Betta has velvet..help!

B

bettabuddy

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Nov 9, 2010
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Hello,

This is my first time posting here and im super worried about my betta.
He lives in a 1 gallon tank and I got him a couple months ago.

About a week ago I noticed my betta started to get lazy and he hadn't been swimming around as much. A few days ago he started to look pretty bad, his color had started to fade and he hardly moved much at all. He either sat at the top of his tank or under a bridge decoration. However, he was still eating regularly. When I saw he look this bad i ran over to Petco and bought BettaRevive because I couldnt put my finger on what was wrong with him. Yesterday I put the BettaRevive into his 1 gallon tank and it didnt seem to help. Earlier today I noticed he seemed to have golden dust sprinkled on him, mostly on his head. So I went back to pet co and bought Mardel Coppersafe to treat velvet.

I got back and did a full water change, added the coppersafe and also a pinch of aquarium salt (I havent ever used aquarium salt before with him). At first he seemed to be swimming around a bit more, but now he is just hiding under his bridge and he hasnt come out for air or food. He looks worse than ever..

Does anyone have any suggestions on what else I could do?

I know I should raise the temperature of the water, but unfortunately I do not have a heater. I have also been trying to keep his tank dim.

any feedback is much appreciated :huh:
 
Bettas are tropical fish and need water above 75o..anything below sixty and they as prone to velvet..as well as many other problems.

you should be able to up the temp of the tank by moving it a warmer room.

how often do you do water changes and how much?
did you cycle your tank?
 
Well im at college and so im in a one room dorm :/

I change the water weekly and usually 50% one week and 100% the next.
The tank I have is a minibow 1 and it came with a filter, on the box it said it is the perfect betta tank. However when the filter is on, my betta is in a whirlpool. I know they should have minimal water current so I haven't been using it...

Can you explain what you mean by cycling? Im sorry but Ive read so many different things online on this.

This morning my bettas looking a bit better, hes been swimming around since I got up.
But he still isnt himself completely.
 
Well one problem could be the fact that you're not using any type of surface agitation at all (not only filtration)

I just pushed back velvet on my guppies with Mardel Coppersafe as well

It definitely does work and super fast also...About 4-5 hours after putting it in the tank all the spots had dropped off

You can't really do 100% changes with no filter whatsoever
If you're not running a filter or any type of filtration media then that means any decorations in the tank and the gravel itself is your only form of beneficial bacteria

Doing a 100% water change could be killing what good bacteria you have and giving you bad water quality in general because there is no bacteria to filter the fish waste...so it's much more toxic to your fish

I would get a small air pump or something to at least keep the water moving or see if you can slow the flow on that filter you got (maybe doing something to the return so it doesn't cause turbulence...put some sponge or something on it)

And I would stick to 50% water changes only...I think this will help your betta

best of luck
 
I'm not 100% certain on this filter type, but one option would be to restrict the intake with a dense foam. Not something that is 100% closed cell, but small cells. It will put some strain on the motor, but should slow down the flow.

Second, modify the height of the water in the tank to see if it has any effect on the outlet flow. I know the HOB in my 10 gal puts out a wicked flow. I had to raise the water level in my tank so that the exit lip was actually below the water level. This caused the water to exit more horizontally than vertically and diffused the flow over a broader area. Be hesitant on actually blocking the exit flow, as it will lead to your HOB flooding. 1 gal isn't a Epic Noah level flood, but still detrimental to your betta.

Finally, if you can't find a way to make your existing filter work, and you feel there isnt' room for a sponge type in your tank, you can DIY an odd shape undergravel to at least get maximum use of your exisiting gravel. You will need two old ball point pins, ink removed, just the tubes. One clear "riser" tube for an undergravel filter, available at pretty much any pet store, even walmart. One yard of nylon netting available at the fabric dept of Walmart for less than a buck. One square of "egg crate" also know as flourescent lighting screen, or someting similar. Usually availble at any bigbox hardware store, less than 5 bucks. Pair of strong scissors, and your airstone/pump.

Cut the egg crate to the shape of the bottom of your tank. Doesn't have to be perfect and a tight fit isn't necessary. Make sure to cut out an opening the size of the outside diameter of your riser tube. Wrap the cut out egg crate in nylon net. Again, perfect isn't neccessary and several passes is better. Make sure there isa slot cut in that opening you just made to allow the riser to pass into, but -don't- cut through the bottom/underside layer of netting.

Now, catch the beta, put him in a safe place, empty the tank and lay the two empty pen cases on teh ends of the tank. This is going to hold the filter just a bit off the bottom of tank. Place the nylon wrapped egg crate in the tank so the riser cut is up, and slider the riser in the whole. The bottom side nylon will hold the riser off the bottom of your tank and allow water to flow up through it.

reload your gravel and decorations, put in water and drop the airstone inside the riser. You now have a DIY ugf that will allow you to better utilize your gravel bed for benficial bacterial filtration without otherwise crowding that small tank.

It's not perfect, but as long as you have the airpump you should be able to make that with less than 10 bucks and probably still have pizza money left over.
 
a really easy way to modify flow is to take a plastic soda bottle and cut off the top and ends so you just have the cylinder center. Then cut that so you have a plastic curl and then attach one end of the curl to the out put and it will pull the water down and back when it goes into the tank.
 
Thank you guys!

Do you have any suggestions on a specific heater i could get?
Im in college so im trying not to spend too much...my bettas
been kinda expensive haha
 
..for a 1 gallon bowl go to walmart...they have a small non adjustable heater that will work for your small tank..it keeps it up around 75. its around 10 $
 
alright, i dont mean to bother you guys...
but i went out and bought the heater and i put a small piece of sponge
in the filter.
The filter is perfect..but the heater isnt working.
The light that tells you that it is on will light up for about 2 mins,
then it goes off and the water hasnt changed...ugh
 
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