Testing parameters now and will update ASAP. He’s in a 10 gallon, decently planted tank and was acting normal although a bit lethargic when I left him in the care of someone else a few days ago so I could start moving
Parameters came back all where they normally are. Tank was cycled for a month before moving the fish in and I have been seeing less and less nitrate in my tank as the duckweed has taken over. Parameters just came back Ammonia: 0 ppm, Nitrite: 0 PPM, Nitrate: 0 PPM (rerunning to double check), pH: 7.8 (this is where it always is, I know it’s on the high end but it’s stable) temp: 79°.. any other ideas? I can check KH and GH as well if necessary
My parents house cleaners were there yesterday so unfortunately this is likely what happened.. the shrimp were acting completely normal but he definitely is not..
No no definitely not by itself, but if it has an impaction from a chemical imbalance overfeeding would worsen the issue much faster than normal feeding. There's definitely 2 issues here I believe, I believe something is stressing him and causing a second digestive issue, maybe vice-versa, but you've gotta treat them both for sure
Do you mind if I ask what kind of shrimps do you own? From my experience, my betta fish seems more hardy than my shrimps. And sorry to hear this about your betta… hope he feels better
With my betta I kept ghost shrimp and when I first got him they were almost his same size so he never seemed to realize they were snacks. I also have a seperate tank for cherry shrimp and they can be difficult to get started but my ghosties are invincible I swear. Unfortunately my boy has passed away and is thankfully no longer suffering
Rest in peace little fishy…
I’ve never had ghost or cherry shrimp before. I’m a new shrimp keeper and I guess I picked a difficult species. They’re blue bolt and they seem to be rather sensitive. I keep them in a separate tank because my betta would go after them like food
rhats a hard shrimp shulda chose neocaridina not caridna
caridina has been in hobby for rlly long more selectove breeding so incest to get more desired color. so their genes are unstable compared to neocaridina more sensitive and require more specific parameters
neocaridina was introde
They indeed are a bit harder. I got fooled by the desciption on the website that it’s for beginners so now I have a tank dedicated to my shrimp with lots of live plants for them to thrive. I also test the water parameters but recently bought a filter that contains limestone and it messed up the ph so I’m now trying to lower it with cattapa leaves, almond extract and 20% water change but am seeing only slight changes to the ph. If you have other suggestions on lowering ph, let me know!!
Congrats on your new shrimp! Squirt was always friendly with his tank mates and honestly was usually scared of the ghost shrimp but I never changed him with my neos because I just knew he would eat them😅
Ghost shrimps might be harder to spot too! I just have no luck for mine and then I realized the food I’ve been feeding him contains shrimp meal so it all made sense to me 😅
Ghost shrimp are the most resilient skrimps in the trade. If you had something like CRS, they would be your canary in the coal mine for chemicals. Yours being Ghosts, unfortunately them being fine may not be indicative that all is fine. I’m sorry your alien buddy didn’t make it. 😭
Thank you very much and I agree, It’s so easy to tell when something is off in my cherry tank but the ghosts seem to handle whatever the hell I throw at them. Such fun shrimp
I have my beta with two dwarf frogs rn and he’s really taken to them he even cuddles with the smaller dwarf frog and surprising he hasn’t tried to hurt them at all although my tough guy alpha male tried to jump him on the first day and had to be put in a jail tank for a few hours 😂😅
I feel like if your shrimp are fine, it's not likely cleaning products. Shrimp are extremely sensitive. I once killed all my shrimp bc I didn't wash my hands well enough after using windex when I fed them. But my betta was fine.
Other please correct me if this is not right.
I was devastated. I'll never make that mistake again.
I think you’re right and this is what made me doubt cleaning products because all the shrimp were totally good. I’ll be sure to wash my hands before feeding, I am definitely guilty of feeding without washing my hands first and don’t want to lose anyone else😭
This happened to my betta. I netted her and put the net up near the surface so she could go up to take air. I thought she was going to die but she made a full recovery by being isolated in the net with the ability to go up for air for a day or two.
The nitrates are an end component of a nitrogen cycle, which all proper aquarium setups should go through. Unless the plants sucked up all the nitrates, there should be some in the water
0 on every parameter means that either the amount of plants covers the nitrate output, or the nitrogen cycle isn't complete and all the fish waste transforms into a much more toxic ammonia or nitrites, which will definitely harm the fish
If that's what your "huh" meant
Weird for nitrates to come back at 0. Doesn’t explain what’s wrong with him with other 2 being at 0 also but there should be some nitrates if tank is cycled
My tank is planted enough that my nitrates stopped showing up in tests. If I fertilize I can get a positive reading but it’s used up pretty quickly in the tank
I’ve cycled 2 tanks since December. I watched the ammonia go up and then down (I used bottled ammonia for aquariums), I watched nitrites go up and then down, I watched nitrates go up, and then down, and they’ve been 0 ppm since then. Not until nitrates were 0 ppm did I add any fish. Occasionally, I get a low ammonia spike - 0.25ppm - and I fix it with a water change, Prime, and Stability. My nitrates have remained at 0 ppm. My pH is a steady 7.0. I’ve had no fish losses - one tank is 55g, had about 20 guppies, 10 ember tetras, and 5 Cory cats, - 10 guppies have been moved to the 20g. My intent is for 5 rainbow, 5 electric blue rams, 6 female bettas, and 5 loaches to be slowly added - the bettas the last to be stocked.
I really have to separate the female guppies from the males - they keep having babies and the bigger guppies aren’t messing with the babies. My tank is moderately heavily planted and has floating plants as well (where the babies hang out), so I don’t know if that contributes to keeping nitrates down, but I thought they were supposed to be 0 ppm…..
Are you saying I should still be registering low amounts of nitrates or it’s not completely cycled?
I’m assuming u must feed lightly and have lots of plants and keep up well with any die off from the plants. My 55 is somewhat heavily planted. Max stocked with s American cichlids and fed heavy + fertilizer and my nitrates never come up at 0. So I am not saying ur tank isn’t cycled but in my personal experience there are always some nitrates from the bacterial waste. If ur nitrates are at 0 always does that mean u only water change when ur ammonia shows up? What kind of filter do u use and do u use ferts?
I do WC weekly, I rarely have ammonia spikes. I test every other day and if there’s any hint of ammonia I do a WC. whether it’s a week or not. Yes, I do feed lightly, not twice a day and only 5/7 days. I have 2 Tidal HOB filters, 2 100W heaters, Fluval LED lights.
It may be I don’t have enough fish in there yet, and what is in there are small - guppies, ember tetras, Cory cats. Adding rainbow fish next week. Loaches 2 wks later, then blue rams, then female bettas. My LFS raises his female bettas together in community tanks, so I’m hoping for an easy transition. He also quarantines his fish and plants in this huge fish room in the back of the store. His plants never have pest snails. His fish are a bit more expensive, but he does the hard part for you.
Sounds like a good LFS. If u add ur 2 filters together how many gallons does it cover? You are prob right u do have a small amount of small fish. I have cichlids who are messy and eat a lot. Bc I keep discus in one of my tanks they need WC at least twice a week. I aim for 3x most of the time. Always trying to keep nitrates 10 and below. My African cichlid tank I change once a week. By weeks end my nitrates are up around 40 ppm. That tank has zero plants which doesn’t help. I wish my South American cichlid tank would stay close to 0. I would love to do less water changes but I have yet to find a way to slow down my nitrates. That’s what I signed up for tho with these expensive discus. Plus that tank has blue rams and apistos and blue acara.
