Fishy near death!

[tsoto80]

Sometimes it takesa few days for the betta to warm up to you so that may be why he is not eating. They like freeze dried and frozen brine shrimp or blood worms. Maybe try those. With my first betta it took a week before he started chowing down on pellets (I have micro pellets). Dont worry to much he'll come around ;)

[Oddsock]

Thanks for the help everyone.

My girlfriend has refused to get a heater for Gulpy, her rationale being that when she takes him to her college dorm in a day or two the warmth of the room will keep him happy. Maybe or maybe not, but I'm irritated with the fish being frozen up until now.

We bought three different kinds of tropical fish food: Freeze-dried bloodworms, some TetraColor flakes, and some other kind that is also a flake variety. I'm not sure if it's smart to put in all three at once and see what he eats but that's what we did. He hasn't gone for anything so far and we'll definitely fish out what he doesn't eat.

So one of you said that maybe it will take him a few days to get up to eating after he's nice and warm? I'll tell my girlfriend and have her keep that in mind.

[Oddsock]

Just an update, he still isn't eating anything we got him. I'm really worried about him.

[lilchiwolf]

Your girlfriend refuses to get a heater for him??? Thats not cool, bettas need warm and humid environments to thrive. IF you want him to be more active he needs warm water all the time. There are some nice heaters for a nice price at mijers. Unless you have a warm room that keeps the water at 80`F all the time get one and get a thermometer so you can keep track.

[JessG]

Also, and I hate to say this, but look at the ingredients for your fish food. The tropical fish food might be veggie based fish food for general tropical aquariums. Bettas are carnivores and need meat based food. Look for ingredients that include fish meal.

Pellets specifically for Bettas are the best thing I've found for my fish so far. We also feed the Aqueon ones. They're small, and you can get them at Petsmart.

If he's too cold, it's probably killing his appetite. For a small tank, I had nice luck with the hydron mini heater. It's a tiny black pad that goes under the pebbles and it kept my small aquarium nice and toasty, and it was really cheap. Do get a thermometer though. It helps to know exactly what temperature you're dealing with, and you can go from there.

Good luck,

Jess

[turtle10]

Aww poor fish :(

Even if your girlfriend's dorm is warm, bettas also need constant temperature, not just warm. If she can't give it proper care maybe you could take it in?

[Oddsock]

I'm thinking of it. I feel horrible.

I just changed his water but I think I did something wrong. When I put him in his holding cup he swam around either frantically or happily, gulping water and all that, then he decided to sink to the bottom and sit there.

When I changed the water, using the conditioner and everything, he pretty much instantly sank to the bottom as he seems to do and is sitting there just moving his gill a little bit. I'm terrified that I'm killing him somehow.

Does anyone have any clue of what I can do?!!?

[Oddsock]

He's laying on his side now but still breathing. He's never done this before.

Is it a problem if there are bubbles clinging to the side of the tank? Does that indicate anything problematic for him?

I fear it's too late to help him now, but I still want to know anything we can do.

[peachesxo]

Bubbles on the side of the tank are a good sign (bubblenest) but the rest of the things you are describing are not. Laying on his side at the bottom is a very bad sign from my experience, I'm afraid :(

[turtle10]

Get a heater asap. If he is starting to get sick, cold water will make it 20x worse. What conditioner are you using and how much?