What is wrong with my Betta, Casper? Stress, Ick, Shock? Video Included!

[CasperandSunny]

Originally Posted by aokashi

:) yay! I know it will put you more at ease, being able to see your fish at all times, but if it ends up bring bad for him, its going to make you sad:( thanks for taking my advice!

Thats for sure, better safe then sorry.

12:15am-est UPDATE
He seems to be doing better at the moment. I have him next to me on the table beside the bed, he seems to like that. Hasn't touched the blood worms though, but I did feed him a small bit this morning so Im not to worried about that right now. He has about 3 fins, being a crowntail, on the bottom set of fins that look like they may rip off, probably from burring himself under those glass rocks. Will they grow back? He isn't doing the thing where he puts his head in the rock, course they're not there, and floats vertically, or laying on his side anymore, but he is staying on the top of the water right now swimming around the jar. his breathing has slowed down quite a bit, compared to what you can see in the video.

Tomorrows Buy List- Black Gravels, Stress Coat, Look into a Betta Heater, Aquarium Salt.
Do you guys think I need to get a ph tester and up and down?
Also what kind of live plants can they have? I saw something the other day at walmart that you can grow live plants, but they came in different kinds. What do you guys use?

[CasperandSunny]

Originally Posted by lvandert

Yeah I thought that might happen. I've had diggers before, thats why I tend to shy away from anything they can "dig" under. You can mix some of those glass rocks in with the gravel though. They do add a nice contrast, just make sure any little hole is covered with gravel.

It is best to keep him at home. But now that you have him in a jar give your tank a good once over. Just use some hot water and gently scrub the sides (dont want to scratch the plastic). There might have been something in there causing distress as well. Give everything a once over with hot water. It wont hurt.

Will do a good scrub down on everything tomorrow. Hopefully he'll be better. Seems a lot better already though to me.

[aokashi]

Anubias are always good for low light situations :) javafern and java most too, none of these need substrate.

[CasperandSunny]

Good to know, thanks.

[lvandert]

A pH tester is nice to have on hand but generally betta's will acclimate themselves to the pH of their water (as long as its not like 8. something or under 6.5). Mine all pretty much hang around 7.6
Also for the live plants you could do Amazon sword, you will have gravel for the root structure. I currently have 6 sprigs of those things in my tanks, along with scatterings of dwarf grass, duck weed, marimo moss balls and one one other plant horwort (I think thats how you spell it, I can't read my own writing). Get something marked "easy" to grow.
If you want to get really into it you could get Indian Almond Leaves off of ebay. It's a native leave from Thailand that you just put in the water. It helps promote health, helps heal your fish from most everything and colors them up a bit.

[blueboy]

Originally Posted by CasperandSunny

Here is the link to the video of him, sorry it is a bit grainy, best I could do in a hurry to upload it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rWdL...GIQ4dY0IRw4%3D

Hi there, I saw your video and I'm no expert but you may be adding way too much oxygen to the tank with the bubbles coming up....regular fish need that in the water to oxygenate but not the betta fish...shut that thing off and see if he improves....

[carotid]

keep him in quiet dark area with no water movement, treat him with antibiotics and salt and hope, his prognosis is poor no matter what you do

[lvandert]

Hows he doing today? Any improvement?

[carotid]

and buy bettas from aquabid thai bettas, they are the healthiest if you can afford

[CasperandSunny]

Originally Posted by blueboy

Hi there, I saw your video and I'm no expert but you may be adding way too much oxygen to the tank with the bubbles coming up....regular fish need that in the water to oxygenate but not the betta fish...shut that thing off and see if he improves....

I took it out that night, he is doing much better. Thanks.