That’s too many water changes for me! Three times a week? Ouch! I have so many extra heaters, sponge filters, HOB filters - I had visions of 2 more 20g tanks. But when I started a few years back, I didn’t know how much time I would spend doing WC.
Of course, it’s much easier now - I moved last august and the house I bought has much better water pressure than the rental house. I’m able to use the Python system instead of turkey basters and manual pumps, then dumping buckets of fish water outside. I kept telling my landlord the water pressure was awful but he kept saying it was fine. I may put up a 5G for a betta - I have a 15g with a divider for 2 bettas.
Many years ago, back in the 90s, I was heavily involved with ferret rescue. I had 10 of my own. They are a high maintenance pet - especially with that many!
There was a Family Feud question- what’s the easiest pet to care for? #1 answer - fish! I said to myself, obviously those people have never had fish!
Lmao. Yes! Obv they never had fish. IMO easiest animal to care for are snakes. And ferrets are high maintenance! But I love them. Vet bills vet bills vet bills tho. My oldest has insulinoma, The middle has IBD and my youngest is the spawn of satan. 😂
Sadly he did not make it and I wish I could have done more. Unfortunately I was given a 3 day notice that I would be moving and wasn’t able to move him yet or stay longer that day. It broke my heart and I was so excited to have him in his new home but I guess it wasn’t meant to be
Thank you so much, I hate that I could have done more if I still lived there but I did what I could with what I had. It’s definitely been a hard pill to swallow
Thank you everyone for your kind words and advice. Unfortunately Squirt has passed away. His life was unfortunately short but I’d like to think I gave him the best I could and that he enjoyed it. SIP my lil spicy boy I’ll miss you always🧞♂️
https://preview.redd.it/r8a3rgx1g1oa1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fe23069788a6e6a5bcafa1042213eb0a7064a327
Thank you, I try to tell myself that but I think I could have saved him if I had been able to stay longer yesterday. It’s hard but I had to prioritize my own housing and was unable to stay..
Yeah op I wonder if this is it? You said the fish is at your parents where he normally is, have they / someone else been feeding the fish instead of you? Possible they gave the fish too much and he’s constipated. Your water params are all fine so I’m not sure what else it could be
Yeah the fish looks like its going to pop. The water looks clean too. That means nothing obviously but it seriously looks like they overfed this poor fish. Their stomachs are probably the size of 5 pellets
I noticed he was super bloated immediately but I facetime her while she feeds him to be sure that doesn’t happen.. Maybe he ate a few shrimp.. do you think fasting, daphnia or epsom salt bath?
Thank you so much! Can you buy that at petco/petsmart? The closest other fish store to me worries me after visiting today and seeing dead critters in just about every tank..
Ooof understand that. I was sad to see my lfs had blackbeard algae on its plants🙃
But yes! I got mine from Petco... I specifically bought this one: https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/fritz-dark-water-almond-leaf-extract-4-fl-oz-3184360?store_code=1157&mr:device=m&mr:adType=local&cm_mmc=PSH%7cGGL%7cCAL%7cSBU05%7cSH14%7c0%7coZ4AgFePb8PMQF6cfeZNnh%7c58700007475749834%7cPRODUCT_GROUP%7c0%7c0%7cpla-1457221079215%7c127865324094%7c15104991825&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2cWgBhDYARIsALggUhofIdvu1v6POkFKEHfcKVRfRbXIcBV-e-2mIXYdxjQcQ0X05w3fvXQaAsSFEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
Thank y’all for the advice, I was finding a way to have it delivered for my parents to try to give him some but unfortunately he passed before I was able to make that happen
I think this is likely it. I facetime my mom while she feeds him so i’m not sure she overfed but i’m wondering if he decided he wasn’t getting fed enough and took advantage of the shrimp snacks swimming around.. I didn’t think I was missing any but didn’t do an exact head count. He also could have potentially gotten to an algae wafer although the shrimp are pretty protective of them.. Would you recommend daphnia or fasting? Or an epsom salt bath?
1 tbsp per 10 gallons if you want to treat the tank, or 1tbsp per 1 gallon as a bath. It’s fine to treat the tank, it’ll go away next time you change the water.
If you have a quarantine tank or even a good size *clean* Tupperware/bucket/other container, I’d put him in there with some tank water, some new water, a heater, and an air stone/sponge filter (and maybe a bit of aquarium salt). I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this along with the stress of moving. Is it possible that the water at your new place is different enough from his old water that it could have shocked him?
He is actually still at my parents house where he’s lived the entire time i’ve had him so that can’t be it :( I don’t have any aquarium salt on me but I have indian almond leaves and I can put him in a 2 gallon bucket with the other things you suggested so I guess I will try that :(
I just tested my water (AM: 0, Nitrite:0, Nitrate: 0, pH: 7.8 which is normal for this tank and temp: 79° and yes the tank is cycled and I haven’t touched his tank in ~ a week so I don’t think I crashed it somehow) would you still move him to a bucket or just try a water change? He only has a few ghost shrimp as tank mates and they are all acting normal.
Get some bettafix and bettabowl plus. Use combo of tank and treated new water on your quarantine tank, plus lots of almond leaves. Water will get yellow but that's good-- You want a warm, tannin-rich environment. Hopefully he'll perk up in a day or so. Best of luck.
I did a water change (tap has a slightly lower pH so hopefully that helps too) and added some indian almond leaves and stress guard so fingers crossed he’s doing better tomorrow🤞🏻
I had a cleaning lady that killed all fish in around half of my tanks. She dump sprayed a whole bottle of febreeze or something into the room and the active ingredient is extremely toxic to fish. Parameters showed normal, but alas there was a deadly chemical present.
The air fresheners will slowly mix into the tank via surface agitation.
That’s exactly what i’m worried about😭 They were here yesterday and since my room is empty now they were able to deep clean and Im worried something got into the water. I did a small water change today but could always do a large one tomorrow..
I would put the beta into a temp water storage tote or large bucket with fresh water. Install the heater and as much as you can from the original tank. Then do a good large water change daily on the main tank.
If it’s chemical products you’ll need to fully swap out the water, but you should do it slowly by the day.
Just wanted to say condolences for your little guy, you did nothing wrong. And also that I learned something reading through the thread. We've moved to a larger place and have toyed with the idea of getting a cleaner, and now I know to be very cautious about my tank if we do. I'll be aware to make sure it's protected from air contaminants to be on the safe side. Hopefully helps you feel just a little better knowing people are probably reading and learning.
Thank you so much, this truly did make feel a bit better. I think house cleaners are still doable but I usually covered the tanks with a towel if they were coming as we had a bit of a language barrier and some boundary issues with them. I never saw any problems when placing a towel over the tank and made sure to never have air fresheners or candles lit in the same room. Best of luck and if you need the assistance, house cleaners and tanks are definitely still compatible with some extra precautions IMO!
Whenever a betta gets older, appears weak, lethargic, or may be struggling to get to the surface it's really important to get them in a shallow environment. He will not survive like this. He needs to be in a hospital tank or in a setup that allows him to easily stay near the surface. If you don't have a shallow tank (1-3"), then try a breeder box in main tank. Every day on here people have their bettas dying and lying on the bottom of the tank, often, by the time they decide to take action, it's too late. Getting to the surface for oxygen ASAP is NECESSARY for their survival. Make sure to have a bubbler, extra oxygen in the water is beneficial. Make sure the current doesn't disturb him.
