Did a water change and now he is struggling to live

[kimotion]

Hello,

I just did a water change this morning for one of my Betta fish "Loki." I had him for about 6 weeks, did water changes twice a week for a .5 gallon tank and never had problems.

This morning I did a water change with aged and conditioned water. PH is about 7.2 (which I kept consistently throughout the weeks since I've had him) and everything was normal and routine.

But when I placed him in, he immediately began to spaz out, head jerking left to right, and now after 3 hours hes struggling to swim, swimming on his sides and lying on his side on the bowl ground periodically. His color went from deep red to pale pink. Holes in his fins appeared where it was beautiful and full just before the water change.

I took him out, put him in some tap water (I ran out of aged tap water and figured ANY water is better) and now his color returned. But he is still spazzing out and swimming on his side, vertically and now even lying belly up occasionally.

I'm baffled. I have another Betta fish "Imugi" and he is just fine. I used the same exact water for both.

Can someone help me? I'm actually thinking of putting Loki to sleep since he seems to be suffering so badly.

[kimotion]

He went from being a master bubble nest maker to now lying on his side in one morning and I feel sooooo bad and guilty about this.

[JamieTron]

So you did not condition the water before you placed him in his changed water? Aged water is OK but I would really treat the water before you add him to it. Physiologically any chlorine could disrupt membranes in the fish's body causing damage.

Also did you make sure the water was the same temperature when you changed it? This can cause stress, lethargy and pale color due to temperature shock. The holes in the fins may have been due to him spazzing out.

[kimotion]

Thanks for the reply and advice. Yeah, I used conditioner. Water is at 78 degrees which sometimes go up to 80 degrees.

He is not spazzing like before but is now just listless and hanging on the bottom on his side.

Again, this is so baffling since the other betta is just fine.

The fish actually jumped out if his temp cup WHILE I was cleaning the tank....I have no idea how long he was on the floor, but I am thinking maybe it was "brain damage" from hitting the floor? When I put him in his new cleaned bowl, he started to act this way.

Or maybe a chemical that I am not aware of fell in. Again, the other betta is fine. There has to be something specific that went wrong with this one.

[kimotion]

He's been swimming normally now for the past hour. Not totally back to normal (a bit listless and sort of swimming vertically) but is now aware when I'm near the bowl and grazing the surface. I'm hoping this is a road to recovery or normalcy. Still trying to pin down what the problem was so it won't ever happen again!

[JamieTron]

OOOOH I didn't know he jumped out of his cup wow what a little athlete, well that is probably what is wrong he was probably just severely stressed, awww I am glad he is doing a little better though. I will cross my fingers for you!

[kimotion]

Thanks for the support and advice! Now that he seems a bit better, I now feel a bit less guilty for leaving for my Saturday errands LOL!

[LucyLoofa]

(Post cleared. Please read the new thread i started.)

[1fish2fish]

He's in a half gallon tank? You probably need to be doing daily water changes in that case. Ammonia buildup can cause severe physical damage to fish.

[kimotion]

I'm moving him to a 5 gallon this week

I realized small tanks/bowls are just NOT worth it ... may be a little cheaper now but will cost more in the long run.