Is my fish sick and/or dying?

[iheartmybettas]

I think there is a sticky on baffling in either the care or habitat section. I just started using live plants so I have very little experience. The plants feed off of the nitrates and help take out ammonia. I just stuck them right in the gravel. They seem to be doing ok but I did get easy plants like amazon sword and umbrella plant. Any sword type is supposed to be easily maintained. Hopefully someone can jump in on that it though with more experience!

[iheartmybettas]

Originally Posted by newbie32

Uh oh. King Fishy is back to laying oddly on the gravel. He's not moving, just laying. Almost like he's taking a nap. He is breathing. I can see his gills moving normally. Or at least what I would think is normal gill movement. I'm back to being concerned. Perhaps he wore himself out when he was attacking his reflection? Maybe he is sick?

Hmmm...I mean he is eating and has been active somewhat. What was the condition of his bowl like at the pet store? He could be sick from before you purchased him or like I said he could be getting used to his environment still. It is so hard to diagnose fish sometimes. My betta hides pretty well all day until I rotate my chair around to look at him and he pops out to say hi.

[newbie32]

He was in a little plastic dish. Water seemed clean. He was pretty active when I picked the dish up. Then I put him in a bowl with water that had been set out for over 24 hours. Gravel on the bottom. He seemed scared in that bowl and didn't do a lot of swimming. When he was moved to the 10 gal, he had a ball swimming around. Now he is half laying on his side on the gravel. His head is kinda up but his body down by his tail is on it's side. I guess you might describe his position as almost twisted. Partially twisted anyway. I walked over there and tapped on the glass. He just looked at me. He doesn't really responed to me being by his tank too much anyway.

The water temp changed. It's about 80 or 82. When I changed the water, the new water must have been warmer than the tank water. Could the water temp change be affecting him?

[iheartmybettas]

Originally Posted by PlakatFighter

Stop doing water changes. I think you are stressing him out by doing so. You need to just give him time to acclimitize to his surrondings and the water. It's best if you don't disturb him and stress him out even more.... perhaps you should cover his tank for the time being and only check up on him once in awhile.

Seriously, I have 17 bettas I am totally sure changing his water is not the issue.

[newbie32]

Well, that can't be the original problem. I hadn't done a water change since he's been in the tank. It's been almost a week. I did the water change by the advice of iheartmybettas. He seemed just fine after that. Then, some time later he is back in his strange laying around phase again.

[iheartmybettas]

If it was a change from 78 to 80 that is probably not the issue. If it is 78 to 82 it could be more of an issue as 4 degrees is quite a change. The reaction to going into shock would have been different though. He perked up after the water change so it is obviouse there is some other issue. All I can really say is what I have already said before, to make sure he water is clean whether that is to just change it frequently or get the test stripes and do it when it registers a stressed level. If you start to see other symptoms like for bacteria or fungus then that has a whole different route of what you should do.

Edit: Maybe he like his temp at 80 and is cold and lays at the bottom when it gets cooler. Just a thought?!

[newbie32]

I really don't understand what's going on. Perhaps he just has a belly ache. I may have fed him too much. I don't think I did, but I could be wrong. Hopefully he will be himself tomorrow and he doesn't pass away over night. I shall report back tomorrow. Thanks everyone for your help!

[iheartmybettas]

Originally Posted by newbie32

I really don't understand what's going on. Perhaps he just has a belly ache. I may have fed him too much. I don't think I did, but I could be wrong. Hopefully he will be himself tomorrow and he doesn't pass away over night. I shall report back tomorrow. Thanks everyone for your help!

:( I hope he is better tomorrow and keep us updated!

[newbie32]

Well, for whatever reason King Fishy seems to be back to normal. Maybe I just overfed him. He has been chasing his reflection all morning. He is currently just sitting there staring at himself. I suppose he is fine and this is just one of his personality quirks. What a strange little fish!

[iheartmybettas]

Haha! Glad to hear! :)