Betta sick or dying?

1

13BRAVO

AC Members
Sep 18, 2004
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Hi All,

The past few days my betta is acting very different from his norm. He is lying down at the bottom of his "tank" for what seems to me inordinate amounts of time, taking the time every now and then to shoot up to the surface, get some air, and then go back down to just lying there.

I have read here and in some books that they don't move around a lot but he was much more active than this. This only started a few days ago. He seems to have lost his appetite for his betta pellets too, but will take 3 or 4 blood worms once a day.

He used to swim around, not fast or anything, but sort of leisurely like and loved flaring up at the GF when they passed by his line of sight (they are in the tank next door). He doesn't do that anymore, just lies at the bottom looking dead....so much so that I have taken him for dead at least 10 times the past few days only to see him move eventually.

Another weird thing, there have been one or two instances where he started darting around like crazy, like he was being chased and attacked by some fascist fedayeen male betta three times his size. I mean it didn't even look like swimming, it looked more like jumping from one spot to another repeatedly, that is how fiercely he was darting around....like he temporarily lost his mind. But then he would go back to lying on the bottom of the "tank."

Any ideas? Thank you so much in advance!

13BRAVO

PS - My wife says she thinks its because he needs a female betta....but then again she think all males need a woman to make them happy. :rolleyes:
 
It sounds like your betta is sick. The best thing to do is buy some aquarium salt and add it in the amount directed. Some people have reported success with a product called BettaMax as well. I would change at least 50% of the water and add these asap.

Good luck.
 
I just did a 75% change this morning, I will add the aquarium salt asap, thanks!

Do you think it might be an internal parasite?
 
Update: I've been adding the aquarium salt and a drop or two of aquari-sol (per the advice of someone at the lfs) and today my betta (his name is EvilBlue) is acting right as rain. He is swimming around like he was before the epsidode and flaring up again at his neighbors! :D

WOO-HOO!

Thanks again for the advice, it seems to have done the trick - I got my old evil blue back, YESS! :dance
 
Just so you know, it's not a good idea to keep male and female bettas together all the time. Breeders only keep them together long enough to spawn, then separate them again. Their mating ritual would land them in jail for sexual assault if they were humans :)
 
ArkyLady said:
Just so you know, it's not a good idea to keep male and female bettas together all the time. Breeders only keep them together long enough to spawn, then separate them again. Their mating ritual would land them in jail for sexual assault if they were humans :)
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LOL! Thanks arkylady, I will keep it in mind. I only have one betta currently...and he is doing so much better today, WOO-HOO! :dance
 
Peekaboo said:
Congratz 13Bravo, it is always great when a sick fish recovers, especially when they have a name... Nothing better than peering into an aquarium expecting a floating fish and instead having it happily looking for food. :)
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Absolutely! And I have you to thank on this one, THANKS! My kids thank you too! :D
 
Hmm.. I would suspect that your original problem was high ammonia. Do you have test kits for ammonia? If not, you should get one, and probably one for nitrItes at the very least.

The reason I suspect that it was ammonia is that if there were some sort of other (internal) thing going on, he would not have recovered so quickly after you changed the water. I would suggest doing more water changes, several times a week.
 
OnyxFishies said:
Hmm.. I would suspect that your original problem was high ammonia. Do you have test kits for ammonia? If not, you should get one, and probably one for nitrItes at the very least.

The reason I suspect that it was ammonia is that if there were some sort of other (internal) thing going on, he would not have recovered so quickly after you changed the water. I would suggest doing more water changes, several times a week.
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Hey Onyx,

Yes, I do have a test kit for ammonia. The readings in his "tank" are never above 0.5, we change his water every two days. The nitrites are usually at 0ppm as well. I could not possibly tell you what was wrong with him but he has been right as rain since the aquarium salt and aquari-sol drops. I can't explain but there you have it and there it is! :D
 
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