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Help!!!

522 views 10 replies 5 participants last post by  RayneForhest 
#1 ·
I have a Betta that was normal up until two weeks ago and now he is acting all kinds of weird. I see him with his face down in a verticle position and it seems like he cant fight being pulled up to the top or stay horizontal. He lays on side like he is dead and then when I go to scoop him he starts to dart around. He appears to be having trouble breathing . I feel terrible and dont know what to do. I have changed his water and also tried stress coat. I even removed him from his aquarium and put him in a clear tupperware bowl with a towel around the outside thinking that would be less stressful. He is back in his aquarium and miserable. UGH! Please help!!!! I have attached a picture of this verticle position.
 

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#3 ·
sounds like swim bladder how much have you been feeding him? what kind of food? tank size? heater? ext need info

keep his water level kinda low depending on tanks size if hes having trouble swimming and dont feed him anything tell you find the problem.

i know how bad it is to have a betta in this situation im sure someone here can help.
 
#4 ·
I think he is actually almost dead now ugh, I should have tried to find this site sooner! It had been two weeks and he was almost having seizures -- I know that sounds crazy, but his behavior was just so crazy! I am new to this site as of 30 minutes ago and I dont know how to use it just yet. I am not sure how to use the sticky forum. My other Betta is doing amazing, and of course they are separated, but I change the water in both at the same time, with the same bottled water and he shows no signs of any issues. :(
 
#6 ·
He stopped eating all together a few days ago. He has a betta aquarium that is 1/2 gallon and it was not filled to the top. It is room temperature-- but I am reading that maybe I needed to have him in a heated aquarium? I fed them both betta food called Betta Min (red flakes- brand name is Tetra) It says to feed them once or twice a day as much as they can consume in one or two minutes. I feel terrible.
 
#8 · (Edited)
there is only so much you can do for him. stress coat is good. i know it looks bad but believe it or not iv heard its not terribly painful for them. and they can come back from SBD if thats what it is witch it sounds like it is based on how much uv been feeding him. never trust the package info in future.

pellets are much better but you should soak his food in a shot glass filled with his aquarium water for at least 5 min (all food). i admit soaking food is a pain cuz the food sometimes sinks to the bottom real fast but is important. biggest thing to know about feeding bettas is that no one ever under feeds them. i feed mine 2pellets in morning 2 at night of hikari bio gold. feed them 2-3 blood worms once a week and skip one day of feeding a week to clean out there system.

those are very small tanks read up on best betta tank sizes i suggest 2.5 at least but as long as you keep up water changes and he acts happy ur good. heater is a must. filter is a very good idea. cycling the tank is good to, read up on it if you dont know.

all we can do is learn from our mistakes. the fact that you feel so bad is a good thing. that means you be a great betta owner.
 
#9 ·
He seems to have swim bladder disease or a bad case of internal parasites. Half a gallon may be OK or cruel depending on who you ask. However 1 water change a week is definately too little, even if the water change is 100%, you would probably need a water change evry other day maybe at 50% and 100% water change done atleast once a week. Tap wate is just as good as bottled water when you used a water conditioner, if the bottled water is filtered then it is actually bad for the fish. Fish needs some trace elements thay can be found in tap and bottled non filtered spring water. If your temperature is cold (less than 75 degrees or less than 80 degrees, again depending on who you ask) then the fish becomes very susceptible to disease. If he is not moving at all even when you push him gently, then unfortunately he has passed. Read up a bit on bettas in this forum, ask more question about the conditions your other fish is in and hopefully your other betta will live a long healthy life.

Oh and definately super clean ur hands if you physically touched your fish. Fish sometimes carries bad stuff transmittable to humans.

If hes dead, dont flush him, give him a proper burial or wrap him up and put him in the trash. Flushing the may introduce bad things (forgot what) into your local waterways
 
#10 ·
Hi worriedbettamom. Just wanted to post a quick followup. I definitely agree with aokashi. Your tap water with a good water conditioner like Seachem Prime is much better than bottled water (and cheaper!).

Ammonia poisoning can cause SBD (swim bladder disorder) symptoms because it compromises the fish's immune system, allowing them to get bacterial infections much easier. The bacterial infection then affects their swim bladder.

Hope the little guy pulls through.
 
#11 ·
I had a rescued male veil tail who was really really old. His owner previously kept him in an unheated bowl with rare water changes and fed 'whenever they remembered to' which was once every few days. When I got him... he had ragged fins and was so skinny. My girls I had at the time got two pellets twice a day plus a snack of bloodworms.

I began feeding him as I did my girls... but he quickly developed swim bladder issues. I soon discovered. I couldnt feed him any flakes... or bloodworms, or more than ONE pellet per day.

If he got ANYTHING else... he would float sideways.
A few times I thought I was going to have to humanely euthanize him... because he would be like that for days.
I tried the epsom salts... and the peas...
Eventually .. when he would float sideways... I would have to with hold food until he was ok again...and then only feed him a tiny pellet a day.

He died along with my others in the tornado when our home was destroyed... but I feel very glad he had 6 mths with me and was treated with TLC


So worried: Maybe if you try what I suggested that would help if the other suggestions you have been given dont help
 
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