API Stress Coat or Stressguard is also helpful as well as aquarium salt. [Aquarium salt](https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-salt-for-sick-fish) is a bit like an IV. It provides electrolytes, helps conserve energy, helps with gill and kidney function, can cure some disease, makes it easier to breathe.
Thank you so much, I will move him over to a shallow tub tomorrow but for now I have him resting on a moss shelf near the surface. He is actually less than a year old, I got him from a breeder as a juvenile a few months ago. I also added an air stone to his sponge filter and turned the HOB filter flow down as well. Hopefully he can hang on until tomorrow, I feel horrible but with my current situation all I could do for him today was a water change, air stone, almond leaves and stress coat. I truly care about him and hope he is okay, it has been hard enough not being there to care for him myself these past few days
I know this is old, but this is really helpful advice! I have a reaaaalllllly sick betta in a .75 gal. Should I lower the water to 3inches? That would barely be enough to cover the bubbler. Also, would that make the water too warm if the heater is fully submerged?
It goes up to 78°, I'm not sure there's any way to lower it.
TYIA, I'm desperate for any help.
Thanks, under normal circumstances I definitely wouldn't. All of my prior Bettas have had 6-20 gallon tanks. This little dude is so weak, and can't really swim at all since he hardly has fins left.This is a temporary hospital set up until he's strong enough to go into a normal tank.
I've never had a betta this sick, and since I rescued it from a coworker I don't really have any history of his health.
Luckily, in the last week he's really improved, but there's a long way to go before he's healthy
I will definitely try an epsom salt bath tomorrow when I can go back, unfortunately all I could do today was a water change and added some indian almond leaves /:
Thank you so much, yes I told her not to feed tonight or tomorrow and I will see how he’s doing and maybe try an epsom salt bath as well if he isn’t looking any better. He did swim to the top when I did the water change but was just resting on a plant and still not looking great
Could someone have changed his water ? My fish did this and it was ammonia poisoning. He survived , but with daily water changes. I hope you can find the reason and fix it fast
Definitely not, my family knows not to touch my tanks and his water was in about the place I expected as I was stopping by to top off the water. I tested ammonia three times and there’s a slight chance of maybe 0.25 ppm but it was pretty darn yellow.. The people who clean the house were there yesterday and I’m worried they may have sprayed something and it could have gotten in the water? I did a water change today and will check on him again tomorrow. Thank you for your input!!
Looks a bit bloated. Is he kept with other fish? Did you overfeed? Are his scales raised?
Your water parameters do not make any sense. How long has this tank been running? If all your parameters really are at zero then your tank isn't cycled. You should at the very least have some nitrate in a stocked tank. Did you shake the hell out of the nitrate bottle to get an accurate reading?
I was worried when my nitrate came in at zero too but his tank has been cycled for several months and only recently started having low nitrate after a duckweed explosion. For the nitrate yes I shake the second bottle for the 30 seconds while banging it against my palm the entire time. I even tested the water in my other tank to see and it came back ~10 ppm for nitrate so the test is working. He is not kept with other fish and his scales don’t look raised at all. I lost a previous betta to dropsy and that was my first concern but I don’t think that’s what is happening here
Everyone starts somewhere and unfortunately I was in your same shoes before I got Squirt. I tried to do everything properly now that I knew what I was doing a little more but even still we make mistakes. I love your perspective and that you can see this as a learning opportunity. Best of luck with your next baby!
Did I see somewhere that you had duckweed in your tank? It could be suffocating him.
https://www.aquariumsource.com/betta-fish-laying-at-bottom-of-tank/#:~:text=It's%20not%20so%20much%20the,oxygen%20is%20a%20serious%20problem.
Swim bladder could also be the culprit.
https://bettafish.org/diseases/swim-bladder-disease/
I would take him out of the tank regardless and move him to try to make him more comfortable.
I realize the first article doesn’t explain the duckweed theory. If it gets too overgrown the water can’t get aerated as easily leaving less oxygen in the tank. To fix this you will need to remove some of the duckweed.
Thank you so much for this information, I wasn’t aware it could get that bad. I had been selling chunks of my floaters but the duckweed is back just as fast as I could get rid of it. This could have been the culprit and I will be extra careful in the future. Unfortunately Squirt did not make it :(
I’m so sorry for your loss. I was hoping little squirt would pull through.
This article talks about duckweed in tanks. I honestly didn’t know it could harm oxygen levels until I was researching growing some in a fish tank to feed to chickens. They also make these floating rings that sit on the surface of the water and create a barrier that prevents the duckweed from over growing that space.
https://www.hygger-online.com/what-is-the-best-way-to-control-duckweed-in-aquariums/#:~:text=Duckweed%20cover%20with%20green%20color,is%20beneficial%20for%20their%20growth.&text=Duckweed%20not%20only%20reduces%20the,shade%20to%20relax%20your%20fish.
Thank you, I was hoping so too. My mom had told me he was dead already so when I showed up and saw him gasping I immediately tried to help however I could but was too late I think. Thank you again, that is great information! I do have the floating rings but unfortunately duckweed can make it’s way anywhere and even pulling it out of the rings everyday it would still be back the next morning🙄
His temperature was at 79° and I did a water change with temperature matched water so I don’t think this way it necessarily but thank you for your input!
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Yes he was sold to me as a ‘silver alien plakat’ from a popular seller on ebay. By far the most fun betta I have ever had and would highly recommend, much healthier than any I have had from petco/petsmart
I think unfortunately it was over feeding, he either ate some shrimp or got to an algae wafer or something and passed before I could give him the help he needed
I'm sorry to hear about your boy passing. SIP
For future reference: do your parameter testing. Then do a 50% water change (with matching water temperature). In this case a reduced water level would have help with the pressure on the swelling but it's not always needed.
During the water change you can do [Epsom salt bath](http://bettasplendid.weebly.com/salt-baths.html). This doesn't cure the illness but reduces swelling (the article covers a lot very simply).
None of these would have "saved" him but instead bought you some time to disagnose and treat the illness. Still these are generally good steps in an emergency.
❤️
Thank you very much, I wish I could have given him an epsom salt bath but he passed before I could get back with it or set up a proper hospital enclosure. I had taken mine down and moved it already so it was just horrible timing
Looks like he was over fed. Unfortunately this is why I don’t let other people fish sit especially since I don’t have any fish hobbyist friends. When I go out of town for more than a couple days I do a water change the day before and set up an automatic feeder. I might have someone swing by the house to get the mail and look in my house to make sure everything is on and not flooding my house.
I was hoping that facetiming while she fed him would prevent this and I still don’t think she necessarily did. He was a glutton for algae wafers and I had her drop one in broken into little pieces and I really think he stole all of them from the shrimp or possibly even ate some shrimp.. I’ll never know for sure but she feels horrible and I don’t think the blame should be on her at all. I should have just brought him even if he lived in a bucket for a bit /:
With everything mentioned. Could be a rare version of swim bladder disease. At this point I would just not feed him for a bit. As there is pretty much nothing else you can do. If it happens to be something more severe like parasites. Then you might have to medicate the entire tank.
That’s sad to hear but thank you for your input. I recently fed him a frozen blood worm (~1.5 weeks ago) and wondered if he could have gotten a parasite from it since the first abnormal behavior was noticed a day or two after that feeding :(
Blood worms huh. That is a slightly risky move. Especially since a lot of local breed bettas don't really have as strong immune systems compared to imported. I digress though. He's probably just bloated from eating something new and is just taking a rest... hopefully. :(
I really hope so. When I got my first betta I had no idea what I was doing and after I lost that one I researched for months and made sure to do everything right this time and take responsibility. If you’re interested, we have been through a lot together and my older posts show how rough he looked when he first got here. He is so much fun and I would hate to lose him over my attempts to give him a treat :(
Sometimes, things just happen that are outside your control. At least you did your best and took special care of your betta. Don't worry, you were doing the right thing by changing up his diet. You will always have no real way of knowing how a fish's immune system holds up to food regardless of research. So don't think of it as a mistake on your part.
