my new pet

[prathiks]

hi all,
it might be a repeated question to u all....i have just got a new betta, beautiful n cute betta to my home. its been around one week. i just kept him in a half gallon bowl.
I just loved him @the first sight.
He is very active n close to me. he recognised the first time I went near him to feed. He is the best pet i ever owned. But the problem is, as everyone were I am new to this...
Now he has got white spots on him from 2days and I gave him medication as suggested by the pet store owner and he is not eating properly from today morning. he takes in the food and spit it out . I feed him the dried tubifex worms. i dint feed him one day in the week.
I also made a water change!!!!
I am more worried about him.. Plz help me!!!!

Plz guide me through!!! I cant afford to loose him!!!

[AngelicScars]

Is the white spots like specks or sprinkles of something on him or are they sort of blotches on the body? It could either be ich or a fungal infection. Either way I would clean the tank he has been in really well and start on the appropriate meds for the condition. Using the half gallon is great for a quarantine, but I would get at least a 2-2.5 gallon minimum. It is better for the Betta and it's much easier to maintain.
Oh, and you can use aquarium salt with the meds too. Good luck!

[prathiks]

oh thanks for that reply.i was more worried. there are no blotches kinda thing, the white spots are like sprinkles on him. I was sugested a medicine by the pet store, he asked me to put a drop of it and the betta would be alrite.
First I changed the entire water and then put the medicine yesterday, n did a 20% water change today morning.
He is still active but worried that he is not eating properly. when he did not eat the dried worms i tried giving him the pellets. he hardly ate it!!!

[BettaxFishxCrazy]

I agree with AngelicScars, he needs at least 2-2.5 gallons. I put water conditioner in the water whenever I do water changes and it helps keep the fish safe if you use tap water. One of my bettas that I've had for over a year now started having white spots on his head and I thought it was ick, but I did a water change and it was just the stuff on the top of the water that stuck to him. New betta fish usually take some time to get used to the tank and one of mine didn't eat for a week; he kept spitting them out too. Once he gets comfortable in his tank he'll start eating, but you should def get a 2 or 2.5 gallon with some plants so he can hide in them. I don't feed any of my fish worms, just pellets. I've read a couple posts on here that said that sometimes worms can carry parasites and than the fish can get them when they ingest them. I personally would stick to the pellets and he'll eventually figure out that it's food and he'll gobble them up like a shark. :P I hope I helped!

[Elena]

Hello and welcome. For a half gallon tank you should change the water 100% at least every two days. I agree with the other people who posted, your fish needs at last a 2.5 gallon tank (the bigger the better) with a heater. Bettas are tropical fish which are best kept at temperatures between 78-82F. You will be amazed at the difference this makes.
It sounds like it may be ick but I can't be sure. Can you post a picture?
Ick is a parasite that likes colder water- raising temp to 82-84 helps heal and prevent future cases of ick. Clean his tank very well and treat with a medicine like ick guard. Here is more info about ick:
http://www.peteducation.com/article....+2160&aid=2421

[dramaqueen]

Live food can carry parasites but frozen or freeze dried food is ok.

[prathiks]

oh!!thank u all for that wonderful guiding..i just got a tank with capacity of around 5gallon, is that too big for one betta???
i got other stuffs also like filter and heater as suggested by u all. gravel n plastic plants and a cave kind of thing for decorations.
i also got aquarium salt. is that all enough to setup new tank??

and with respect to him eating, as i mentioned it is around 10 days by now since i got him home.till before 2 days he was eating fine, i also found bubbles all over the top of the bowl on the second day... but only from past two days, he is not eating, that white spots n he moves restless around the bowl.

the temperature here varies from 22 degree celsius to 27 degree celsius.in worst case, not below 20 or above 30.
there will be sudden drift from 27 to 23/22 in temperature (over night change) and also the other way round, the climate is very variable here. can that be the serious problem for him to get adjusted???

[BettaxFishxCrazy]

5 gallons is great. It sounds like you have enough. I don't have heaters for my fish, so I don't know anything about them. Sorry!

[Jupiter]

I don't think it should be a problem for him as long as it adjusts slowly. For example, one thing not to do would be to move him from a water of one tempurature and dump him into another.

But the weather fluctuating shouldn't be too much of a problem

[prathiks]

by the time i set up my new tank for the pet, i lost him
as i said he was not taking any food, the white spots on him had gone, but he had started de-colouring, he was fully pale and very inactive when i found him dead.....
i think i did a big mistake of putting him in a small home.
i am feeling too bad for not able to take care of him..

by the time i wil be ok to buy a new one, i m thinking of cycling the new tank i just got.

is the tank cycling 100% necessary for my pet??
how many days once, a tank needs to be cycled?
also i would like to get more tips on doing a tank cycling without fish...

Thanks for all for the help extended so far and hence forth !!!!

Regards,
Prathika R