Help! My Betas In Trouble! Im Desperate!

[kagomes fury]

ive had a beta for almost a year now. it will be a year in may. last oct. i noticed that he was starting to loose his spunk. so i bought him a tank and took him out of his bowl. i also added some ghost shrimp. well he ate them. and seemed happy.but a few weeks later his appetite didnt improve it worsened. heres whats wrong w/ him now:

he hardly eats, his fins r tathered, hes no longer aggressive at all!, he hasn't been since October. ive tried upgrading the tank, didn't work. added a goldfish which i suspect is female. nothing. well some more movement but only when she bumps him. water stays at rm temp like it always has. ive tried changing his scenery but that didn't help his depression. now he has 1 clouded eye and he still persists to lye on the bottom of the tank. he has had the clouded eye b4 but it seems to come and go periodically. like every 2 weeks or more. the tank requires that i change the water ever 2 weeks which i do. if not sooner sometimes. he did develop vertical stripes at one point.

i love walter very much and would like to see him live for the next 2yrs if not more. please help me if u know whats wrong and what i can do to fix things. i want my happy aggressive walter back!

[herefishy]

I suspect bad water. You said nothing of the frequency of water changes. Smaller tanks are the hardest to keep. Maintainence must be done weekly, at a mimum, religiously. Give him a good 50% water change and see if that helps. You may also try adding MelaFix to promote healing.

[kagomes fury]

but i do clean it out every 2 weeks faithfully! i use bowl buddies to purify water. where can i find melafix?

[herefishy]

MelaFix is a product made by API. It should be available at your lfs. It is an all natural, hebal remedy. Biweekly water changes are not enough, especailly since you've added another fish. Goldfish produce a ton of waste. All the more reason for weekly, if not more often, water changes of at least 25%. 50% may be more appropriate.

[Lindsey88]

ive had a beta for almost a year now. it will be a year in may. last oct. i noticed that he was starting to loose his spunk. so i bought him a tank and took him out of his bowl. i also added some ghost shrimp. well he ate them. and seemed happy.but a few weeks later his appetite didnt improve it worsened. heres whats wrong w/ him now:

he hardly eats, his fins r tathered, hes no longer aggressive at all!
What type of decorations do you have? Bettas do not do well with plastic decorations or rough decorations. All decorations must be smooth and the plants must be silk. I learned this the hard way when I had a betta with tattered fins due to a plastic fake plant.

, he hasn't been since October. ive tried upgrading the tank, didn't work. added a goldfish which i suspect is female. nothing.
Please get rid of the goldfish! These guys need at least 10 gallons each and are coldwater fish while bettas are tropical fish.

well some more movement but only when she bumps him. water stays at rm temp like it always has. ive tried changing his scenery but that didn't help his depression.
Like I said get smooth and silk decorations if any at all are plastic or if the decorations are rough and not smooth they will rip their tails to pieces.

now he has 1 clouded eye and he still persists to lye on the bottom of the tank. he has had the clouded eye b4 but it seems to come and go periodically. like every 2 weeks or more. the tank requires that i change the water ever 2 weeks which i do. if not sooner sometimes. he did develop vertical stripes at one point.

Change the water 1-2 times per week.

i love walter very much and would like to see him live for the next 2yrs if not more. please help me if u know whats wrong and what i can do to fix things. i want my happy aggressive walter back

[SST]

What size tank is he in now?
Filtered? What type?
Heated?
Do you test your water parameters? What method? What are the results?
How often do you feed him? How much? What food?
Answer the questions about your decorations.

Immediately:
Separate the betta and the goldfish. Besides the fact that the betta needs WARM water and the godlfish needs cooler water, the goldfish is a poop factory and will foul your water before you have time to blink.

Do a 50% water change. Plan on doing more frequent partial water changes. Melafix should help, but only use 1/5 the dose on the bottle as it is concentrated and bettas are sensitive to the ingredients. You can buy BettaFix, which is the same stuff already diluted for a higher price.

Bettas are solitary creatures and don't need the company of another fishie to be happy.

They need plenty of clean, warm water & regular feeding of a variety of foods.

Check back in with the answers to these questions and people with more experience will be along to help.

