Bo the Betta not feeling well

[Rbrtkln]

So my Betta, Bo, has not been normal for 4 or 5 days now. He was not eating and staying at the bottom of the tank. I'm not sure exactly what is wrong but we treated his water with sea salt the last three days and he was doing much better yesterday, swimming at the top and eating. Today, a little more lethargic. Yesterday I kept the filter off because I thought it might be hindering his ability to swim. Today, I had it on most of the day. Some specifics, A one gallon tank which I plan to switch to a 2.5 gallon. I have a heater set at 78 degrees.

My first question is does the filter, which is a carbon filter, reduce the effectiveness of the sea salt? Second, I'm thinking we give him some medicine that covers a wide variety of possible diseases. What is the best stuff and three, if we give him medicine, again, should we keep the filter off?

Thank you and hopefully Bo thanks you.

[Oldfishlady]

Welcome to the forum and sorry your Betta is not well...have a few more questions....

In the 1g filtered tank-how much and how often are the water changes, and when was the last one, additives used, live plants, how long has he been in this tank, and how much and what kind of food before he stopped eating, how much sea salt did you use/add and is this the first time he has been sick...how long have you had him.

[Rbrtkln]

Thank you. We have had him for 4 months and this is the first time he has been sick. We changed his water 1 day and 4 days ago, 100%. I'm afraid before that, we didn't change it often enough but plan to change that habit. We use filtered tap water and water conditioner. We have live plants, colored rocks, and a little cave. We feed him pellets, about 4 per day, twice a day before he stopped eating and blood worms on occasion. We have been using about 5 ml salt for the 1 gallon tank.

[Oldfishlady]

Sounds like the effect of poor water quality-I would increase the water changes to 50-100% daily for a few days and see if that won't perk him up and then on a regular schedule of 50% twice a week with the filter running 24h/day...when you turn off the filter the good bacteria can die without the oxygenated water flow and the decay in turn- turns to ammonia-be sure and dump the water from the filter and give the media a good rinse in either old tank water or dechlorinated water before you turn it back on if it has been off more than 6 hours.

If he doesn't perk up after a couple of water changes I would do a 10 day aquarium salt 1tsp/gal treatment along with 100% daily water changes in a small QT container that can be floated in the heated tank to maintain the water temp in the 76-80F range

Be careful adding salt to the main tank with the live plants-some can be sensitive to the sodium chloride and rot/die polluting the tank and making things worse...what kind and how many plants

[Rbrtkln]

I'm sorry, the plants are fake. So I assume the filter doesn't decrease the effectiveness of the salt? or is that why you are saying to do the treatments in a smaller container?

[Oldfishlady]

No, the filter has no effect on the salts-treatment are best completed in Qt in general-this helps to make water changes, dosages and observation easier...part of natural treatment and one of the best medications for freshwater fish...is fresh, clean, dechlorinated water.....in my experience.....

Both aquarium salt (sodium chloride_ and Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) are great for treatment when used in the correct dosage, duration and reason..

[Rbrtkln]

Just an update, Bo is doing much better. Thank you.

[Oldfishlady]

Great...good to hear he is doing better....