Fred's just floating at the bottom :C PLEASE HELP ME.

[ohstephyy]

Okay, so I've had Fredward (a male betta) for several months now (I had no problems with him, even without a heater). I have him in a 2.5 gal tank, with a whisper filter and a few fake plants. Just recently I got him a heater and I have added some new meds to his first aid kit.

Fred is a very inquisitive fish, always swimming towards wherever I sit in my room. He always flairs and is usually VERY hyper and very happy. But then, a week ago he started to get sick and succumbed to Ich. I then rushed to the aquarium store, bought the proper meds, some aquarium salt and a nice heater for him. I put him in his hospital tank and gave him the amount of ich medication it said to on the back of the package. He seemed to be getting better already while I throughly cleaned out his normal home, added the salt, added 'Cycle' by nutrafin, and set up his heater. And on Friday I slowly added Fred back into his proper home (to not stress him out from the temperature change). He swam around happily, and on saturday all his ich spots were gone and he seemed to be his normal self again, eating, playing and being an overall happy healthy betta.

But then, on sunday I started to notice something different... When I came home from work at five he was hiding in the decorative teacup he has in his tank, barely moving and not coming out and swimming about like he normally did when I come home. He ate one pellet, as opposed to the four I usually give him. The next day (monday) he was just floating near the surface of his tank, nestled right beside his filter. And not moving. I freaked out, he looks absolutely normal, but he won't move. I gave him food and he only ate one pellet.

And today (tuesday) he's just floating along the bottom of his tank, his fins seem smaller and less full than they usually are... And they're not as clear. His eyes look weird too, not bulgy, but I guess cloudy. He's not moving, but you can tell his breathing is very labored (he's breathing hard, his mouth is open) and he didn't eat today, despite the fact that I dropped in two pellets just now. He only comes up for a bit of air, and slowly floats down. I turned his filter off so it wouldn't scare him too much, I don't if that's even helping. I just gave him a dose of melafix, to maybe help with cloudy eyes or if it's a fungus infection.

I'm so worried about him, can anyone help me? please, I just need him to be okay again.

I have two pictures just for reference, maybe someone know's what's wrong?
Sorry for the looooong post, I'm just so worried and wanted to cover EVERYTHING just in case it'll help.

Specs on his tank: 2.5 Gallon
Heated: yes, at 76 f.
Filter: yes, whisper filter
Water changes: I do 10% every week, and 100% every two.
Medications I put in tank when water changed: "Cycle" by Nutrafin, API Aquarium salt.
Food: pellets, 'Top Fin', occasionally I give him blood worms
First aid kit includes: Melafix (for open sours, pop eye, eye cloud, open body wounds, fin&tail rot, slime, fungus), Betta Plus, Aquarium salt, Maracide (for Ich, velvet and other external parasites)
Water tested: No


Pictures:
He's just sitting there.
I don't know how to help him.

[Oldfishlady]

Sorry your Betta is not well...for starters you really need to increase your water changes on 2.5g filtered tank to twice weekly 50% along with substrate cleaning with one of the twice weekly water changes-give the filter media a swish/rinse in old tank water a couple of times a month to maintain water flow

Right now I would start by making some 50% daily water changes for 3-4 days and see if this will perk him up and to get all the chemical additive out except for the dechlorinator.

Make sure to use dechlorinator with any new water added to the fish if on city water supply and try to keep the water temp within a couple of degrees between new and old water to prevent temp related problems

I would not use aquarium salt long term

[Adastra]

I agree, you definitely need to increase your water changes and stop using Nutrafin "Cycle". This product is dropping terrestrial bacteria into your tank which cannot live long in water. It starves out the good aquatic bacteria during the brief time it is alive, so as long as you use it, your tank will never be stable. The name of this product always makes me laugh. They should call it Nutrafin "Crash My Cycle."

You might want to start out with doing 100% water changes every 4 days until he shows improvement. You really have no bacteria to preserve at this point because you've been dosing the Nutrafin Cycle, so you should consider putting the fish-in cycle on hold until your poor little guy is feeling better.

Is there any way you could slowly increase the temperature to around 78 degrees? It may help get his metabolism moving a bit faster. High protein foods like frozen blood worms and brine shrimp will give him more energy to fight off whatever is making him sick.

[ohstephyy]

Thanks so much you two :C

I'll definitely be throwing away that 'cycle' stuff... I had no idea it could be so bad for him! I was using it along with the dechloriniator, which is probably a bad thing. The heater I got for him says it only stays at 78, right now the thermometer I have says 76, it'll probably warm up to 78 in a few hours to a day.

Uuh, I really hope my Fred feels better, I'll just start with a 100% right now and go with your advice.

Come to think about it... I've been shirking on my water changes, which is probably why I'm punished with having such a sick fish :C, but i"ll start with a 100% change right now, wait three days and then do another 100%, then 50% after a few days and see if he feels better.

Um, just another quick question? Should I not use aquarium salt for this next water change? Or just use it once every two weeks with changing the tank?

[ohstephyy]

He didn't make it.

[bettafish15]

D: I'm so sorry!

[ohstephyy]

It's okay. I'm just depressed that the first water change didn't do anything and I went out and bought him new live plants and I was hoping that would have cheered him up... and when I got home he was gone. I should have never given him that cycle stuff. I should have known. And now it's too late. He was such a perfect fish too, he was so happy and bubbly. He had such an amazing personality.

Uh.

[Oldfishlady]

Sorry for your loss......you have to be careful changing too much too fast when you have lots of additives in the tank-those sudden changes can really be hard on them especially when they are already compromised and weakened.....

Don't give up it happens to all of us at one point or another.....

Look forward to hearing about and seeing your new wet-pet

[ohstephyy]

Thank you.

I've learned a lot from this website, and even though it was a short time span, I have learned a lot from having Fredward.

I'm going to have to take a week or so for a break before I get another one. i"ll just set up the tank, do some tests and then hopefully a new buddy will find a nice home here, and this time I'll be sure to do the research on the types of medication I'll be using.

[dramaqueen]

I'm so sorry for your loss.