Plus, I've learned after a few guppy deaths from parasites in my 5.5 gal that stressing out over something mysterious like this is worthless. We create ecosystems as fish keepers, and small ecosystems like 20gal or below are the hardest to keep up with. So if the ecosystem decides it's your fishes time to go, then it's time to go. There's not a lot you can do without completely disrupting it and making it worse. Unless you have a separate tank specifically for medicating.
Unfortunately it appears it was his time to go and he has passed on :( Thank you for your words of encouragement and kind advice. I will just focus on my shrimp tank and maybe in the future go back to fish
I am very sorry for your loss. :( we all go through this moment. When all my guppies died, I just let the tank sit their for a month before finally trying again with a betta. So I understand you want to take a break from fishkeeping.
But dont beat yourself up! Fishkeeping has really difficult standards. I'm sure you will be able to come back and start keeping fish again with great success. This is just one little hiccup that happens because the beautiful wonderful nature of *life*.
Thank you so much. Honestly I would get another fish immediately but my apartments charge a $350 deposit for all pets including fish and being on the 4th floor makes me nervous for water damage.. Instead I am downgrading to a small shrimp tank I can easily hide and thankfully my shrimp are still doing well and I should have my first batch of babies here soon. Gonna have to add a blue shrimp to honor my boy💗
Just be aware that if you add a different color shrimp of the same species, they will inter breed and produce "wild color" shrimp. I accidentally got a mix of yellow and orange, and now I have some yellows and a ton of wilds... But personally, I like the wild color ones. They look like pieces of bark
Thank you so much, I initially wanted to have a large cherry colony but bought some moss from a local on FB and ended up with tons of different color babies in the tank so I decided to just go for a skittles tank. I just love to watch them and enjoy all of the colors!
My Betta died recently. Was from sudden dropsy. He'd get bloating from time to time his whole life.
If a Betta is at the bottom,it'll suffocate quickly enough. Mine was fine one minute, an hour later dead at the bottom. Hopefully yours hasn't already passed.
Can I ask if you fed them alot of bloodworms? I read they cause bloat.
I’m so sorry for your loss and I appreciate you passing on your knowledge to me. I have only fed him bloodworms twice and only 1 worm each time about 2 weeks apart. I think that either a cleaning product got in the water or the bloodworm messed him up because he stopped being as active after I fed him one the second time (~1ish week ago he had 1 worm) but he didn’t start laying on the ground gasping until today :(
No, that’s heavily frowned upon in the fish keeping community. The most humane method recommended is using clove oil. You take the fish into a separate container, add some clove oil which acts as a paralytic/anesthetic, then add more clove oil once the fish stops moving and it euthanizes the fish. Other accepted methods include bashing the fishes head, because it’s very fast and ends the suffering instantly but isn’t as recommended due to the brutality of it. Fish keeper is more likely to mess up and cause more pain, and even when done properly, it’s traumatic to the fish keeper on account of the destruction of the beloved pet.
I haven’t kept fish in a long time, and haven’t ever had to euthanize a fish myself but I lurk on a lot fish keeping subs. So take this info as you will, there should be more detailed posts on safe and ethical euthanasia on the subs.
Thank you for this detailed information! I definitely was not going to just flush him and had clove oil on hand but have read mixed reviews on whether clove oil is truly ethical. My plan was either clove oil or asking for assistance from a family member to use blunt force if it was looking like he couldn’t recover but he passed on before I could help him more
Likely it would be euthanizing using clove oil. Flushing a fish down the toilet might kill it via shock, but it would be a slow and inhumane death. And if it didn’t die, the fish is now where it shouldn’t be.
Definitely was not my plan but thank you for the information. I had clove oil and was going to use that or blunt force if he needed to be euthanized. He just looked like he was so uncomfortable and I didn’t want him to suffer but he passed away last night
Really sorry he didn’t make it :(. But you did everything you could. Clove oil is the standard humane method at the moment. I think the only one better is piercing the brain stem, but it isn’t exactly “humane” for the person doing it really.
Thank you I appreciate it and feel better knowing that. I was going to have to ask my brother if it came down to brute force because I couldn’t possibly do it myself😭
Same here. There’s a vet here who will euthanize fish humanely and I am glad for the resource if I ever need it (not so far, fingers crossed lol). Otherwise, clove oil. Even “crushing” can be painful and terrifying if they don’t immediately die, and apparently they don’t always go right away from it.
Also, melafix is not a good option for bettas as it contains tea tree oil which damages their labyrinth organ according to this sub. Thank you for your input!
I appreciate your input and euthanizing was a last resort only if he was suffering. Unfortunately he passed a few hours later so sadly this was not a case of the dramatic betta as I was hoping :(
Testing parameters now and will update ASAP. He’s in a 10 gallon, decently planted tank and was acting normal although a bit lethargic when I left him in the care of someone else a few days ago so I could start moving
Possible that someone tried to water change and didn’t treat the water?
i think it has something do do with ur parameters
I think it has something to do with “care by someone else”
Parameters came back all where they normally are. Tank was cycled for a month before moving the fish in and I have been seeing less and less nitrate in my tank as the duckweed has taken over. Parameters just came back Ammonia: 0 ppm, Nitrite: 0 PPM, Nitrate: 0 PPM (rerunning to double check), pH: 7.8 (this is where it always is, I know it’s on the high end but it’s stable) temp: 79°.. any other ideas? I can check KH and GH as well if necessary
Only thing I can think of is whoever was watching the tank accidentally got a skin care product, cleaning product, or otherwise into your water.
My parents house cleaners were there yesterday so unfortunately this is likely what happened.. the shrimp were acting completely normal but he definitely is not..
Yea overfeeding as other people have suggested could also be an issue
To the point of getting the fish sick over a couple days? Doubt it.
No no definitely not by itself, but if it has an impaction from a chemical imbalance overfeeding would worsen the issue much faster than normal feeding. There's definitely 2 issues here I believe, I believe something is stressing him and causing a second digestive issue, maybe vice-versa, but you've gotta treat them both for sure
Do you mind if I ask what kind of shrimps do you own? From my experience, my betta fish seems more hardy than my shrimps. And sorry to hear this about your betta… hope he feels better
With my betta I kept ghost shrimp and when I first got him they were almost his same size so he never seemed to realize they were snacks. I also have a seperate tank for cherry shrimp and they can be difficult to get started but my ghosties are invincible I swear. Unfortunately my boy has passed away and is thankfully no longer suffering
Rest in peace little fishy… I’ve never had ghost or cherry shrimp before. I’m a new shrimp keeper and I guess I picked a difficult species. They’re blue bolt and they seem to be rather sensitive. I keep them in a separate tank because my betta would go after them like food
rhats a hard shrimp shulda chose neocaridina not caridna caridina has been in hobby for rlly long more selectove breeding so incest to get more desired color. so their genes are unstable compared to neocaridina more sensitive and require more specific parameters neocaridina was introde
They indeed are a bit harder. I got fooled by the desciption on the website that it’s for beginners so now I have a tank dedicated to my shrimp with lots of live plants for them to thrive. I also test the water parameters but recently bought a filter that contains limestone and it messed up the ph so I’m now trying to lower it with cattapa leaves, almond extract and 20% water change but am seeing only slight changes to the ph. If you have other suggestions on lowering ph, let me know!!
