Is Bob sick or not? long

[meriedene]

We got our betta, Bob, on Sunday evening, along with a small plastic container with tap water, conditioner & some gravel. He ate Sunday night, Monday and Tuesday. His water felt cold to me, so Wednesday I went out and bought him 2 gallon aquarium, a heater, a thermometer, some plants and a cave. I got the aquarium all set up and transferred him in. I also added a bit of aquarium salt to the water. He seemed pretty happy in there, swimming around and taste-testing everything. We skipped his feeding Wednesday.

Yesterday, he was hiding in his cave when we got up. He swam around. As the day wore on, he started swimming less and just kind of hanging out on the thermometer or along the side near the top. We fed him in the afternoon and he ate just fine. By the time, we went to bed, Bob was incredibly listless - a couple of times, I thought he had died. This morning, he is the same - just floating along the side of the aquarium, keeping his fins close in. I did do a salt bath on him and it seemed to perk him up a bit, but now he is back to just floating.

I tested his water and all the readings came back normal. When I asked the guy at Petsmart (where I got the fish) about it, he said that they sometimes will do that -just kind of float around and as long as he was eating, not to worry. I'm not sure if he will eat today - we feed him at 3:30 pm.

I've attached a couple of pictures I took during his bath this morning. I'm not sure what to do now. Is this truly normal behavior? Does he look ok? Does he need medication or additional salt baths? Is all this handling of him stressing him out?

I greatly appreciate any guidance/advice anyone can give.

Thanks, Melissa

[Rain Drop]

I'm not sure....
Maybe he's still cold?
What's the temp at?
How much do you feed him and what?

[meriedene]

The temp seems to be around 76-78 degrees according to the thermometer. The heater I bought (Tetra 2-15 for his 2 gallon tank) says it automatically heats to 78 degrees.

We have been feeding him Hikari Betta Bio-Gold or Aqua Culture Betta Pellet Food. He had 4 pellets yesterday (we had skipped feeding on Wednesday). When we fed him today, he mouthed then spit out one of the 3 we put in there. He seemed very interested when we first put the food in, but then ended up not eating anything at all.

He does seem to be swimming around a little bit more this afternoon/evening, but not as active as he has been. His fins also seem a bit stringy to me, but when I looked at some of them in the store, they were like that too. I can't remember if Bob's were that way when we bought him.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Melissa

[Rain Drop]

Feeding sounds fine to me and same with temp.
Stringy fins as in shredded and frayed?
Sounds like fin rot which can make a betta depressed and hurting.
No doubt he's stressed.
Maybe try something like jungle fungus eliminator or jungle fungus clear.
Other than that, I'm not sure what else it could be.
Also, with a tank that small, maybe sure you do about two water changes a week.
And when you take him out of the tank; when you put him back in, make sure you acclimate him. Float him in a bag or cup for about 15 min, and pour a little of the tank water in the bag or cup every now and then. Then you can gently pour him into the tank.

[meriedene]

Thank you so much for taking the time to help. Unfortunately, Bob died yesterday. We gave him a nice little burial in the backyard. I feel guilty and think it will be a while before we are ready to try with another fish.

Thanks again for your help.

Melissa

[molliefan09]

im really sorry about bob

[Calmwaters]

Sorry about Bob.

[Jupiter]

RIP Bob. :(

[Kim]

I'm so sorry :( RIP Bob

[dramaqueen]

I'm so sorry to hear about Bob. RIP Bob.