New betta/possibly sick

[Meg126]

Housing
What size is your tank? 10 gallon divided into 2 5 gallon
What temperature is your tank? Steady 79
Does your tank have a filter?yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? Yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? Betta male on each side

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Hichichi Gold
How often do you feed your betta fish? 2 pellets a.m 2 pelletts p.m 1 day skip feeding a week

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? 25% 1x weekly 50% 1x weekly
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? See above
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Seachem prime

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

Ammonia:0
Nitrite: unsure
Nitrate: unsure
pH: 7.6
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? No
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Not changed since I got him which concerns me
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Day 1
Medication/treatment used? 1tbs aquarium salt per gallon/ ap pro quick cure for any protozoan parasites
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No idea
How old is your fish (approximately)? Unsure

I got 2 male bettas for my 10 gallon divided tank. One make is happy as can be swimming investigating and eating fine. The other is lethargic and Esther rests in his cave or tree or he stays put near the top. He also doesn't eat much. Maybe two pellets a day if that. I am unsure if he's just not used to the new digs or if he is ill. He's a gorgeous boy and I really want him to be okay. I'll try to get a pic if I can.

[Fishehgobloop]

First and foremost, it's probably better if you don't put any medication in with your betta if you're not 100% sure what's wrong with him, simply because you don't want to be misdiagnosing him and making his immune system weak or having it adapt to medication and become resistant to it. With what you've said so far, he may not have a protozoan parasite.

If you just recently got him he could be between 6 months to a year old, depending on where you got him. (Just to throw that out there) :)

Now, for a new betta that is lethargic, and uninterested in really swimming around and exploring, it could just be the shock of being in a new environment. I've heard that Prime is an excellent water conditioner, though I have never tried it myself, so I'm not sure if it has any stress reducing properties, such as the ones in API's Stress Coat+ which I use and I know that with especially stressed fish, it dies help.

If he isn't eating, try getting a closer to live food (frozen, because freeze-dried foods are a treat that have little to no nutritional value to your fish and are more like "candy"). Frozen glassworms are best nutritionally, and also frozen brine shrimp (which I have been recently informed are a laxative so if your fish isn't eating well, I would suggest trying the glassworms first). Foods like these (thawed out in a small container, without adding water, so you can re-freeze them a time or two) are very enticing to bettas, as they are naturally carnivorous hunters. Also, bettas like a varied diet, and adding these foods will help keep him happy. Try slowly dragging a couple across the surface of the water in front of the betta, to see if he will go after them. If not, hold it in front of him. If he doesn't eat, it's okay, try again in a short while.

And the best thing you can do at this point is to keep an eye on both of your fish. You want to make sure that the sickly one starts to get better and not worse, but you also want to make sure your healthy guy doesn't start showing the same signs or different signs, as your other guy.

[Meg126]

I quit using the meds and continued the aquarium salt. I've done a 50% water Chang and a 25% water change. There was a spike in ammonia so did another water change and added more prime and ammo lock to help curb potency of it. Other betta in same tank is doing fine swimming eating and greets me at the front. This is going on week 2 of having him and just want him better. Unsure how to get pix on here using iPad but I will keep trying to figure it out. He is clamped up also no swelling anywhere.

[ANHEL123]

Meg do you have hospital tank? You need either take your healthy fish out as soon as possible before he will get sick. If your other sick fish contagious you have 99.9 % your healthy fish will get sick. So take him out or take sick fish out and do complete water change. I don't cycle any of my tanks and i don't know how to cycling and i do understand that you will probably crash it with complete water change, but i don't think it important now... if one fish sick you need to isolate him . Usually if you treat betta you better to put it in the hospital tank and treat him. And again you treating tank with aq saslt but your healthy betta don't even need to be treated which is not good for him.Also when you add aquarium salt to the tank you need to do right dosage and right water changes. It 1tsp/gall up to 3 tsp/gall with daily water changes. So what you do kind of not helping.

I understand that he is clamped and no swelling any other symptoms on the body? Did you see his poop? What color is his poop? How long you have him?

[Meg126]

I do not have a hospital tank. I have the 10 gallon that is divided and 1 tank that is 3 gallon with a male in it. I have had both males for going on week 2 now. The salt was added because both boys looked to have some fin issues going on. Also to treat anything that might be going on. They were "rescues" so weren't in the best shape to start with. I haven't seen any of them poop. I don't know if I'm just missing it or what.

