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Sick beta, New beta owner

2K views 4 replies 2 participants last post by  Nataku 
#1 ·
OK, so. I rescued a beta from some friends about 6 months ago. I just recently moved him from a GIANT fish bowl (probably about 7 gallons of water). I'd had a live plant in there that had died and was probably putting out a lot of nasty stuff in the water. Now he's in a 5 gallon tank with elodea. He's got a heater which keeps it about 80 to 82 degrees in there. He gets afternoon sun, but not directly on him cause hes on the other side of the room from the windows. I moved him on Sunday the 12th to his new tank.

I'm posting this because I've noticed that he doesn't swim around as much as he did when I first got him. He lays in the corner behind his rock under the heater. When he does swim around its like he cant keep his bottom end up and it's a really big struggle for him just to get from the bottom to the top to breath. He doesn't get excited like he used when I come up, and he barely eats when I give him food, I mean, he eats it but not as fast as he used to. Hes also got a few two spots on his right side where it looks like his scales are coming off, but those are the only two spots that I can see and he hasn't gotten any new ones. He's also got a stretched out belly, but I think that might be because I used to fee him too much, but it still hasn't gone away. He also hasn't made a bubble nest in about a week, which is worrying cause he used to made huge ones that covered the whole top of his tank.

I have absolutely no idea what to and I'm always terrified I'm going to come down and find him dead.
 
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#3 ·
If his belly is starting to look stretched out stop feeding him so that he won't become any further bloated. Your betta won't starve, and it's probably a good idea to give him a 'fast day' once a week where you don't feed him, as many aquarium bettas can easily become fat and bloated. This may also be the cause of his inability to keep his rear end up and level, overfeeding and bloat can cause SBD (Swim Bladder Disorder) which will cause your betta to have a hard time swimming level. It should also be noted though, that sometimes certain bettas simply have problems keeping their rear up because their tail is so large and heavy they have a hard time moving it. This is normally only a problem in HMs, DTs or rosetails though.
Inspect you fish closely and see if there are new scales coming in to replace the ones that fell off, and if there are, make sure they look smooth and clean, and not ragged or 'dusty' ..... 'streaky' perhaps? (its hard for me to think up an appropriatte word to describe what I'm thinking of here, but the new scales coming in will just not look right). If the scales aren't coming back, or they are looking pretty beat up, your fish may well have a parasitic infection, so keep a close eye on your fish over the next couple days to see if anything changes.
 
#4 ·
I have cut back his feeding for the last week, and I took a closer look at his scales today. He's starting to swim around a lot more when Im standing next to the tank encouraging him, but I dont know if he swims when im not there. Is there anything that I should to ensure his gets better sooner? I'm going to do a water change for him tomorrow and ive been reading about the benefits of salt in several places on this website. Im wondering if I should start using some for Dexter (the betas name) and how much I should use if I do.
 
#5 ·
I use salt in all my tanks, and I think it certainly helps. I dose at a measurement of 1 tsp per gallon. Bear in mind though, salt does not evaporate, so the only time you add more salt is after a water change, as that's the only way you get it back out. Otherwise the salt will just build up in the tank and eventually will become too much for your fish.
 
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