Today I brought home two little and beautiful young bettas. One is mine, the other one I'm gonna be taking care of him until he gets better. I believe they must be like 4 months old. The two of them where living in really REALLY cold water. The one that's mine was a little bit more active than the other one. They're now living in a 2.5 and 1 gallon tanks with their water at 28 degrees Celsius (I think that's like 82 F) and are still not very active. I'm afraid the one that's not mine is starting to have Ich, so I put some Methylene blue. They don't want to eat yet. I also brought home a gorgeous female, she's looking healthy but is also not wanting to eat now. Is this normal? I'm really getting anxious for the one that's not mine. I hope he makes it and gets better with the warm water. Is there something else I could do?
You need to give them longer to adjust to their new environments. A change of environments is very stressful to Bettas and one of the side effects of stress is not eating. Keep on offering food, and remove it if it goes uneaten. My guess is within 2-3 days they will start eating. It will probably help them adjust if you keep them in a darkened environment (if you have a tank light, keep it off) and have some places for them to hide inside your aquariums (a coffee mug works well if you just need something temporary).
OK, I will not panic right now, hehe! I'll let them relax and adjust to their new environment. I hope I see some progress tomorrow morning. I'll offer them some mosquito larva so they get stronger.
I don't think you need to give them methylene blue, either.. ich looks like someone shook a salt shaker onto your fish. When I had it in my tank it was all over his tail and easy to see. They make treatment for it that's easy to use, though you can also treat it with aquarium salt and warm water.. don't treat for it unless you're sure it's there.
I would offer a small amount of food once or twice a day to see if they'll eat.. if they don't, remove it so it doesn't foul the water.
I just checked the both of them, they're just lying in the bottom, breathing. Mine is looking OK, he's moving from time to time to the top to breath and swims around a little bit. The other one is, resting on one of his sides on the bottom, not with his "belly" down, his on the left side of his body breathing really fast. Should I give him water changes? I think he has Ich because one of his pectoral fins have those tiny white dots. Betta (my other betta fish) had Ich ones, so I do know how it looks like. Do I let them still adjust? Or what else can I do?
I noticed that both of them are breathing really fast and still lying on the bottom. The one that's not mine is now trying to reach the surface but falls down to the bottom again. He's like trying to stay suspended in the water. They still don't want to eat. Neither does the female, who's also not moving very much and is resting on one of her plants. Is this normal for a new fish? I'm really getting worried because I don't want that the time they spent in that cold water did something bad to them I they won't recover. Please, someone give me some advice. :(
I noticed that both of them are breathing really fast and still lying on the bottom. The one that's not mine is now trying to reach the surface but falls down to the bottom again. He's like trying to stay suspended in the water. They still don't want to eat. Neither does the female, who's also not moving very much and is resting on one of her plants. Is this normal for a new fish? I'm really getting worried because I don't want that the time they spent in that cold water did something bad to them I they won't recover. Please, someone give me some advice. :(
If their struggling to come to the top for air, lower the water levels in the tank so its more comfortable for them..
Definitely not normal for the fish to be laying on his side. It is possible they took some internal damage due to the cold water, in which case I am not sure their is too much you can do except make them comfortable. Keep the water as clean as possible through frequent water changes and lower the water level as Colibri suggests. Heavy breathing (especially if present along with inflamed gills) can be sign of ammonia poisoning, so you might want to look into that.
Yes, I did raised the temperature in their bags... I will not say I took two hours but I did let them climate. The one that was lying on his side at the bottom of his tank is now floating on the top breathing normally. I guess it's his Ich what makes him be still "tired". The one that's mine has actually gotten worse. :( I put him in a smaller tank so he can reach the surface quickly, but, I noticed that there's something going on with his caudal tail! It seems as he weren't able to move it like he was supposed to. The caudal is not looking broken o with fin rot or anything. But, he can't move it normally. I don't know if you understand me. They still don't want to eat, and now I'm getting really worried. It'll be two days since I have them and still no food is in their stomachs.
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