Betta won't eat after water change

Dan420

Planted Tank Enthusiast
Aug 26, 2011
54
0
0
bay area ca
Real Name
Dan
So I have had my betta for over a year. And recently I've been neglecting his tank a little for a couple weeks and he seemed totally fine but now that I did a major water change he won't eat. He normal always eats 4 pellets a day and yesterday he only ate two and I couldn't get him to eat more. Today he seemed to be breathing heavy so I did another quick water change and added a little extra stress coat. He seems to be breathing fine now but he still won't eat. I've tried alot to feed him but every time he tries to go for it,(which isn't often he mostly just ignores the pellet dropping in front of him) it falls in some moss or something and I have to get it out and try and feed him again. Yesterday I saw him jolt downwards and looked like he hit his head on a rock and I hope he didn't damage his jaw or something. This happened while I was cleaning his tank.

Some tanks specs are a 2 gal planted tank with a heater.
Small piggy back filter.
Temp is around 80 degrees.

I just took a recent picture this morning that I attached to this post.

I'm worried and I'm not sure what to do.


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What were the water parameters before and after?

A water change on a badly neglected tank can cause some serious issues.
 
How big of a water change did you do? And what were the ammonia nitrite and nitrate levels before and after the water change? Sometimes, a water change on a neglected tank can backfire, if not done right. What water conditioner do you use? How old was your betta when you got him? do you know? If you got him from a pet store, he could have been older already, and having him for two years, would make him ancient...

Emily
 
I didn't check the levels before or after the water change because the tank has be cycled for months. I did neglect cleaning or doing a water change for a couple weeks. My betta seemed just fine and was eating normally before the water change and tank cleaning.

Now he seems to look fine maybe a little lethargic he just won't eat. He continues to swim away and ignore any food.

I put live brine shrimp in his tank yesterday( he normally loves to eat this) but he didn't even seemed interested I maybe saw him eat 2 brine shrimp and bite and spit out a one or two also. But he ignored most of them and I put a fair amount into his tank.

I'm not sure what I should do?


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Update!

Good news my betta just started eating again with out any issues. Maybe he was just old and didn't like that I cleaned the algae caked glass and he could see his own reflection. But he seems to be fine now, thanks all.


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Dan that's great to hear. Thanks for the update.

Maybe make it a point to do weekly water changes from now on.
 
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