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seems lifeless

2K views 12 replies 3 participants last post by  frostynsnowflake118 
#1 ·
I have a female betta that is either at the top or bottom of the tank. She seems to just kind of lay there or get pushed around by the current. Her tankmates seem normal, ive isolated her in case she has something she can catch. Anyone have any ideas??
 
#2 ·
Housing
What size is your tank?
What temperature is your tank?
Does your tank have a filter?
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?
Is your tank heated?
What tank mates does your betta fish live with?

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?
How often do you feed your betta fish?

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change?
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
When did you start noticing the symptoms?
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
Does your fish have any history of being ill?
How old is your fish (approximately)?

Please fill this out and maybe post a picture or two if possible so we can help you out. :)
 
#3 ·
Housing
What size is your tank? 10 gallon
What temperature is your tank? 80
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? yes
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? other female bettas

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Omega pellets and some frozen shrimp treats
How often do you feed your betta fish? twice a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? every weei
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 25-50%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Just water conditioner

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?
no
Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? no
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? yes
When did you start noticing the symptoms? yesterday
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? I seperated her, i dont know whats wrong
Does your fish have any history of being ill? not that i know of
How old is your fish (approximately)? i have no idea, i got her from petsmart a week ago
 
#4 ·
How many other females are in the tank with her? Is there any signs of damage from other girls? Have you noticed her being chased more then any other? Are there plenty of hiding places?

Has she lost her color?
Does she have continuous stress/submissive striping?
Has she been eating fine?

If you don't see any physical signs of illness, other then lethargy, then it may be stress related. Internal illnesses will have physical signs on the outside as well to warn you.

When you added her into the new tank, did you rearrange the decorations or were all the females placed in at the same time?

Not all females can tolerate/handle being with other fish, or a sorority.. if she is in another tank right now (1gal +) I would consider making that her home for now and see how she does, if she gets better. If she recovers then you can try placing her back into the sorority down the road and see how she does then.

It looks like you are giving her and the others a great home, good food, etc. She just may be too scared to live with the other girls.
 
#5 ·
3 other females, no apparent damage, and she seemed as though she was going to be the dominant one until yesterday
Her colors fine, and no striping but she wont eat.
All the fish were placed at the same time.
 
#6 ·
She may have been ill prior to you getting her, and it's just catching up. For now, just keep her separated and warm to see if she perks up. Her suddenness of it does concern me, as that sort of behavior change, along with the lethargy could be an indicator something is just not right with her. But her not fading in coloration is odd if she were sick.. silly fish, if only they could talk and tell us where it hurts.
But without other symptoms or signs, I would not feel comfortable recommending any medication as the wrong treatment could be more detrimental then what is going on with her now.

She could of also gotten put in her place by another and she is just hanging low for a bit.. lets hope it's something simple as that.

Poor little girl.. I hope she pulls through, females have a soft spot in my heart hehe.

If need be, and I recommend, getting a 5th female and placing her in the tank. It's fine to have 5 in a 10 gallon, and if the sick girlie needs to stay out for a while, the other female would help keep the 3 left in the tank from harming each other. 3 females together is a dangerous number.
 
#10 ·
Go ahead and get some plain, unfragranced Epsom Salt (purchased in pharmacies and pharmacy sections of most stores such as Walmart) and do the Epsom treatment on her-

1 teaspoon of Epsom per gallon, dissolve the salt completely before adding her to it, with water conditioner, daily 100% water changes.. give her a week to 10 days to become better. If she is active and swims normal in shorter amount of time, give her a day or two after she is swimming correctly to make sure whatever it is is out of her system.

I can't say that this will cure her or make her 100%, but if she is having problems with her swim bladder this will work in correcting that. But since we're not 100% sure on what is going on, I can't guarantee that it will work. But it's gentle enough that it won't cause any harm to her being in it at all. It will either help her, or will not affect her.
 
#13 ·
Thank you again for your advice. While it was to late to save that one particular female, your suggestion did save another who was beginning to act similarly.
 
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