Hello, some friends of mine bought a betta about two and a half years ago. He was bought in one of those 'War and Peace' vases with the peace lily. According to them he recently stopped eating his food (pellets) and became very lethargic. They swapped to another brand of micro pellets. Problem is, most of the pellets don't float, so they were basically pouring tons of pellets in the water to get a few to float so the fish could eat them. Only, they weren't cleaning the excess from the tank. When I visited last, the water was so murky you could barely see through it and Igby looked dead. They were convinced he was just too old and were going to let him die! So, I rescued him All the pets I own, from greyhounds to rats, have been rescued from bad situations.
I immediately started researching as to what could be done to help Igby. I went and bought him a 5 gallon tank, a heater, a thermometer, a plant, aquarium salt, ph tester, water conditioner, and some Hikari bio-gold pellets and Tetra freeze-dried bloodworms.
Unfortunately, I'm don't have much experience with fish, so I didn't discover tank-cycling till after I'd done the change.
Here's a link to the set-up I've got him in:
(sorry, couldn't get the photos to come up directly in post)
http://s601.photobucket.com/albums/tt94/Rachmaninoff/?action=view¤t=igby_2.jpg
There are two photos of Igby with this photo, you can click on them on the left of the page.
Now, my concerns:
- Igby hasn't eaten in about a week. It's not that he spits his food out, he won't go near it. He doesn't surface like he's looking for food. I've put blood worms literally in front of his face and he just swims down to the bottom of the tank like he's scared.
- He doesn't swim around the tank freely, but instead swims back and forth between 3 spots, continuously. Perhaps trying to scratch himself?
- His fins don't look good. They are clamped and patchy.
- I put a live plant in the tank. I've also added aquarium salt. I just read that live plants don't do well with salt in the water. Should I take the plant out and get him some silk ones?
- I thought he might be suffering from some fungus or bacteria, so I've set the heater to 84 degrees, and added 10 teaspoons of salt (over 2 days) to the water. I read this is supposed to be a good remedy. I am concerned that it might be too much salt and too warm for him though.
-The ph level is 7-7.2. I don't have a master test kit yet, so I can't test for the other parameters. Will get one tomorrow.
I'd very much appreciate some advice as to what I can add/change/remove to get this little guy up to form. I look at him all day and am getting increasingly concerned about his condition.
Thanks.
I immediately started researching as to what could be done to help Igby. I went and bought him a 5 gallon tank, a heater, a thermometer, a plant, aquarium salt, ph tester, water conditioner, and some Hikari bio-gold pellets and Tetra freeze-dried bloodworms.
Unfortunately, I'm don't have much experience with fish, so I didn't discover tank-cycling till after I'd done the change.
Here's a link to the set-up I've got him in:
(sorry, couldn't get the photos to come up directly in post)
http://s601.photobucket.com/albums/tt94/Rachmaninoff/?action=view¤t=igby_2.jpg
There are two photos of Igby with this photo, you can click on them on the left of the page.
Now, my concerns:
- Igby hasn't eaten in about a week. It's not that he spits his food out, he won't go near it. He doesn't surface like he's looking for food. I've put blood worms literally in front of his face and he just swims down to the bottom of the tank like he's scared.
- He doesn't swim around the tank freely, but instead swims back and forth between 3 spots, continuously. Perhaps trying to scratch himself?
- His fins don't look good. They are clamped and patchy.
- I put a live plant in the tank. I've also added aquarium salt. I just read that live plants don't do well with salt in the water. Should I take the plant out and get him some silk ones?
- I thought he might be suffering from some fungus or bacteria, so I've set the heater to 84 degrees, and added 10 teaspoons of salt (over 2 days) to the water. I read this is supposed to be a good remedy. I am concerned that it might be too much salt and too warm for him though.
-The ph level is 7-7.2. I don't have a master test kit yet, so I can't test for the other parameters. Will get one tomorrow.
I'd very much appreciate some advice as to what I can add/change/remove to get this little guy up to form. I look at him all day and am getting increasingly concerned about his condition.
Thanks.