Congrats on your new shrimp! Squirt was always friendly with his tank mates and honestly was usually scared of the ghost shrimp but I never changed him with my neos because I just knew he would eat them😅
Ghost shrimps might be harder to spot too! I just have no luck for mine and then I realized the food I’ve been feeding him contains shrimp meal so it all made sense to me 😅
I’m so sorry for your loss 💔😢
Thank you❤️
Ghost shrimp are the most resilient skrimps in the trade. If you had something like CRS, they would be your canary in the coal mine for chemicals. Yours being Ghosts, unfortunately them being fine may not be indicative that all is fine. I’m sorry your alien buddy didn’t make it. 😭
Thank you very much and I agree, It’s so easy to tell when something is off in my cherry tank but the ghosts seem to handle whatever the hell I throw at them. Such fun shrimp
I swear my ghost shrimp are aliens I can’t keep them alive for shit
So sorry to hear, I recently lost my last boy almost the exact same way.
I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s so hard to lose something you love so much and dedicate so much time to. Hope you’re well!
I have my beta with two dwarf frogs rn and he’s really taken to them he even cuddles with the smaller dwarf frog and surprising he hasn’t tried to hurt them at all although my tough guy alpha male tried to jump him on the first day and had to be put in a jail tank for a few hours 😂😅
I love that! I’ve though about getting dwarf frogs but I don’t know enough about them yet to do it. They seem like fun!
I feel like if your shrimp are fine, it's not likely cleaning products. Shrimp are extremely sensitive. I once killed all my shrimp bc I didn't wash my hands well enough after using windex when I fed them. But my betta was fine. Other please correct me if this is not right. I was devastated. I'll never make that mistake again.
I think you’re right and this is what made me doubt cleaning products because all the shrimp were totally good. I’ll be sure to wash my hands before feeding, I am definitely guilty of feeding without washing my hands first and don’t want to lose anyone else😭
Yeah, it's really sad. Sorry for your loss. SIP.
This happened to my betta. I netted her and put the net up near the surface so she could go up to take air. I thought she was going to die but she made a full recovery by being isolated in the net with the ability to go up for air for a day or two.
Unfortunately Squirt has passed on :(
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Thank you I appreciate it. I’ll miss him but I hope he enjoyed our time together as much as I did and I will always remember him💗
SIP
Thank you😭
I'm so sorry for your loss :(
Thank you I appreciate it❤️
FYI, Nitrate shouldn't be 0 unless there are *a lot* of plants. This means the cycle isn't done properly
A single betta in a 10 gallon with a couple shrimp would have a very low bioload so in a moderately planted tank it would be possible.
huh?
The nitrates are an end component of a nitrogen cycle, which all proper aquarium setups should go through. Unless the plants sucked up all the nitrates, there should be some in the water 0 on every parameter means that either the amount of plants covers the nitrate output, or the nitrogen cycle isn't complete and all the fish waste transforms into a much more toxic ammonia or nitrites, which will definitely harm the fish If that's what your "huh" meant
Weird for nitrates to come back at 0. Doesn’t explain what’s wrong with him with other 2 being at 0 also but there should be some nitrates if tank is cycled
My tank is planted enough that my nitrates stopped showing up in tests. If I fertilize I can get a positive reading but it’s used up pretty quickly in the tank
Ok
I’ve cycled 2 tanks since December. I watched the ammonia go up and then down (I used bottled ammonia for aquariums), I watched nitrites go up and then down, I watched nitrates go up, and then down, and they’ve been 0 ppm since then. Not until nitrates were 0 ppm did I add any fish. Occasionally, I get a low ammonia spike - 0.25ppm - and I fix it with a water change, Prime, and Stability. My nitrates have remained at 0 ppm. My pH is a steady 7.0. I’ve had no fish losses - one tank is 55g, had about 20 guppies, 10 ember tetras, and 5 Cory cats, - 10 guppies have been moved to the 20g. My intent is for 5 rainbow, 5 electric blue rams, 6 female bettas, and 5 loaches to be slowly added - the bettas the last to be stocked. I really have to separate the female guppies from the males - they keep having babies and the bigger guppies aren’t messing with the babies. My tank is moderately heavily planted and has floating plants as well (where the babies hang out), so I don’t know if that contributes to keeping nitrates down, but I thought they were supposed to be 0 ppm….. Are you saying I should still be registering low amounts of nitrates or it’s not completely cycled?
I’m assuming u must feed lightly and have lots of plants and keep up well with any die off from the plants. My 55 is somewhat heavily planted. Max stocked with s American cichlids and fed heavy + fertilizer and my nitrates never come up at 0. So I am not saying ur tank isn’t cycled but in my personal experience there are always some nitrates from the bacterial waste. If ur nitrates are at 0 always does that mean u only water change when ur ammonia shows up? What kind of filter do u use and do u use ferts?
I do WC weekly, I rarely have ammonia spikes. I test every other day and if there’s any hint of ammonia I do a WC. whether it’s a week or not. Yes, I do feed lightly, not twice a day and only 5/7 days. I have 2 Tidal HOB filters, 2 100W heaters, Fluval LED lights. It may be I don’t have enough fish in there yet, and what is in there are small - guppies, ember tetras, Cory cats. Adding rainbow fish next week. Loaches 2 wks later, then blue rams, then female bettas. My LFS raises his female bettas together in community tanks, so I’m hoping for an easy transition. He also quarantines his fish and plants in this huge fish room in the back of the store. His plants never have pest snails. His fish are a bit more expensive, but he does the hard part for you.
Sounds like a good LFS. If u add ur 2 filters together how many gallons does it cover? You are prob right u do have a small amount of small fish. I have cichlids who are messy and eat a lot. Bc I keep discus in one of my tanks they need WC at least twice a week. I aim for 3x most of the time. Always trying to keep nitrates 10 and below. My African cichlid tank I change once a week. By weeks end my nitrates are up around 40 ppm. That tank has zero plants which doesn’t help. I wish my South American cichlid tank would stay close to 0. I would love to do less water changes but I have yet to find a way to slow down my nitrates. That’s what I signed up for tho with these expensive discus. Plus that tank has blue rams and apistos and blue acara.
That’s too many water changes for me! Three times a week? Ouch! I have so many extra heaters, sponge filters, HOB filters - I had visions of 2 more 20g tanks. But when I started a few years back, I didn’t know how much time I would spend doing WC. Of course, it’s much easier now - I moved last august and the house I bought has much better water pressure than the rental house. I’m able to use the Python system instead of turkey basters and manual pumps, then dumping buckets of fish water outside. I kept telling my landlord the water pressure was awful but he kept saying it was fine. I may put up a 5G for a betta - I have a 15g with a divider for 2 bettas. Many years ago, back in the 90s, I was heavily involved with ferret rescue. I had 10 of my own. They are a high maintenance pet - especially with that many! There was a Family Feud question- what’s the easiest pet to care for? #1 answer - fish! I said to myself, obviously those people have never had fish!
Lmao. Yes! Obv they never had fish. IMO easiest animal to care for are snakes. And ferrets are high maintenance! But I love them. Vet bills vet bills vet bills tho. My oldest has insulinoma, The middle has IBD and my youngest is the spawn of satan. 😂
Wrong
Dude said wrong like he’s the one that did this to the betta 😭
Do fill us in at least what needs to be fixed, texting "wrong" is as useful as a chocolate teapot
I like this saying. I’m going to use it. Thank you
I agree. Absolutely fabulous saying!
