BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish Help, Think my betta is sick :(

Hello,
I'm new here and I am pretty worried about my betta.
He seems to be developing a thin layer on top of his water. I change his water completely once a week and use zephyrhills water (petco told me this was best). He was a work pet but now that I work from home he is here with me, well I decided to stop using zephryhills and try tap water. So I bought BettaCare Water Conditioner to clean out the extra stuff, also we do have water softner on the water in the house.

When i switched to house water the problem began, so i tried to use the water from the fridge as it has a filter on it. still get the film. I notice he has lost his color too. Any ideas??? I really dont want him to die, he's a pretty cool betta with a great little personality.


before:
(use to have gravel but little pieces came off after multiple cleanings and he tried to eat them...)




now:
he has glass stones now but im in the process of letting his water go to room temp so he is in his temp container. sorry the pictures are bad quality





Thank you for any help and feel free to ask any questions if it might help with a solution. I am taking him to petsmart tommorrow but the last time i went there to get him a plant they were not very helpful.

Hi Sadie

What is your Bettas name? My Betta is Zen. I've had him since Oct 18th and love him dearly. Do you get to keep him now? That's great if so!

What size container does he normally live in? 2 gals is really the smallest a Betta should live in, despite what pet store employees may tell you, and 5 or more gals the ideal. Zen is in a 10 gal. (when he's not in his 2 gal container for some reason...like high nitrites in his tank...it wasn't done cycling when I added him).

Depending on the size of his tank/container, that determines how often to do a water change and how much water to remove at one time. I think it's every 3 days for anything under 2 gals. You'd want to check on this as I'm not positive but I know the smaller the container, the more water changes must be done because ammonia builds up from waste and decaying food.

You'd always want to use a conditioning water product like the one you got to remove the chlorine and cloramines or it would kill him (not sure how much your water softener removes clorine, cloramine and other metals. you could take a 1/2 cup to the pet store and have them test it, it should be free).

What temp is he kept at? Around 80-82 degrees F is ideal for a Betta. When you change his water, do you match the temp? You wouldn't want to shock him with extreme differences in temp. Do you have a heater?

Do you check your waters parameters for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? You can get a testing kit at your pet shop. I've heard that Aquarium Pharmaceuticals has the most accurate one..it uses liquids.

What are you feeding him and how much?

Do you have an air stone or bubbler in his container to keep the surface agitated? If the surface gets too bad, the Betta may not be able to surface for a clean breath of air. I have read that they can smother this way if it's really bad.

Also, is he covered? Betta can and do jump from the containers so they need to be covered but it has to be something with alot of air holes in it because he breathes both with his gills in the water and with an organ called a labyrinth at the surface of the water and he needs to be able to do both...oxygen in water and not an airtight lid.

Dust could be settling on the surface if he's not usually covered too.

I wouldn't take him anywhere unless absolutely necessary. The stress of the trip is too much for him. Also, pet store employees sometimes give bad advice so you have to be careful....especially when it comes to using any chemicals in his tank. I wouldn't medicate him or the water without doing research.

Depending on the size of his container again, you could add a small pinch of aquarium salt to help him with his slime coat and stress (not always, just to help him through this a lil). Dissolve it well in the conditioned water before adding to his tank/container.

Keep looking around on the internet too for some Betta basics web sites and forums and post in more than one place. Sometimes going in a few directions at once helps you get answers quicker.

Karyn

P.S. Unless it's a real fish store and not a pet store that just sells fish, the salespeople can be really uneducated about Betta (one told me that Betta can never live with any other fish and that isn't true for instance) so doing your own research like you did posting here is probably the safest.

AesSedai

His name is Rico Tubbs and I have him in the Marine Max Betta tank which I know is small but is about the biggest and most functional tank I could get for him (and i went through 3 different tanks/vases to figure out his best fit...lol). It's a half gallon and I would LOVE to get him a huge 10 gal but we just do not have the room for it or the time to properly maintain it. I got him some blue glass stones and he has a plant and seems to enjoy it. I do not have a heater because I couldn't find the one that is meant for his tank. There is a specific one that fits in a slot on the top but I cannot find it ANYWHERE! Plus his tank is so small that I need something that won't fry him so for now he sits by the stand up light and to the side of our television which throws off some heat. He is almost always covered but I do open it for him on occasion. I actually have taken him on trips....heh I took him from the store which is 15 minutes away to our office, then to my parent's house (im 23 and immature and had to show daddy the fish i got lol) then to the office and now he lives at the house.

I should have updated but he has regained his color and seems much better now. I did do a lot of research and i believe that the water softner in the water was reacting with the water conditioner and layering on the top of his tank. I used to put in bottled water or tap water from my job which did not have softener and it never reacted like this but here at the house with the water from the tap and fridge it did.


He is my first betta and i think i majorly freaked in thinking he would die but i like the little guy and was scared because i think he was getting smothered because he was not going to the top much at all.



So...they can live with other fish??? What types are best? Im weird and want him to have a friend.

Oh, you're far from weird Dear One. You LOVE your lil guy, obviously. Many a Betta lover can relate with you, believe me, including me.

As for tank mates...no way, sorry, no how...not in 1/2 gal of water!! Would be a terrible thing to do to Rico and any other. It's just not big enough for Rico (he needs 2 gals at least if you can find that size) and so definitely not big enough for another.

Having a larger tank would actually mean less water maintenance. It's the small bowls that require the really frequent water changes.

Are you testing the water in his bowl for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? It would be good if you could get a test kit...it's a bit expensive but cheaper online. Aquarium Pharmaceuticals has a good one.

Are you sure that wherever his 1/2 gal bowl is that a 2 gal bowl wouldn't fit right in that spot instead? If you could take him from 1/2 gal to 2 gals, you'd rock his world! You still wouldn't want a tank mate imo. Just not enough room. (have to plead for Rico for more space, heh).

I sent you a private message too.

Keep up the good work and panic when something seems wrong!! LOL. I DO. Can't help it. It's better to be all over something that letting it go too long so you're doing the right thing imo.

Namaste,
Karyn

Hi Sadie,

Don't worry about asking any question here - I'm always happy when someone cares about their betta! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I agree with Karyn that if you can swing it, changing to a 2 gallon tank would be terrific - the space they take up isn't that much different than a 1/2 tank. But if you do stick with the 1/2 gal, Rico must stay solitary. Bettas are more lone wolves than social butterflies anyway! You can put objects in front of the tank to entertain him - even a picture of a betta or a mirror for him to admire himself, but not constantly. You are your bettas favorite toy and friend anyway. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Be sure to change the water frequently, but I'm guessing that your bettas problem may actually have been not acclimating him to his new water chemistry. Any time you change water chemistry, even though bettas do well in a variety of conditions (you'll find all sorts of water recipes on the internet), they do need to be acclimated to the change. To do that, float them in the new water. Faith from www.bettatalk.com recommends as much as 24 hrs, and I've had the most success with her method. Float the little guy in a cup or large plastic glass with some of his regular water. Give him about an hour for the temp to equal out, then add very tiny amounts of the new water every 30 mins or so.

Also, I wouldn't recommend putting a heater in a 1/2 gal tank. You can use a light over the tank and that warms the water - you can find adjustable desk lamps with a regular light bulb - as well as finding warm spots in your room when the room temp is lower than 75 degrees.

Cheryl