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Please help, I'm very worried about my fish.

599 views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  Atena 
#1 ·
First, the stats:
Housing
What size is your tank? 3 gallons
What temperature is your tank? 80-82 F
Does your tank have a filter? Yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? Yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Hikari Bio Gold
How often do you feed your betta fish? 2x 3 pellets

Maintenance

How often do you perform a water change? 2x week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 25%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Top Fin Betta Water Conditioner

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? No

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? The ends of his fins seem to be curly slightly and getting darker.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He stays in the back of the aquarium between a submarine and a plant where I can't see him. and tries to get behind the filter. He also spends a lot of time swimming near the filter but seems to get pushed around by it.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Today
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? No
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No
How old is your fish (approximately)? I got him a week ago from the pet store, so probably a year or so.

Also, his water was cloudy when I came to feed him so I got him out of the tank and did a 15% water change. It's still cloudy but I'm rather concerned about his fins and what the filter is doing so I've turned the filter off. I've noticed that he seems in laps around the backside of the tank seemingly trying to escape or something. I'm wondering if he can see his reflection and that's causing problems for him.
 

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#2 ·
Sounds like he doesn't like how you arranged his tank.

But the cloudy water is normal, it's called bacteria bloom.

Looks fine, behaving like a typical betta when you first get them.

Sounds like your betta is BORED and looking for something to entertain himself with.

Can your betta go inside the submarine?
 
#3 ·
+1
the fins curling are from hard water (not much you can do there) it doesn't hurt the fish. The black ends look like coloring just keep an eye on it. If it starts to get bigger or eat away at the fin then you've got fin rot but if it stay where it is then I'd say thats just coloring. I would also bump your water changes to a 50% and a 100% every week. You might get a build up of ammonia after a while with your current schedule and hard water amplifies toxins
 
#4 ·
I would also like to add that abot 4 pellets a day is the maximum a betta would need. For that betta, I would suggest 2 or 3. If they are large, 1 or 2. I have a betta that only gets 1 every other day and he is fine, so remember that bettas don;t need as much food as we think, their stomach is about the size of their eye and they are satisfied with only 1 meal a day that will feed it.

In the wild, bettas do not know where their next meal is coming from. They can go days without eating, even weeks! Humans can only go abut a week. Bettas are cold-blooded animals, so they don't use near as much energy as humans, this allows them to eat less but still be healthy. Another way they can survive this way is because they gorge themselves when they find food. A betta can literally eat himself to death.

Sorry bout the little lecture ^_^ I really had nothing to do, and overfeeding is my pet peeve :p
 
#5 ·
I fed him two pellets this morning and picked the third out of the water. I'll do a 100% water change and rearrange his tank. I'm not sure that he fits inside the submarine so I'll get a cave or something for him instead. I turned the filter back on too and he didn't seem to mind as much.
 
#6 ·
The cloudy water is probably bacteria bloom and will go away after your tank stabilizes. Mine did the same thing when I first got it.

My betta hates any kind of current so you want to baffle the filter on the intake and outage. There are several way to do that. I used sheets of aquarium foam added to the intake and on the out flow. It keeps the water to a slow trickle so there is circulation, but is is minimal and no current.

Hr may also need some hiding placer near the front of his tank, like small plants he can swim through so he feels more comfortable and less exposed.

Also, indian almond leaves may help soften the water.
 
#8 ·
I sue the dense black aquarium foam for the intake and the coarse white one for the outflow. I also altered my outflow to come out on the other end of the tank than than the intake with a simple clear tube I got at home depot. Then I just stick a sliver or white sponge in it to lower the flow. I got the sponge at petsmart and it was pretty much all they had.
 
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