Please help! Fish wont eat! Its been five days!!!

[JessicaRenee414]

HELP ME!! I bought my first betta fish 3-4 months ago for my daughter, who sadly named HIM Ellis lol When he came home he was very social and had tons of personality. He was living in a 1 gallon tank, 100% water changes every 2-3 days, fed twice daily(small amts)of freeze dried blood worms. I cant use the heater becuz it made his tank too hot (says its for a 1/2 gallon-1 1/2 gallon tank, but it made his tank 90 degrees!) so its room temp (70-75) hes had NO problems what so ever until a week ago. He sat on the bottom of the tank, flashed his stomach, became inactive and stopped eating. Also looked like he was gasping for air. I put him in a smaller bowl to reduce stress and Ive used coppersafe (thought velvet maybe?) then maracyn 2 (began fin/tail rot i thought) and added stress coat. Ive reduced to 50% water changes daily and he seems to be more active and has stopped flashing his stomach but he hasnt eaten anything for 5 days now! if hed eat im sure hed pull thru but hes starving himself! what can i do?!! My little ones gona be devastated if he dies and Id hate to have him die only becuz of hunger and malnourishment :( Any advice for a first timer..??

[callistra]

Blood worms should only be fed occasionally as a treat. Like maybe one or two once a week. He also needs a fast day a week. In between he needs a good pellet like nls betta or omega one.

Pics would be helpful. Is he bloated or pine coned at all?

He's freezing and that leads to internal problems including constipation and infections. There's no really good way I know of to keep a fish warm enough in that size bowl aside from dedicating a fish room whose air temp is in the 80s. He really needs to be warmed up

I start treatment with pure Epsom salts( check ingredients label) pre dissolved and 1tsp per gallon. He may need more but warmth am epsoms will be a start

[JessicaRenee414]

well wen all of this started i went out and got the color enhancing betta bits and the heater. i didnt know the blood worms was only suppose to be a treat =( but even with giving him the betta bits he still wont eat. Ive had him sitting on a heating pad to warm his tank up without overheating it (keeping a close eye on him of course) but its the best i can do at the moment. like i said hes more active, actually back to pretty much normal aside from not eating. is there anything that they would just love that would get him excited enuf to get some food in him? im planning on getting him a bigger tank sometime so i can keep the heater inside, i just dont have the money to go get everything right now. i was really hoping the heater that i bought would do the trick but it gets so hot in there even tho its suppose to be for that size tank =/ idk what else to do for him right now

[JessicaRenee414]

ok so heres a pic of him.. it was the best i could get. besides the water spots on the outside of the container, its a pretty up close pic. his body is a dark purple but it looks like theres a little bit of a rusty brown color on him, not sure if its color loss or actual velvet..?

[Tikibirds]

Can you see the rusty color without the use of a flahlight or camera flash? If so, it's probably his natural coloring.

Bettas can go several weeks without eatting. I wouldn't worry about him starving but the fact that he is not eating is worrisome.

Water Chemistry:
Before you treat your fish for everything under the sun, check the water chemistry. Toxic levels of Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates are extremely harmful and weaken your betta's immune system resulting in illness. Many petstores will test your water for free. Liquid tests are much more accurate than strip tests.
•If your fish look like they are lethargic, gasping for air or are swimming head down do a water change immediately because they probably have nitrate, nitrite, or ammonia poisoning. Do not use chemicals to remove them as they are ineffective. Prime does remove nitrites/nitrates but it is still most effective to do a water change.
•Extreme pH variation can also cause illness. Sand and porous rocks like sandstone or lava rock make water more basic (>7.0) while Indian almond leaves, peat moss and oak leaves make the water more acidic (<7.0).
•Are there chlorinates in the water? Did you forget to add the water conditioner? If so, quickly add your water conditioner!!
•Many issues can be cured by a simple water change so it should be the first thing you try.

Velvet
•Symptoms: Can be found by shining a flashlight on your betta. If it looks like it is covered in fine gold of rust colored dust then it has velvet. Clamped Fins, no appetite, darting/rubbing, loss of color, lethargic
•Treatment: It is very contagious so you should treat the entire tank. Treat as you would treat Ick. PP is also my favorite for treating Velvet.

However, keep in mind that some bettas have a natural goldish or rust coloring. Normally the only way to spot velvet is by shinning a light on the fish and it will be covered with gold flakes. To me, it looks like they are covered in pollen.




Are you using water conditioner? and do you know what the ammonia level is? I'm wondering if your tap has ammonia in it.

[JessicaRenee414]

ok no it doesnt look like those pictures, i think it must just be from the stress his color dulled down. Ive gone to great lengths to feed this little guy, itd just break my heart if he died so soon. I did get him to eat a little bit of a pea and one pellet. I actually just sat there with a small medicine baster type thing and broke up the peices and hand fed him. quite time consuming but i did get him to eat some of it. im in the process of warming up some water so i can do a complete water change (since theres some food that i wont be able to get out of the other container) he didnt swim up or make an attempt to eat anything on his own but i did get some dropped to his mouth that he took so i guess if thats what i have to do for a while i will. I tried the pea just in case he might be constipated, i havnt noticed any poo from him but thats most like because hes not eating..? but i guess a pea is better than nothing at all. isnt it?? i dont want to overdo things with him but it just seemed like if i didnt act fast that he wasnt going to make it

and yes i do use water conditioner, i was leaving water in 2 litres and letting it sit for at least 24-48 hours before using it for water changes then before changing the water i would treat it with the conditioner. since all this has happened tho ive been using gallons of distilled water from the store instead just in case it was ammonia but i dont kno the exact ammonia levels, no

[AyalaCookiejar]

Distilled water doesn't have the nutrients he needs... However, this does sound like ammonia poisoning to me. How often did you change the tank water beforehand? You need at least one 50% change and one 100% change a week... Possibly two 50%s and a 100%.
Get Seachem Prime conditioner if you think it's ammonia from your tap instead of using distilled water. He needs the nutrients of tap water. I am thinking that more frequent water changes with conditioned tap water will work in his case...