BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish I think my betta is dying

Oh I am so sad I think my little guy is dying! He wont eat, wont swim and just lays around. He will lay on the gravel like hes dead! I have studied him and he doesnt appear to have parasites or displays symptoms that he does. He has lost his colour so he looks dull. His fins look fine so i dont know whats wrong with him. I havent changed anything either. Does anyone have any ideas? I dont want him to die!

I am so sorry your beta is not doing well. I would suggest just doing a water change and adding some aquarium salts for now and see how that goes. Here are a couple of questions that may help you find out what is wrong.

What is the temp of your tank?
With his loss of color, is it blotchy or an even dullness? -If it is blotchy it could indicate some kind of ailment.
How often does he come up for air? -If he is not coming up often you can place a bubbler in his tank, though betas usually come to the surface to get more air, it wouldn't hurt. Kind of like putting them on a resperator.
How old is your beta?

Unfortunatly your beta is sharing many symptoms that my 1st beta did right before he passed. Just try to make him as comfortable as possable. Good luck. I hope he gets better soon.

Fantails and Betas

Hi thanks for replying. Well I have changed the water and I will add the bubbler. He used to come up for air lots and now I might see him do it once a day. I dont know how old he is, the store didnt know when I brought him. Hes dull looking rather then losing his actual colour. He used to like flaring up at the little mirror I would hold up and he was active and swim around. Now he wont swim and just lays around, when he has swam to the surface it looks like he struggles and kinda swims/falls back to the ground. I only feed him once a week and I dont feed him alot so hes not bloated. The water temp is around 75-76 F

Please someone must have seen this before and knows what this is? Its very distressing to see him like this! Please someone help me!

If you're only feeding your fish once a week, he's starving to death. Get some Hakiri gold pellets and feed him 2 to 3 pellets twice a day - once in the morning and once in the evening. You can take one day off for fasting to prevent constipation.

Please let us know how things turn out.

She is 100% right. Feed your fish! I usually feed mine 5 pellets in the morning, but for the transition I think you shoudl follow her suggestion and start with 2-3 pellets 2 times a day morning and evening.

I am having the same problem with my betta. I feed him once a day, and he used to get excited whenever he saw me and would hungrily go after his food, but lately he has been more and more sluggish. For weeks now I have observed a decline: he started having trouble staying afloat in the water, and would struggle to the top before falling back to the bottom again; it has gotten more and more apparent, and now I rarely see him try to come to the surface. He lies at the bottom of the tank and looks dead, as Suesse noted about her fish. A few times now I have created a gentle current by stirring the water and he's just remained motionless, moving slightly with the water, until after some time he suddenly springs up and swims off (without coming to the surface).

I have been worried for quite some time now that he is at the end of his rope, but somehow he has really been a fighter and hung on; that vigor is how he got his name---Sparticus---more than 2 years ago! He has always thrived in his tank (between 2.5 - 4 gallons, I'd say) with a couple hiding places, fresh plants at the top, and a small filter. An algae eater keeps him company. This morning I did a partial water change (for fear of causing him too much trauma in his currents state, I actually took some old water out, ran it through a sieve several times to get the biggest muck particles out, and poured it back in, followed by some new water at the same temp). I have some aquarium salt at the ready, as well as some Melafix if that might be a help.

Does it sound like his swim bladder? He has been dealing with this and kept up his appetite until very recently. I just saw him come up for air, but then fall back almost on his back.

Sorry for the rambling - I am just so worried.

Jessie

Hi Jessie,

I'm so sorry your little guy isn't doing well. It sounds like you're doing a fantastic job of providing a great environment for him!

If you've had him for 2 years and bought him from a pet store, he may have already been 1 year old when you bought him. Bettas (from pet stores) tend to live around 3 years or so. It may be old age and his time to go.

That said, don't give up on him - continue to do frequent water changes, consider keeping the water temp more like 80 degrees, and adding a wee bit of salt (just a pinch per gallon) is a good idea. You might consider lowering the water level to make it easier on him coming to the surface as well. You might try giving him a small bit of a pea (use frozen peas, thaw, then cut into a small piece) - dangle the piece with tweezers to coax him to try it if you haven't given him a pea before.

Do keep him comfortable, you're his favorite thing in the world, so keep talking to him and spending time with him. Please let us know how things turn out, and I certainly add you two to my prayers!

CherylB,

Thank you so much for your helpful and reassuring words! I greatly appreciate it. I will go ahead and lower the water level, and put a little salt in the tank. I have a new small-tank heater that I can put in there (for now I have him under a small lamp with a low energy lightbulb which doesn't seem to be making any difference). I have had a very bad experience with a betta and a heater in the past, so I am extremely wary about introducing this one... I will wait until later when I am in for the night and can spend a few hours monitoring him and the water.

Thanks again - so glad I found this forum!

Suesse - hope everything is going well with your little dude!

Hi there,

Sparticus is not doing well. I got a closer look at him and his eye looked cloudy, spine is kinked, his color is very dull and mottled, and his fins appear almost shrunken. He used to be a large, gorgeous dark red/blue with big fin displays. He just barely moved to try and swim out of the net I was cradling him in underwater.

I have a problem with the Hyrdo Mini Heater I have. It seemed perfect for his tank - it's for 2- 5 gallons and only raises the temp. about 5 degrees, so it *claims* that there is no rish of thermal shock. I won't take their word for it, of course, but the main problem is this: the instructions say that if the water temp or room temp reaches 76 degrees, the heater shouldn't be used. The water in the tank always feels cool to the touch, or at least cooler than room temperature... but I live in a stuffy upstairs room which can get up to 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house - probably around 80 degrees in winter when we use the heat. So what should I do about that? In the meantime I am putting a stronger lamp over the tank to see if that helps at all.

Jessie

Do you have a thermometer in his tank? That would be a more reliable form of monitoring the temperature than the finger test, which is all relative based on the temperature of your own hand. (i.e. if your hand is hot, the water will feel colder than if your hand is cold or normal temperature) If the room temperature is over 76, then there is really no reason for a heater either. I have a Hydor heater as well, and it has proved very reliable. But my room temperature is around 70-72, so the heater is necessary.

Also, have you checked your water parameters? That's usually the first thing to check when your betta seems a little "off" but you can't pinpoint a specific ailment.