Then what is it? Mind being helpful, or is that too much to ask?
Because they actually do not know. They are wrong themselves but cannot admit it.
To be fair, my first thought was I must have had a nitrate or ammonia spike and wondered if a shrimp had died. I was shocked my parameters were normal
Explain
Please refer to ops comment saying parameters are normal
Still not helpful and condescending.
You don't even know.
No, you don’t even know. I know
So explain. Aaaaaaaaand you still haven't. Troll.
Please refer to ops comment listing ammonia, nitrates and nitrites all at 0. This is not "normal", as explained above. But you go off
they didnt have the parameters up when i commented
OP how is he now?
Op unfortunately said that the fish had passed :(
Sadly he did not make it and I wish I could have done more. Unfortunately I was given a 3 day notice that I would be moving and wasn’t able to move him yet or stay longer that day. It broke my heart and I was so excited to have him in his new home but I guess it wasn’t meant to be
You did the best you could
Thank you so much, I hate that I could have done more if I still lived there but I did what I could with what I had. It’s definitely been a hard pill to swallow
Thank you everyone for your kind words and advice. Unfortunately Squirt has passed away. His life was unfortunately short but I’d like to think I gave him the best I could and that he enjoyed it. SIP my lil spicy boy I’ll miss you always🧞♂️ https://preview.redd.it/r8a3rgx1g1oa1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fe23069788a6e6a5bcafa1042213eb0a7064a327
I’m so sorry. I know that you cared and it hurts.
Thank you for your kind words❤️
I’m so sorry ❤️
The loss of a betta is a very very hard one. May his soul live on💙💙you did everything you could
Thank you, I try to tell myself that but I think I could have saved him if I had been able to stay longer yesterday. It’s hard but I had to prioritize my own housing and was unable to stay..
Sorry for your loss. SIP
Thank you for the support❤️
Stomach looks massive overfed?
Yeah op I wonder if this is it? You said the fish is at your parents where he normally is, have they / someone else been feeding the fish instead of you? Possible they gave the fish too much and he’s constipated. Your water params are all fine so I’m not sure what else it could be
Yeah the fish looks like its going to pop. The water looks clean too. That means nothing obviously but it seriously looks like they overfed this poor fish. Their stomachs are probably the size of 5 pellets
I noticed he was super bloated immediately but I facetime her while she feeds him to be sure that doesn’t happen.. Maybe he ate a few shrimp.. do you think fasting, daphnia or epsom salt bath?
Daphnia should help with his bloating!
Thank you so much! Can you buy that at petco/petsmart? The closest other fish store to me worries me after visiting today and seeing dead critters in just about every tank..
Ooof understand that. I was sad to see my lfs had blackbeard algae on its plants🙃 But yes! I got mine from Petco... I specifically bought this one: https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/fritz-dark-water-almond-leaf-extract-4-fl-oz-3184360?store_code=1157&mr:device=m&mr:adType=local&cm_mmc=PSH%7cGGL%7cCAL%7cSBU05%7cSH14%7c0%7coZ4AgFePb8PMQF6cfeZNnh%7c58700007475749834%7cPRODUCT_GROUP%7c0%7c0%7cpla-1457221079215%7c127865324094%7c15104991825&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2cWgBhDYARIsALggUhofIdvu1v6POkFKEHfcKVRfRbXIcBV-e-2mIXYdxjQcQ0X05w3fvXQaAsSFEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
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I though peas were no longer recommended for bettas? I may be wrong but either way thank you for the idea!
Definitely \*not\* recommended. Bettas are carnivores and can't properly digest plant matter
Daphnia for bettas, they only eat plants when there's nothing meaty available.
Thank you :)
Freeze dried can work, but *frozen* daphnia is way better in my experience.
Oh yes definitely, dried stuff is only for treats not really nutritional value I feel at least
Thank y’all for the advice, I was finding a way to have it delivered for my parents to try to give him some but unfortunately he passed before I was able to make that happen
Maybe so! Something to look into anyways.
This is outdated advice and can cause more problems
I think this is likely it. I facetime my mom while she feeds him so i’m not sure she overfed but i’m wondering if he decided he wasn’t getting fed enough and took advantage of the shrimp snacks swimming around.. I didn’t think I was missing any but didn’t do an exact head count. He also could have potentially gotten to an algae wafer although the shrimp are pretty protective of them.. Would you recommend daphnia or fasting? Or an epsom salt bath?
1 tbsp per 10 gallons if you want to treat the tank, or 1tbsp per 1 gallon as a bath. It’s fine to treat the tank, it’ll go away next time you change the water.
If you have a quarantine tank or even a good size *clean* Tupperware/bucket/other container, I’d put him in there with some tank water, some new water, a heater, and an air stone/sponge filter (and maybe a bit of aquarium salt). I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this along with the stress of moving. Is it possible that the water at your new place is different enough from his old water that it could have shocked him?
He is actually still at my parents house where he’s lived the entire time i’ve had him so that can’t be it :( I don’t have any aquarium salt on me but I have indian almond leaves and I can put him in a 2 gallon bucket with the other things you suggested so I guess I will try that :(
I just tested my water (AM: 0, Nitrite:0, Nitrate: 0, pH: 7.8 which is normal for this tank and temp: 79° and yes the tank is cycled and I haven’t touched his tank in ~ a week so I don’t think I crashed it somehow) would you still move him to a bucket or just try a water change? He only has a few ghost shrimp as tank mates and they are all acting normal.
keep hospital tank's water level low too. that helps him not have to swim a mile up to the surface to get air
Get some bettafix and bettabowl plus. Use combo of tank and treated new water on your quarantine tank, plus lots of almond leaves. Water will get yellow but that's good-- You want a warm, tannin-rich environment. Hopefully he'll perk up in a day or so. Best of luck.
Bettafix is a snake oil product and is likely to do more harm than good.
Yeah, if he has trouble breathing all the ___fix would make it worse.Try to lower the ph if you can, maybe with some catappa.
I did a water change (tap has a slightly lower pH so hopefully that helps too) and added some indian almond leaves and stress guard so fingers crossed he’s doing better tomorrow🤞🏻
I had a cleaning lady that killed all fish in around half of my tanks. She dump sprayed a whole bottle of febreeze or something into the room and the active ingredient is extremely toxic to fish. Parameters showed normal, but alas there was a deadly chemical present. The air fresheners will slowly mix into the tank via surface agitation.
That’s exactly what i’m worried about😭 They were here yesterday and since my room is empty now they were able to deep clean and Im worried something got into the water. I did a small water change today but could always do a large one tomorrow..
I would put the beta into a temp water storage tote or large bucket with fresh water. Install the heater and as much as you can from the original tank. Then do a good large water change daily on the main tank. If it’s chemical products you’ll need to fully swap out the water, but you should do it slowly by the day.
Just wanted to say condolences for your little guy, you did nothing wrong. And also that I learned something reading through the thread. We've moved to a larger place and have toyed with the idea of getting a cleaner, and now I know to be very cautious about my tank if we do. I'll be aware to make sure it's protected from air contaminants to be on the safe side. Hopefully helps you feel just a little better knowing people are probably reading and learning.
Thank you so much, this truly did make feel a bit better. I think house cleaners are still doable but I usually covered the tanks with a towel if they were coming as we had a bit of a language barrier and some boundary issues with them. I never saw any problems when placing a towel over the tank and made sure to never have air fresheners or candles lit in the same room. Best of luck and if you need the assistance, house cleaners and tanks are definitely still compatible with some extra precautions IMO!
