New Betta Lethargic

[Nothingness]

My new Betta which came home on Sat started becoming lethargic and hanging out around the top of the tank today. His top fin has also drooped over one side of his body. He still hasn't eaten since I took him home. It looks like he may have a fungal infection after I read the disease forum. He has some white stuff on top of his head that almost looks like peeling skin

I have a 3g tank with the water at about 80 degrees and a sponge filter in the bottom of the tank. I did an amonia test today and it showed about a 1ppm reading. I did a 50% water change and used Nutrafin Aqua Plus to condition the water prior to putting in the tank and it says on the bottle that it is a stress reducing formula. Should I get some stress coat? I also used Nutrafin cycle to start the cycling process of the tank prior to getting the Betta.

Am I just over reacting?? This is my first Betta so I am unfamiliar with their typical temperament and activity levels

[shellieca]

If your ammonia is at 1 you'll need to do another water change to get it below .5, as close to 0 as possible. Test your water again. Personally I use nothing but Prime as a water conditioner, it'll detoxify the water for 24 hrs. But the main thing is to get your Ammonia down. Are you using strips or a liquid test? Strips are not all that accurate.

[Nothingness]

Liquid testing. He seems to have perked up a bit since I did the water change. I'm gonna retest it now and see if it's below .5

[Nothingness]

I just retested and the one water change dropped the ammonia to 0.5. Is it ok to do more then one water change per day? Or should I wait till tomorrow?

[Nothingness]

I went out and got some stress coat and that seems to have livened him up a bit. I am planning on doing another water change tomorrow to hopefully lower the ammonia to 0. Still not eating but I will keep trying to feed him and hopefully one day soon he will eat.

As far as using the AQ salts to deal with this potiental fungus....I am guessing I need a hospital tank to transfer him into. If I used a smaller glass container that did not fit my heater is this a bad thing? Its just a very small amount of "cottony" stuff on his head that I hope should clear up quick

[shellieca]

Does your current tank have live plants or any tank mates? If not I personally wouldn't move him since you're only adding Aq salt. Make sure you dissolve it in a glass before you add it to the tank. 1/2 tsp per 1g, so for 3G it'd be 1-1/2 tsp.per my box which is API. And yes you can do multiple water changes in a day. When I fish IN cycled I didn't let my ammonia get above .5 so I did 50% water changes about every 3 days but that's me & not everyone does it the same. The closer to 0 you can keep it the better. As for the eating wait a day or 2, Bettas can go days without eating so don't be afraid to hold off food for a couple of days, I know it's tough because we want them to eat. BTW what are you feeding him? Some Bettas can be very picky & you have try some different things to find what they'll eat.

[Nothingness]

Originally Posted by shellieca

Does your current tank have live plants or any tank mates? If not I personally wouldn't move him since you're only adding Aq salt. Make sure you dissolve it in a glass before you add it to the tank. 1/2 tsp per 1g, so for 3G it'd be 1-1/2 tsp.per my box which is API. And yes you can do multiple water changes in a day. When I fish IN cycled I didn't let my ammonia get above .5 so I did 50% water changes about every 3 days but that's me & not everyone does it the same. The closer to 0 you can keep it the better. As for the eating wait a day or 2, Bettas can go days without eating so don't be afraid to hold off food for a couple of days, I know it's tough because we want them to eat. BTW what are you feeding him? Some Bettas can be very picky & you have try some different things to find what they'll eat.

I just have a silk plant, terra cota pot and a leaf hammock in the tank. No other fish. I go the Nutrafin AQ salts as that's all there was at the store. I am trying to feed him Zoo Med Pellets as that's what they had/used at the Big Al's store I got him at.

Is there such thing as adding too many different things to the water? I've been using the Cycle, conditioner, and now stress coat. Is it ok to continue with those as I introduce the AQ Salts?

[shellieca]

Originally Posted by Nothingness

I just have a silk plant, terra cota pot and a leaf hammock in the tank. No other fish. I go the Nutrafin AQ salts as that's all there was at the store. I am trying to feed him Zoo Med Pellets as that's what they had/used at the Big Al's store I got him at.

Then I wouldn't bother moving him, the salt won't hurt anything. As for the food, are the pellets small or larger? I've had to crush pellets in the past & they ate them as they sank or scavenged them off the plants & tank bottom. He may not like the ones you have! I had some nobody would eat. I now use the Top fin Betta bits. I have a couple Bettas that prefer them soaked for 5 mins or so before I feed them so you might try that. I have a small glass I put some tank water in then soak the pellets, they gobble them up no prob. I also feed frozen blood worms & brine shrimp instead on certain days of the week & fast them all a couple of days. You can order good food online, Amazon has Omega & NLS just to name a couple.