BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish VERY sick Betta what can I do??

Cool Yep go find ya one to love and take him home. Bettas do not like a lot of water movement. They are tropical though so most f us provide some source of heat but NOT all of us do that. Mine color up nice when they are warm though and a 3 gal can be heated with the Walmart mini submersible heater.
Anxious to hear about the little guy you choose to bring home.

Since you have apple snails you can keep a handle on the algae if you choose real plants for your tanks. Otherwise get the SILK not plastic plants that are weighted down/ When I have used a real plant I put it inside a terra cotta pot, seemed t look nicer that way, but I eventually get frustrated with the algae and give up on the real plant :rolleyes:
glo

I still can't believe that I was trying tooooo hard to give him the perfect place when all I had to do was give him more love then i was, which is going to be kinda hard to do, LOL!!

I do have a submersible heater for a 5gal that I got from Petco so he will have the perfect heat at 80 degrees.

I had a betta in a 10gal, with an over hanging filter, an U/G filter and a heater and he had to whole tank to himself, I did try to put one of my Apple snails in there with him but every time the Apple snail sent up his air tube, the betta went right for it. The poor Apple snail always floated on the top of the water so that he could get air without being picked on by the Betta.

I was reading the site that was posted to me and read where a Betta is a loner and likes it that way. It had a lot of bottom feeders that they had tried to put in with a betta but they sugest that he have his home to himself. so I think I will just check into a pot and some silk plants and then see if I can find the perfect one, altho I know I will want to bring them all home that I see and if that is all it takes to care for them is lots of love and water changes, then my home is the perfect spot to have a million small tanks, LOL, now if I can convince my husband. I already have the living full of tanks, but hay, what's a few thousand more, LOL!!

Thanks and I will let you know and I will even take pics and put it on my www site for everyone to see my new guy.

You guys are great, THANKS BUNCHES!!

EZ,
I have had great success with otocinclus catfish with bettas. However, if the betta is really aggressive, the otos don't do as well. One girl fish killed 2 of them on me in 2 days, and my son's betta Glitter killed 2 of them before I realized that was what was going on. My other 3 bettas seem really happy to have them in their tanks, and I have very little algae problems, and also they don't eat live plants so they're fine too. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Good luck and post some on the fish photo section here too -- maybe Glo's guys can give way -- nope, they are just way too beautiful. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
Nan

Hey...now I know who I can send all my betta fry to !! <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Emg <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

You might want to make sure that I can keep one alive for more then 3 months first! <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> then send them "ALL" my way, they will "ALL" have a home here. But I must warn you, once they get here, I won't be able to let them go!! <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I have pictures of Lawrance when he was getting sick and what he looked like after he couldn't fight any longer, but don't know how to put the pictures in here to show you?

EZ,

Go the the first post on the "rate a fish" thread and click on the link there. You will have to register in order to vote on and post pictures there, after you do that click on the "view profile/add photos" link. I believe at the bottom of that page you will find a link for "adding photos". There will be directions on that page as to how to load a picture.

Have fun, can't wait to see those pics...

You sure you want all those fish! <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Emg :rolling: :beamedup:

I think that I did it??? I posted 2 pics of Lawrance, one with the fuzzy bubble on his side after he couldn't fight any longer and one of him when it just started.

You can see in one of the pics how his beautiful fancy fins where just shreding off.

this is why I felt soooooooo bad when there was nothing that I could do for him.

Of course I would LOVE to have "ALL" those beautiful water living friends. My son is 16yr now so he is off doing his own thing with his friends now that he can drive himself <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> And my husband works a full time job as a computer Anlist/programer, etc, plus he is going to college and taking a few classes to get his BS so I am at home with my water friends almost 24/7 and I talk to them all the time. They keep my day and me from going crazy and me being lonely, LOL!!

I might not be Dr. Do-Little but I found his helpers in you guys.

the lady at the fish store told me to put a towel over the tank for a night or to seperate the fish and re-arrange the plants int he tank so that nebbie wouldnt attack the otos anymore. he was trying to dominate them...i think he has now, they run everytime they see him! poor things. but they ARE feeding pretty well. nebbie likes his 3 gal tank ( i think i have the same one as you, EZ) and he plays in the current. if he doesnt want to be in the moving water, he hides in his sunken ship hidey hole. he really likes it in there. he can hide from the otos, too. he was being SO bad, nipping off their little fins...im so glad hes fine now. i think i dominated him, hes acting a bit mopey sometimes. lol
imagine, me dominating a fishie! i think hes got me, i seem to spend more money on him than on my boyfriend. hehhe

Hi EZ. We all do different things with our bettas, some have gravel, some don't, some use heaters, some have bubblers, some have filters, etc. But each fish is different and so are we. I would start as SIMPLE as possible, if you have not been sucessful with bettas before.

So I am thinking:

No gravel, no filter.

yes on heater

Do LOTS of big water changes, like mel said, about 30 - -50%. And use a siphon or turkey baster to keep up with crud detail.

Don't mess with pH, only add dechlor products. the best ones have slime coat additives in them, like stress coat.
you don't need stress zyme or other biological additives, because you are not planning to cycle the tank.

silk plants are great, and don't forget a bed/hidey hole. very important. toys are appreciated by bettas, but nothing sharp.

quality betta food, only 2-3 pellets a day. once a week, fast him (no food). it's better for him, really.

put him where he can see you and your family. they like mental stimulation.

Don't use aqua salt if you are devoted to water changes. otherwise, add the recommended amount. it keep ich and fin rot at bay, but clean water does this even better.

Don't add other critters. You need more experience first, which will come. you are doing fine. keep the tank clean by using a cotton ball or something from your LFS to scrape it off with.

keep it simple and you will do fine! let us know how it goes!