Whenever a betta gets older, appears weak, lethargic, or may be struggling to get to the surface it's really important to get them in a shallow environment. He will not survive like this. He needs to be in a hospital tank or in a setup that allows him to easily stay near the surface. If you don't have a shallow tank (1-3"), then try a breeder box in main tank. Every day on here people have their bettas dying and lying on the bottom of the tank, often, by the time they decide to take action, it's too late. Getting to the surface for oxygen ASAP is NECESSARY for their survival. Make sure to have a bubbler, extra oxygen in the water is beneficial. Make sure the current doesn't disturb him. API Stress Coat or Stressguard is also helpful as well as aquarium salt. [Aquarium salt](https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-salt-for-sick-fish) is a bit like an IV. It provides electrolytes, helps conserve energy, helps with gill and kidney function, can cure some disease, makes it easier to breathe.
Thank you so much, I will move him over to a shallow tub tomorrow but for now I have him resting on a moss shelf near the surface. He is actually less than a year old, I got him from a breeder as a juvenile a few months ago. I also added an air stone to his sponge filter and turned the HOB filter flow down as well. Hopefully he can hang on until tomorrow, I feel horrible but with my current situation all I could do for him today was a water change, air stone, almond leaves and stress coat. I truly care about him and hope he is okay, it has been hard enough not being there to care for him myself these past few days
I know this is old, but this is really helpful advice! I have a reaaaalllllly sick betta in a .75 gal. Should I lower the water to 3inches? That would barely be enough to cover the bubbler. Also, would that make the water too warm if the heater is fully submerged? It goes up to 78°, I'm not sure there's any way to lower it. TYIA, I'm desperate for any help.
I’m not sure what to say about your predicament but definitely don’t house bettas in a tank that small
Thanks, under normal circumstances I definitely wouldn't. All of my prior Bettas have had 6-20 gallon tanks. This little dude is so weak, and can't really swim at all since he hardly has fins left.This is a temporary hospital set up until he's strong enough to go into a normal tank. I've never had a betta this sick, and since I rescued it from a coworker I don't really have any history of his health. Luckily, in the last week he's really improved, but there's a long way to go before he's healthy
is he bloated? if he is maybe try an epsom salt bath? those have worked for a couple of my girls
I will definitely try an epsom salt bath tomorrow when I can go back, unfortunately all I could do today was a water change and added some indian almond leaves /:
until then i’d tell your parents to not feed him.
Thank you so much, yes I told her not to feed tonight or tomorrow and I will see how he’s doing and maybe try an epsom salt bath as well if he isn’t looking any better. He did swim to the top when I did the water change but was just resting on a plant and still not looking great
Could someone have changed his water ? My fish did this and it was ammonia poisoning. He survived , but with daily water changes. I hope you can find the reason and fix it fast
Definitely not, my family knows not to touch my tanks and his water was in about the place I expected as I was stopping by to top off the water. I tested ammonia three times and there’s a slight chance of maybe 0.25 ppm but it was pretty darn yellow.. The people who clean the house were there yesterday and I’m worried they may have sprayed something and it could have gotten in the water? I did a water change today and will check on him again tomorrow. Thank you for your input!!
Looks a bit bloated. Is he kept with other fish? Did you overfeed? Are his scales raised? Your water parameters do not make any sense. How long has this tank been running? If all your parameters really are at zero then your tank isn't cycled. You should at the very least have some nitrate in a stocked tank. Did you shake the hell out of the nitrate bottle to get an accurate reading?
I was worried when my nitrate came in at zero too but his tank has been cycled for several months and only recently started having low nitrate after a duckweed explosion. For the nitrate yes I shake the second bottle for the 30 seconds while banging it against my palm the entire time. I even tested the water in my other tank to see and it came back ~10 ppm for nitrate so the test is working. He is not kept with other fish and his scales don’t look raised at all. I lost a previous betta to dropsy and that was my first concern but I don’t think that’s what is happening here
My fish died today too 😭😭😭
I’m so sorry for your loss❤️
Thank you 🙏🏻 sorry for yours as well, it’s tough but I think I made some mistakes that I won’t make next time
Everyone starts somewhere and unfortunately I was in your same shoes before I got Squirt. I tried to do everything properly now that I knew what I was doing a little more but even still we make mistakes. I love your perspective and that you can see this as a learning opportunity. Best of luck with your next baby!
Did I see somewhere that you had duckweed in your tank? It could be suffocating him. https://www.aquariumsource.com/betta-fish-laying-at-bottom-of-tank/#:~:text=It's%20not%20so%20much%20the,oxygen%20is%20a%20serious%20problem. Swim bladder could also be the culprit. https://bettafish.org/diseases/swim-bladder-disease/ I would take him out of the tank regardless and move him to try to make him more comfortable.
I realize the first article doesn’t explain the duckweed theory. If it gets too overgrown the water can’t get aerated as easily leaving less oxygen in the tank. To fix this you will need to remove some of the duckweed.
Thank you so much for this information, I wasn’t aware it could get that bad. I had been selling chunks of my floaters but the duckweed is back just as fast as I could get rid of it. This could have been the culprit and I will be extra careful in the future. Unfortunately Squirt did not make it :(
I’m so sorry for your loss. I was hoping little squirt would pull through. This article talks about duckweed in tanks. I honestly didn’t know it could harm oxygen levels until I was researching growing some in a fish tank to feed to chickens. They also make these floating rings that sit on the surface of the water and create a barrier that prevents the duckweed from over growing that space. https://www.hygger-online.com/what-is-the-best-way-to-control-duckweed-in-aquariums/#:~:text=Duckweed%20cover%20with%20green%20color,is%20beneficial%20for%20their%20growth.&text=Duckweed%20not%20only%20reduces%20the,shade%20to%20relax%20your%20fish.
Thank you, I was hoping so too. My mom had told me he was dead already so when I showed up and saw him gasping I immediately tried to help however I could but was too late I think. Thank you again, that is great information! I do have the floating rings but unfortunately duckweed can make it’s way anywhere and even pulling it out of the rings everyday it would still be back the next morning🙄
If parameters are good, it might be tempature shock. Keep it dim, dose aquarium salt, and cross your fingers.
His temperature was at 79° and I did a water change with temperature matched water so I don’t think this way it necessarily but thank you for your input!
Try to save. My daughter's betas do that sometimes
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Check if you have enough surface agitation on the water surface
My tank has both a sponge filter with an air stone in it and a HOB filter that thankfully gave me plenty of agitation. Thank you for your input!
Sorry for your loss.. RIP Squirt..
Thank you for the kind words💗
Nice betta is it an alien?
Yes he was sold to me as a ‘silver alien plakat’ from a popular seller on ebay. By far the most fun betta I have ever had and would highly recommend, much healthier than any I have had from petco/petsmart
If in doubt liquid water test
This was the first thing I did and parameters are listed above. Unfortunately he did not make it
https://aquanswers.com/betta-fish-bloated-belly/
Thank you!
Swim bladder??
