Hi guys! I know this isn't a nice topic, but I was wondering what the signs of a betta dying naturally or from age are. One of my bettas just passed away and I want to know if it was my water or just him. I'm getting ready for possibly getting another one so I just want to be sure. He started off being lethargic and just laying at the bottom. I didn't think much of it and didn't quarantine him because I've had more unhappy results from that than good ones. I left him and he would dart up to eat and stay at the top for a few seconds then go back down. He stayed like this for a few weeks probably until he eventually stopped eating and passed away a little while later. Please don't think I was letting him suffer or torturing him, I wasn't tryin to! Anyways, just wondering about the signs to possibly help my new betta. Thanks.
I wonder about this too since I have only been betta keeping since January. I'm pretty sure all my fish were just a few months old when I got them so old age is several years away (I hope).
Anyway, any estimate as to how old he was? Sorry for your loss, I'm sure it wasn't anything you did wrong!
Very sorry for your loss.. As long as you were taking care of water changes, it wouldn't be water chemistry..but If you had him a year or longer, could of been age, although I hear they can live up to 3 yrs. but depending on how old he was when you got him..Makes me wonder too. Any betta that significantly slows down, and changes color or mood, I would say that is symptom.
Thanks guys, you guys are the best. :) anyways, I'm starting to have my doubts about age, I had only had him since a little before Christmas I believe. But he is a petsmart betta, and you know how badly they are treated. Anyways, I am thinking of getting another one. How do you properly prep an already-filled cycled 10g with 5 tetras for another betta to rule out any illness that could have possiy come from my betta that passed on? :( I love bettas and can't seem to pull myself away from them. I always say okay, I'm done no more when this guy passes away, but I love them so much!
Were the neons and the betta living together for very long? I ask because I had my betta in a 20 gallon with 8 neons. The neons started dying about a week after I got them. The neons never bothered the betta and vice versa but he still got stressed to the point of being quite sick. So I put him in a smaller tank and he went back to normal. For a few days I thought he would die.
Hey, I never thought of that. That might be it. But they had been together a few months, one had died shortly after I got him but he was super tiny and not able to come up to eat. They were all fine together I think....my betta had
Ich but overcame that a couple of months ago. The tank had been gravel vacuumed and all the decor rinsed under
Hot water since then. I was doing an about 40% water change a week. Ugh I don't know what happened. You can't keep tetras and goldfish together right??? I don't think so but I was wondering because I have one lonely Goldie in a 20g!
Yeah, I'm not sure what would be the characteristics of one just dying from old age. I had one betta in the past who lived for over 3 years after I got him, which is a miracle when I think back on it now because I didn't know anything about keeping bettas back then and I kept him in a tiny tank and only changed his water once every two weeks or so. So he was near the middle range of life expectancy (I've heard 2-5 years), but he also was probably in bad water conditions so he may have lived longer otherwise.
In case you still wanted to know, this is what I know from my experience...this is what happened to my little guy when he was about 4 years...give or take?
He started swimming less, just kind of laid around all day. He kept getting fin rot (not exactly fin rot, not tail biting, but his fins decreased over the span of a few months...or 6 months...) but they never grew back. His color faded, it went from a nice navy blue to almost gray. His eyesight became horrible. I had to feed him through a medicine syringe. Whenever he lunged for food, he usually missed...I think I covered most of it haha.
Again, so so sorry for your loss and I hope this helped!
Meg
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So he was near the middle range of life expectancy (I've heard 2-5 years), but he also was probably in bad water conditions so he may have lived longer otherwise.
