Something's wrong with my little girl...

[XxxXnoodleXxxX]

She's having trouble swimming, kind of always aiming her head down to swim. She is always swimming on an angle, and staying right near the surface. She's not glass surfing like she has since day one. She just tries to go halfway down her tank with her head aimed down, then swims horizontal with her head still down, then goes up for air. She's also going up for air way more than she ever has. I'm super worried, and it's breaking my bloody heart watching her struggle... She's never not come to see me when I go over to the tank, but she's so intent on trying to swim properly she's acting funny.

Her gills look fine, she's got no weird bumps, no cuts, no swelling (apart from her tummy because she just ate 10 minutes ago), no specs, nothing... I don't know what to do for her...

[XxxXnoodleXxxX]

Oh forgot the form. >_<

Housing
What size is your tank? 2g
What temperature is your tank? 26*c
Does your tank have a filter? No
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? None

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Wardley Betta Pellets.
How often do you feed your betta fish? 1-2 times per day.

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Once. But I syphon the tank of grubby stuff twice a week on top of that.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 75%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Nutrafin Betta Plus

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? Not yet.

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Hasn't.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? She swims with her front end down, even when swimming horizontally. She doesn't glass surf anymore. Sometime sits at bottom of tank before getting hyper when I come over.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? About two hours ago.
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? 100% water change. Heavy cleaning of all things in tank. Took out possibly toxic decoration.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? Not really, though she's had scoliosis since I got her. It's never affected her nor has she shown symptoms of anything bad.
How old is your fish (approximately)? Had her for two months.

Other information: A little under a week ago I bought a decoration that had some exposed metal on it. When I cleaned her tank, I noticed it was rusted, so I removed the decoration and will return it and ask for a refund. Dunno if a small amount of rust could be what's bugging her...

[callistra]

A tank that size needs two water changes a week - one 50% and one 100% which includes a rinsing of the gravel to remove debris.

Your betta pellets are full of wheat and fillers - one of the worst out there. I'd look for another pellet. A good pellet will have the first two or three ingredients as whole fish, not fish meal or wheat. How many of those have you been feeding daily? No matter what you feed your fish always needs one fast day a week.

Curved spine can be a birth defect, but most fish get culled and never make it to the pet store like that. Sometimes fish get hurt in shipment to the pet store which can also cause this. Otherwise it is a sign of fish TB or advanced internal parasites.

What color is her poop? Is he pooping daily? Is she bloated?

Can you share photos?

[XxxXnoodleXxxX]

Originally Posted by callistra

A tank that size needs two water changes a week - one 50% and one 100% which includes a rinsing of the gravel to remove debris.

Your betta pellets are full of wheat and fillers - one of the worst out there. I'd look for another pellet. A good pellet will have the first two or three ingredients as whole fish, not fish meal or wheat. How many of those have you been feeding daily? No matter what you feed your fish always needs one fast day a week.

Curved spine can be a birth defect, but most fish get culled and never make it to the pet store like that. Sometimes fish get hurt in shipment to the pet store which can also cause this. Otherwise it is a sign of fish TB or advanced internal parasites.

What color is her poop? Is he pooping daily? Is she bloated?

Can you share photos?

I feed her one of those pellets twice a day. Never give her a day off. Didn't know I was supposed to. I'll take a look for one with whole fish in it.
Are there any types of food here you would recommend?
http://www.petland.ca/catalogsearch/...d&cat=&x=0&y=0

I don't think she has TB. I believe fish that have that die quite quickly. This is the first problems she has had. What symptoms would there be if she had TB or internal parasites?

I'd love to provide a picture, but her tank is all bubbly because of doing the 100% change. You wouldn't see too much. One thing other than that to note is that she's always had a light patch on her scales on one side. Always. Not related to breeding stripes. I have an old picture here so you can see:



She actually looks kind of pail right now. Especially her head. Might just be fear but her head seems to have lost a lot of color save for a horizontal stripe of her regular coloring that bisects her eyes...

[callistra]

This: http://www.petland.ca/omega-one-bett...lets-17-g.html

You can feed 3-4 a day split up into two feedings with a fast day.

Fish TB is a wasting disease and can take months to kill. It's not the disease in the sticky.

I would increase water changes and change food.

In the meantime I'd fast a couple days or so and monitor her poop. I would add epsom salt - pure 100% magnesium sulfate with no other dyes, perfumes or additives - at a rate of 1 tsp per gallon. Predissolve it and add it slowly over an hour or more to avoid shock. Leave her in the salt at least a week if not two. You only need to readd salt when you do a water change and then only as much as water you change.

Current photo would be helpful. That photo isn't concerning.

[Bluewind]

Omega One Betta Buffet Pellets are what I use and they are great! New life spectrim is also a very well respected brand. Wardley is just a bad brand with bad ingredents. I learned that the hard way and lost some of mine over it.
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[XxxXnoodleXxxX]

She's suddenly very pale. Has lost about 75% of her color. Going to try and take a picture because she's ready to go into her actual tank. She's so pale. I'm getting really worried. Her fins are even transparent... I have nowhere to get epsom salt this late at night either... I have no idea what to do...

[callistra]

Acclimate her very very slowly to the new water.. dont just dump her in..

[XxxXnoodleXxxX]

I did. She was acclimatizing for over an hour and I slowly added tank water over the last half an hour and then got her in with adding as little water from her container as possible. She's in her tank now. Going to try to take a picture now.

[Bluewind]

I did some googling and it looks to be between amonia/nitrate poisoning and swim bladder problem. Have you done a pwc yet? If not, I want you to do a 50-70% pwc with water THE SAME TEMP as her tank. Do this daily for a week and clean the substrate every other to every 3rd day. If there is a huge change with fresh water, it was the amonia and such.
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