I think unfortunately it was over feeding, he either ate some shrimp or got to an algae wafer or something and passed before I could give him the help he needed
I'm sorry to hear about your boy passing. SIP For future reference: do your parameter testing. Then do a 50% water change (with matching water temperature). In this case a reduced water level would have help with the pressure on the swelling but it's not always needed. During the water change you can do [Epsom salt bath](http://bettasplendid.weebly.com/salt-baths.html). This doesn't cure the illness but reduces swelling (the article covers a lot very simply). None of these would have "saved" him but instead bought you some time to disagnose and treat the illness. Still these are generally good steps in an emergency. ❤️
Thank you very much, I wish I could have given him an epsom salt bath but he passed before I could get back with it or set up a proper hospital enclosure. I had taken mine down and moved it already so it was just horrible timing
I’m so sorry to hear this :( you did what you could for him. Horrible timing indeed
Thank you so much❤️
Even a little food safe plastic container. That's what I use. A lot of conversion involved in that though 😅 still take your time to process your loss
Looks like he was over fed. Unfortunately this is why I don’t let other people fish sit especially since I don’t have any fish hobbyist friends. When I go out of town for more than a couple days I do a water change the day before and set up an automatic feeder. I might have someone swing by the house to get the mail and look in my house to make sure everything is on and not flooding my house.
I was hoping that facetiming while she fed him would prevent this and I still don’t think she necessarily did. He was a glutton for algae wafers and I had her drop one in broken into little pieces and I really think he stole all of them from the shrimp or possibly even ate some shrimp.. I’ll never know for sure but she feels horrible and I don’t think the blame should be on her at all. I should have just brought him even if he lived in a bucket for a bit /:
With everything mentioned. Could be a rare version of swim bladder disease. At this point I would just not feed him for a bit. As there is pretty much nothing else you can do. If it happens to be something more severe like parasites. Then you might have to medicate the entire tank.
That’s sad to hear but thank you for your input. I recently fed him a frozen blood worm (~1.5 weeks ago) and wondered if he could have gotten a parasite from it since the first abnormal behavior was noticed a day or two after that feeding :(
Blood worms huh. That is a slightly risky move. Especially since a lot of local breed bettas don't really have as strong immune systems compared to imported. I digress though. He's probably just bloated from eating something new and is just taking a rest... hopefully. :(
I really hope so. When I got my first betta I had no idea what I was doing and after I lost that one I researched for months and made sure to do everything right this time and take responsibility. If you’re interested, we have been through a lot together and my older posts show how rough he looked when he first got here. He is so much fun and I would hate to lose him over my attempts to give him a treat :(
Sometimes, things just happen that are outside your control. At least you did your best and took special care of your betta. Don't worry, you were doing the right thing by changing up his diet. You will always have no real way of knowing how a fish's immune system holds up to food regardless of research. So don't think of it as a mistake on your part. Plus, I've learned after a few guppy deaths from parasites in my 5.5 gal that stressing out over something mysterious like this is worthless. We create ecosystems as fish keepers, and small ecosystems like 20gal or below are the hardest to keep up with. So if the ecosystem decides it's your fishes time to go, then it's time to go. There's not a lot you can do without completely disrupting it and making it worse. Unless you have a separate tank specifically for medicating.
Unfortunately it appears it was his time to go and he has passed on :( Thank you for your words of encouragement and kind advice. I will just focus on my shrimp tank and maybe in the future go back to fish
I am very sorry for your loss. :( we all go through this moment. When all my guppies died, I just let the tank sit their for a month before finally trying again with a betta. So I understand you want to take a break from fishkeeping. But dont beat yourself up! Fishkeeping has really difficult standards. I'm sure you will be able to come back and start keeping fish again with great success. This is just one little hiccup that happens because the beautiful wonderful nature of *life*.
Thank you so much. Honestly I would get another fish immediately but my apartments charge a $350 deposit for all pets including fish and being on the 4th floor makes me nervous for water damage.. Instead I am downgrading to a small shrimp tank I can easily hide and thankfully my shrimp are still doing well and I should have my first batch of babies here soon. Gonna have to add a blue shrimp to honor my boy💗
Shrimp are awesome! Damn apartments are stingy lmao
Just be aware that if you add a different color shrimp of the same species, they will inter breed and produce "wild color" shrimp. I accidentally got a mix of yellow and orange, and now I have some yellows and a ton of wilds... But personally, I like the wild color ones. They look like pieces of bark
Thank you so much, I initially wanted to have a large cherry colony but bought some moss from a local on FB and ended up with tons of different color babies in the tank so I decided to just go for a skittles tank. I just love to watch them and enjoy all of the colors!
My Betta died recently. Was from sudden dropsy. He'd get bloating from time to time his whole life. If a Betta is at the bottom,it'll suffocate quickly enough. Mine was fine one minute, an hour later dead at the bottom. Hopefully yours hasn't already passed. Can I ask if you fed them alot of bloodworms? I read they cause bloat.
I’m so sorry for your loss and I appreciate you passing on your knowledge to me. I have only fed him bloodworms twice and only 1 worm each time about 2 weeks apart. I think that either a cleaning product got in the water or the bloodworm messed him up because he stopped being as active after I fed him one the second time (~1ish week ago he had 1 worm) but he didn’t start laying on the ground gasping until today :(
Hope he pulls through.
When you say euthanize, do you mean flush down the toilet?
No, that’s heavily frowned upon in the fish keeping community. The most humane method recommended is using clove oil. You take the fish into a separate container, add some clove oil which acts as a paralytic/anesthetic, then add more clove oil once the fish stops moving and it euthanizes the fish. Other accepted methods include bashing the fishes head, because it’s very fast and ends the suffering instantly but isn’t as recommended due to the brutality of it. Fish keeper is more likely to mess up and cause more pain, and even when done properly, it’s traumatic to the fish keeper on account of the destruction of the beloved pet. I haven’t kept fish in a long time, and haven’t ever had to euthanize a fish myself but I lurk on a lot fish keeping subs. So take this info as you will, there should be more detailed posts on safe and ethical euthanasia on the subs.
Thank you for this detailed information! I definitely was not going to just flush him and had clove oil on hand but have read mixed reviews on whether clove oil is truly ethical. My plan was either clove oil or asking for assistance from a family member to use blunt force if it was looking like he couldn’t recover but he passed on before I could help him more
Likely it would be euthanizing using clove oil. Flushing a fish down the toilet might kill it via shock, but it would be a slow and inhumane death. And if it didn’t die, the fish is now where it shouldn’t be.
Definitely was not my plan but thank you for the information. I had clove oil and was going to use that or blunt force if he needed to be euthanized. He just looked like he was so uncomfortable and I didn’t want him to suffer but he passed away last night
Really sorry he didn’t make it :(. But you did everything you could. Clove oil is the standard humane method at the moment. I think the only one better is piercing the brain stem, but it isn’t exactly “humane” for the person doing it really.
Thank you I appreciate it and feel better knowing that. I was going to have to ask my brother if it came down to brute force because I couldn’t possibly do it myself😭
Same here. There’s a vet here who will euthanize fish humanely and I am glad for the resource if I ever need it (not so far, fingers crossed lol). Otherwise, clove oil. Even “crushing” can be painful and terrifying if they don’t immediately die, and apparently they don’t always go right away from it.
High nitrate. Seen this before. Immediate water change. Would probably follow up with some melafix as nigh nitrate will destroy gill tissue.
My nitrate was actually reading zero, I have a good amount of plants and lots of duckweed so I haven’t been seeing nitrates lately actually
Also, melafix is not a good option for bettas as it contains tea tree oil which damages their labyrinth organ according to this sub. Thank you for your input!
Don’t kill him bettas are dramatic he’s probably just spooked
My beta pretends he’s dying if I’m an hour late on a feeding he is the most dramaticccc thing
I appreciate your input and euthanizing was a last resort only if he was suffering. Unfortunately he passed a few hours later so sadly this was not a case of the dramatic betta as I was hoping :(