BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish Need help! Betta acting strangely

hi panini,
Your thought to not mix the fish meds is a good idea, you should stick to one. Other than that, it's really hard to say what is/was wrong with him. If you think he could be stressed out, a bit of aquarium salt is a good way to go. Sorry I don't have more to offer.

Well, Gus appears to be back to normal today. Yaay! His fins are all opened out again and he's swimming around like crazy. I don't know what it could've been, but I almost think it might've been something in his water (whether it was some foreign substance like you suggested char [entirely possible!] or something else that was toxic). After I did his water change and added Bettafix, he definitely started improving.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm really glad he recovered so quickly.

Thats good news, glad to hear Gus is better,Boris and Morris and Jake sent little Betta prayers to him! These little guys are as worrisome aa kids are!!!. I would be lost without my 3 little piranhas in betta clothes!! And I have only had them a month!!! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/heart.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/fish.gif" alt="" />

Tell me about it! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Jake is my smallest and I believe a young Betta from Petco. I posted on the Bettas Only forum about him seeming to have problems eating, epecially the BioGold Betta pellets. If I soak them before putting them in his tank, he eats them and if you put them straight in, he takes them in his mouth, trys to chew and out they go! the pellets seem to have a hard coating on them. The other 2 don't have a problem eating anything!! and that includes the pieces of algae wafers that I was feeding the oto that I used to have in their tanks. Boris is the worst. He loves it. I would put in little pieces, and he would pick it up in his mouth, swim around, spit it out, hover over it, pick it up again, and do this unitl he had it moved into HIS cave! I was out of peas for their fasting last saturday, so broke up a little piece of the wafer and he atacks it until its gone or in his cave..

Gus is also a small betta that I got from Petco. I thought he might grow bigger, but I've had him about 4 months now and he hasn't seemed to grow. Maybe it's so gradual you don't notice. Moe, my betta at home, is much bigger and wider.

I have never used the Hikari Bio-Gold pellets that I hear about so much. I have always fed my bettas a staple of Omega One betta pellets substituted with treats of freeze-dried bloodworms and brine shrimp and they gobble it all up. Was it you that mentioned the trouble with the brine shrimp? I actually hate feeding them that because it just dissolves into dust on the surface of the water and makes a mess. I also hate the flakes for that reason too. I want to try some live food, but I haven't found anything at any of the local pet stores.

Do you always feed your bettas peas when you're fasting them? I've only ever heard of feeding the pea when they're constipated.

Gus is currently working on a bubblenest. He MUST be feeling better! He's such a strange nest builder, though. He likes to make them on the underside of his lily pads instead of at the surface of the water.

I was the one asking about the FD brine shrimp. I took it back to Petco, as it just makes too much mess, even in my 2.5 gal that has a filter on it for my otos and rasboras. Little Jake will eat bloodworms in a heart beat,but just seems to chew and chew until he spits out the bio gold pellets. He does the same thing with Tetra Betta pellets and flakes. Like I said I just soak the bio golds for him, but have to put them in one at a time, because they sink fast once they are soaked. I wanted to try the frozen brine shrimp, but you can't get small packages of it, just a packge with about 10 blocks. 3 bettas and my other fish can't eat that much. It seems like a waste to me. I do give them a piece pof pea before I fast, cause someone hear metioned that it cleans them out. Boris and Morris love them.. Neither of my big boys have ever built a bubble nest..

I find it so neat the way bettas choose to build their nests. My guy had it in the same spot every time until I put another bettas' bowl beside his. Then he built his nest closest to the other tank. He did that for about a month after the other betta went (he was only here for a few days until I gave him to my sister for Christmas.) He doesn't work on it in the dark, or when he thinks anyone is looking. <img src="/images/graemlins/fish.gif" alt="" />

Just wanting to know what water conditioners anyone uses. I get Splended Betta from Petsmart, and since I have three 2 gal. tanks, and one 2.5, the bottle only lasts about 2 weeks. I have a hard time reading the fine prints on the different bottles to see if the ingredients are all the same. I want to get a conditioner in a larger amt, but worry about changing a product.

I use Stress Coat. I have a big bottle which will probably last longer than my fish will. ('cause I only have two). I can't see the point of using those water conditioners specifically marketed for bettas, because they all seem to be geared for people who keep their bettas in less than a gallon of water. Thus, they don't last long, as you know if you have several bettas in larger tanks.

I'm no expert on the different types of conditioners, but I have used at least three different types since I got my first betta (Splendid Betta being one of them) and have never had a problem. I notice some of them are just plain old conditioners that just remove chlorine and other toxins from the water, whereas others (like Stress Coat) have ingredients like aloe and things to replace the fish's slime coat. I have heard arguments for and against having those extra ingredients, so who knows!