His last moments

[Kiku]

My betta is going to die, I can tell the poor thing won't last the night. His illness presented itself the same way my previous betta's did...acting slightly lethargic for one day with no real issues, sudden fin rot (over the course of one day), and then "vibrations" (his whole body appears to be vibrating somehow) as well as sudden paleness. Water changes and aquarium salt either did nothing or made him worse, it's hard to tell. I've moved him from his 10 gallon tank to a one gallon bowl to make him more comfortable, and add a little bit of aquarium salt for luck. I can tell the poor baby won't be alive when I wake up. What on EARTH is this? It's so fast-acting I simply never know what to use....
And is there any other way I can make his last night more comfortable?

[DormDrax]

... I find this odd when people seem to mention that their fish die of the same problem... a previous fish died of.

I was thinking your case over... and I came to an interesting conclusion.

*Leans back in chair with hands together in Triangle*

Perhaps it's something in your water that water tests don't... test for. Something obscure like a chemical or metal that is harmless to us but lethal to small fish.

Maybe have your water tested for ... everything. Wouldn't it be spooky if something came up and you post it and think of all the betta's you'd be saving if you found this out.

Like my water is very hard naturally, but St. Louis is known for it's clean water so I don't really need to worry about anything bad in the water.

The water in America isn't nearly as clean as we think or assume. Some area's it is such as ... well St. Louis and a few others but other area's it can be quite badly filtered.

An API test tests several things but who knows what ELSE is in there. Especially if these symptoms are the same as your past fish...

[c4talys7]

Could try and keep him warm? I'm sorry about your Betta and I can unfortunately not offer any explanation. But like DormDrax said, it could be just something the kit doesn't test for.

[DormDrax]

It just seems obvious when you think of the situation!

Kind of like how we have a Carbon Monoxide Detector, you can't see it or smell it, yet if it's there it's lethal. As well as could come from anything. Now this is a gas... something lethal to us that can sometimes leak into house from things.

Anyway, I'm bored so I'll look into some common water impurities that can harm fish in the ways it sounds like yours is suffering.

I'll be back soon with some info hopefully.

[HarleyRigid]

Just a thought... have your fish had the same tank set up? I mean substrate, decos etc? Is it the same tank?
I ask because if you are using the same equipment it may be something in your tank leaching chemicals. Maybe the plastic of a deco or the pigment off something... maybe even if the tank was second hand a leak repaired with non safe sealant...
as I said... just a thought.
Hoping for a fishtacular recovery for you.
Was OFL able to help you?
As far as making your betta feel better goes she has top notch natural remedies
Always worth a shot

[Bettaluver4evr]

I agree 100% with DormDrax and HarleyRigid. There might be something unusual and impossible to test for at home in your tank. Petco provides free water testing, if you have one of those near you. Or maybe some substrate or plants are leaking something deadly. Have you ever rinsed the plants or decor with soap or bleached them? Or have you bleached the tank? I am very sorry for your poor betta fish. :/

[Littlebittyfish]

I'm starting to feel the same way about my tap water,something HAS to be in my tap water, my fish was fine in his 2 gallon bowl with spring water. I moved him to his 5 gallon with tap water and water conditoner and now he has a bad case of fin rot.

And, I am very sorry to hear about your fishy.

[DormDrax]

I tried looking up some information but this just really isn't a well researched...

If your from St. Louis I can safely say you shouldn't worry. We aren't the best city on the map but from what I learned in my Geology course last semester we have a very sophisticated cleaning and filtration system for our water. If we didn't our water would be even HARDER and taste horrible not from pollution but from minerals in our water table. Kind of why in Florida I noticed the water just seemed salty, probably some residual salt that would be VERY costly to remove. ...then again that was a cheap hotel.

... Hmm I did read somewhere that there is a certain type of plastic that can cause cancer in fish from chemical leaching... Which is why I went with glass heh...

All I can ask is that you tell me where you are from and I can research the water quality, maybe there's a mineral in there... or worse, a chemical from some run off from a plant that is in your water...
As scary as that is, and somewhat crazy... it's not at all impossible.
Think of it as the Canary being used by miners to detect gas... if the Canary stopped singing or died, they would vacate the mine.
Perhaps something sensitive like a fish can sense the same thing with water. If you've ruled out everything else such as tainted decor, or chemicals leeching from the tank itself... then maybe you should have your water professionally tested. I wouldn't go to petsmart. If you read my experience they just use test strips... nothing super sophisticated.

Didn't I read that certain metals hurt betta's?

[demonr6]

I never trusted our tap water. We had a full Kinetico system installed a few months ago. Yeah it is soft water now but I would prefer that over whatever heebie jeebies are in my unfiltered water. I get our fish water from the main system outside prior to hitting the salt tank so it always comes sparkling clean on the API. :)

[Wildcat]

Hi....Is it good to purchase Spring water or Distilled water for water changes? Say better than using my tap water? And wold you still use the water conditioners, etc? Thanks.