[Falina]

Originally Posted by kagomes fury

but i do clean it out every 2 weeks faithfully! i use bowl buddies to purify water. where can i find melafix?

This simply isn't enough. I would recommend twice a week changing 30% of the water.

You say you keep him at room temperature. IDK what temperature you keep your room at but it's probable that this is too low. Bettas need temperatures in the high 70s. Anything less than 76F and they will become lethraric and possibly suffer from loss of appetite.

bad water quality does seem to be the issue here, in combinatin with temperature. I think once these 2 issues are addrssed then he should start to perk up.

[kagomes fury]

What size tank is he in now?
1 1/2GAL
Filtered?
one of those filter through the rocks tanks. all supplies r bought at walmart
What type?" "
Heated?
theirs a lamp above that hooks to the top of the tank witch keeps the water quite warm. no i don't have a thermometer
Do you test your water parameters?
What method?
What are the results?
How often do you feed him?
twice a day
How much?
about 8-10 small pellets a day. goldfish eats most of them. he doesn't eat in front of me anymore waits till "no1s looking". he eats maybe 2 pellets a meal
What food?
just small beta pellet food. made by aqua culture, it has lots of vitamins and nutrients to enhance color. he loved it and couldn't get enough of it until he started acting funny. he used to eat the full 8 pellet serving size on label twice a day! hes huge! about 5 1/2in long and 3in wide. all spread out of course.
decorations:
well i used to have a beautiful set up of plants and a bridge... but when his appetite started going his mood changed. their was no more peek-a-boo w/ the bridge it became a hiding place. a place to run from me. whenever he saw me, he turned his back on me. i took the bridge out and he did the same w/ all the plants. so all he has now is 1 single plant. it's plastic and very leafy. he loved it when it was just him and the bowl when i first got him. he doesn't mess with it now.(all decorations were plastic, the lily pad was fome)

i cleaned the tank last night. his clouded eye is gone. ive seen a pattern though... every time i get a ghost shrimp and it dies; the clouded eye appears and he looks sick. a day after cleaning the tank (and i do stat after finding the shrimps caucus) the clouded eye leaves and he looks somewhat healthier.

he is happier w/ the goldfish in the tank. i bought her hoping that he would kill her and get his fighting instinct back but that didn't work. now im attached to her and she to him. i fear she'll die if i remove her from the tank. his color has improved since putting her in the tank. i can see his royal blue w/ red and green stripes peeking. hes no longer totally black.
besides for a cold water fish, shes very happy and has grown very big for an average gold fish. shes almost 3in long, which is walters torso length: the rest is fin.

another thing... is it possible he could be deformed? or just not yet fully matured?

before he started acting funny... he used to love fighting him self in the mirror that id put in front of the tank. i noticed that when he puffed up; only his left side would fully spread. the other wouldn't, only half.

thanks,
kagomes fury

[Falina]

I still suspect that the water is of bad quality, and/or the temperature is too low.

You should be aware that goldfish need a tank of around 40g for one fully grown fish. A goldfish in a 1.5g tank will lead to bad water quality almost immediately. if you think that he needs company try holding a irror up to him once in a while (not too often as this will stress him out) but I'm afraid the goldfish in there is a very bad idea. My advice is to return her to the petshop.

My advice is to get a thermometer so that you know the temperature. The light going on and off causes too sudden drops and increases in temperature and leaving it on constantly gives him no feeling of day and night so this is not an appropriate method of temperature control.

I also suggest a liquid master trest kit to test for amonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph so that you are able to keep on top of your water parameters.

[Lindsey88]

Yes I agree. Get rid of the goldfish. If you want to keep it set up a 20 gallon tank minimum for it. The betta will not die of loneliness without the goldfish. Bettas are solitary creatures. Having the goldfish in there is just killing the goldfish and the betta. Goldfish are dirty creatures and really need a huge heavily filtered aquarium. Most bettas will kill ghost shrimp, at least mine do. Your tank is too small though to add anything else besides the betta. Putting a mirror up to the tank will make the betta flare up. It works really well. Since I have 5 bettas I just slide their tanks next to each other about once a week and let them flare for a little while. Also some bettas are just naturally skittish. One of mine is constantly hiding unless he is being fed.
Good luck!