change.

God that's a bit worrying then, as the readings for the nitrite, nitrate and amonia that I put down, are on the first segment of the measuring card, of which the card has at least six segments going higher.

[TheMightyQueenPixie]

Ideally your ammo and nitrite should be 0....That may of been your problem, but unlikely...Bettas are quite tolerant of lousy condidtions....
Have you stuck your hand in the tank?

[happymoggy1]

Ideally your ammo and nitrite should be 0....That may of been your problem, but unlikely...Bettas are quite tolerant of lousy condidtions....
Have you stuck your hand in the tank?

We use the tongs we've got for when we want to move ornaments etc, though we havent put our hands in the tank since putting the fighter in on Thursday night, so dont think it could be that (I think I know why you asked about hands in tanks, as hands could have something on them).

The strange thing is that the other fish we've got in the tank seem to be behaving normally which is why we're thinking of contacting P@H.

[TheMightyQueenPixie]

ok so other tank mates are fine...i was wondering if your heater had frigged up and electrocuted him...I am really at a loss...dont know what to tell you.

[happymoggy1]

Thanks for your advice anyway - I think we'll contact P@H on Saturday to see what they say (I konw we'll have to take a sample of water, so will be interesting to see if our readings are high) or whether he was just a dodgy fish.

[TheMightyQueenPixie]

It is possible that allt he shock of moving around threw him off....Bettas do alot of travelling in a week and are sold quickly...He may of been too stressed to deal with yet another change...Sorry I could not be of more help.

[Ghost_knife]

we do 100% water change on our betta every 2 weeks,

[TheMightyQueenPixie]

Northstar- How big is your betta tank??????