[ANHEL123]

Don't share any equipment between your betta in 3 gall and others in case it something contagious. It very important. I just was talking to someone who had 1 healthy betta and bought sick one , share changing equipment and now have 2 sick bettas. So any time you buy new fish you really need to quarantine it for a few weeks just to make sure it healthy. Even with live plants you better do it. Sorry:(
Well if one is acting healthy and another one not (lethargic,refusing to eat) he might have some kind of bacteria still going on. His immune system might be weaker then other fish.
I would recommend at least do full dose of the aquarium salt and see if it helps but the other fish really don't need it. If you can somehow buy hospital tank , even one gall so you can try to separate them.
The thing is with aquarium salt that you really need to follow directions, which is not the instructions on the box. I would do 2tsp/gall pre mix salt. YOu need to make sure it dissolved before you put it in the tank. You need to do daily 100% water changes. It has antibacterial affect on fish. It also will help balance his electrolyte level and encourage the production of slime coat,which will in turn help protect him from infection and ext parasites. So if you don't follow right dosage and duration it will really not helping.
.
I don't know if you absolutely can't buy hospital tank i would at least do daily water changes . If you can get stress coat API. Extra dose said will increase a fish's mucous production which will help to protect them from infection. Not sure how you can maintain the temperature. But you even can lower the water in 10 gall and just do daily water changes.
Or another option. If your room temperature is stable you can have him in his original container that you bought him in. It really can be his hospital container. Also you actually can put the container to float in the 10 gall tank. So you can do that and you can treat him in there. Since container has a lid with a hole you can even cover it so he don't jump out. You can fix it to the tank walls so it don't move a lot.
I also think if he just have symptoms since 12-/31 it not enough time to see the symptoms on another fish. If he is stronger it will take longer to symptoms onset

[Meg126]

The reason there was no quarantine initially is because they came from the same tank. They were housed in barricks next to each other shared same water ect. I didn't think it was nessicary to quarantine in that situation. I did a 100% water change and used Epsom salt instead as instructed earlier. I tested ammonia right after and it is registering 4.0. Not sure why after a 100% water change?!?! I did a 100% change in the 3 gallon and added Epsom salt as well. Tested his PH and it's reading 0! I don't understand! I feel so bad! Sheldon is the only one doing good. Both Howard and Leonard are having same symtoms. With Howard I feel being the worst.

[ANHEL123]

.
Now you saying that both of them in 10 gall have the same symptoms. So one fish got worse? Is he still eating? What is the symptoms only detergency and claimed fins? Is second fish still eating in 10 gall? If ammonia 4.0 this might be the reason second fish got uncomfortable. Not sure why ammonia is high in one tank and fine in another. I never had any issue with ammonia. You sure you put water conditioner? Take Leonard out and put him in the container you bought him in. Separate him from Howard.
Try to prepare water in the clean jug if you have it or in the clean container to check ammonia so you can change Leonard again.
When you did 100% water change did you acclimate them? Because it can be the reason they stressed? With 100% water change you need to introduce fish slowly to the new temperature so you don't shock them with water difference, unless you sure water is about the same temperature
Do you have aquarium salt? Can you get it at the pet store?
Usually you put Epsom salt if fish has buoyancy issue, constipation, bloating, internal parasites. If they don't have any of that issue you need aquarium salt.
I would not add salt in Sheldon tank if you didn't share any equipment

[callistra]

You're not reading the test kit right or you're doing the tests wrong.. Or the kit is bad.

How much salt have you added? How much prime have you used in the 10g and per gallon with each water change?

[Meg126]

Ok I think there is some confusion I'm sorry I didn't explain very well. Sheldon and Leonard are in the 10 gallon divided. Howard is by himself in a heated filtered 3 gallon. The two sick ones are Leonard and Howard. Sheldon is acting fine. There was no quarantine because the two boys in the 10 gallon divided (Sheldon and Leonard) were in barracks next to each other and shared tank water. The API kit is not defective nor am I reading it wrong. My 40 gallon community tank is testing 0 and so is Howard's tank. Just The 10 divided is high.

I acclimated like instructed in here floating adding drops every 15 for an hour then reintroducing them. I am using 2 drops of prime per gallon of water. And 1 tsp of Epsom salt per gallon. I have both aquarium salt and Epsom salt. I treated for 3 days last week with aquarium salt with no changes no improvements. I started today with the Epsom salt AFTER a 100%. Water change.