Baby Betta sick and won't eat :'( </3

[Bobsizlak]

Well, he's not really eating the blood worms... I guess I gotta wait and see what happens.

[Luimeril]

eggs are great. you hatch them, and feed them right after that, just strain them and feed them. :V

or, you could try crushing up pellets. my baby betta was so small, New Life Spectrum Grow food was too small for her. i had to crush them into a fine powder for her to eat.

[aokashi]

woooooooaaaah
once a week? you probably need to make water changes once a day......
then it might be healthy again :) I wish you the best of luck, both my babies live in half gallons. I got my female when she was smaller than yours and covered in ich. you can see her in my photo albums.

She never ate brine shrimp. she was quite happy living off a variety of crushed pellets and flakes. it's quite ok to turn off the bubbler. It might just be a good idea to have it in nice calm water right now .

Do you have one of those half gallon marina tanks btw? just curious :D

[Oldfishlady]

Your GF PM's me and asked for me to take a look.....

How long have you had the baby Betta....

Since it just one baby in a half gallon...I would make twice weekly 50%....and every 2 weeks make one of the twice weekly a back to back 50%...I wouldn't do any 100% on him especially in the shape he is in....
If you still have the live plant add it back....up the temp to about 78-80F if you can.

If you have access to any mosquito larva...rinse some and offer to see if you can get him to eat

You are correct about the distilled water.....good that you got him move to your tap water with dechlorinator...How did you acclimate him

Remove the airstone and cover the top with plastic veggie wrap to retain the heat and humidity for his labyrinth.

Has he ever acted okay or ate for you.....

[Bobsizlak]

Aokashi; I do have the half gallon Marina tanks.
Oldfishlady; I've had the baby betta for about a week or so. I will add the plant back in if it would help. I can probably find some mosquito larve, living in Florida Summer, there will be plenty. He has never eaten anything, that I've seen. Thank you for the help, is there anything else I might need to do?

[Oldfishlady]

Since he is new...some of the problem may be related to the adjustment period and then with the distilled water....those chemistry changes without proper acclimation can sometimes really stress them to the point of no return and not a lot we can do once its done......But we never give up too soon......

Give him some time, quiet dim lit location for now, maintain water quality and temp, still water, warm, humid air over the water, offer live food to stimulate the feeding/hunting instinct and to help support the immune response....patience......

Be sure and remove any uneaten processed food-but if he doesn't eat the mosquito larva right away-leave them-the larva movement should stimulate his instincts to hunt and eat...he may just need some time....

If you have a brine shrimp net-use that to collect the larva-that way you can get some really small ones-but they can eat much bigger larva than you think.....rinse them under running water then place them in a small cup of dechlorinated water that you can cover-use a eyedropper to feed to the Betta-if you place the container in the fridge they last a bit longer-but check before you open it so you don't let mosquito out in the house...lol.....

If you have any IAL or naturally dried and fallen from the tree Oak leaf...add this to his water for the tannins...

[Bobsizlak]

Well, as of right now I don't think he is going to make it... He is belly up at the bottom, he's breathing reeeaaallllyy slow. Like, once every three seconds or so.