Female dead this morning

[jschristian44]

So my older female who was probably about a year old, started not eating when I fed her. She hid a lot but I thought that was just normal because they like to hide usually. But I woke up and found her dead in the bowl this morning. I used water conditioner and everything else like I had. I did try a new substrate, but all my other fish didn't mind it at all? Anyone know why she just died?

[Sakura8]

Did you do anything different beside the substrate? And how long did she go without eating? It's possible she had something wrong with her to begin with and the substrate change was just a coincidence.

Also, I'm sorry to hear of your loss. It's too bad she passed so suddenly like that.

[jschristian44]

i didnt do anything besides changing the subsrate. she went like a week or so without eating. she did eat sometimes which made me think she wasnt hungry the other times. i dont know what happened.

[gbose]

Wondering if changing the sub-strate affected your tank's cycle. Test your ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and see if it's still cycled...?

GB

[Sakura8]

Well . . . the average betta life is 1-3 years and who knows how old she was before you got her (unless you bred her yourself). It's possible it was just old age. But I agree, definitely test your water parameters. Substrate does hold some of that beneficial bacteria necessary to neutralize ammonia.

[jschristian44]

well they were in 2.5 gallons and 5 gallon tank. i just went in my room and found my male betta laying on the ground dead. what can i do. i have one female betta left and she is young. what can i do with her that she doesnt die? i change my water every other day in these 2 tanks so i dont think water chemisty had anything to do with that? i dont have a test kit anymore or i would have tested it. its just regular bath water with water conditioner in it. his fins did look torn up maybe she just got really made and killed him. they were both in the 5 gallon. normaly i wouldnt keep 2 bettas together, but the tank is big enough and they got along so well when they were in there, its like they were best friends. now she has no one and she is my last betta. dont know what to do.

[Sakura8]

The surefire way to tell if your female killed your male is to see if he looks really beat up. Even though they peacefully coexisted for a time, what probably happened is one came into breeding condition and the other did not. Because the male is dead, I assume he was not ready to breed - perhaps he was younger than the female or not in as good of condition. Your female probably killed him because he wouldn't leave her territory. In the wild, the female would have chased the male away so another male who WAS ready to breed could come but in your tank, he had nowhere to go so she just wailed on him until he died. This is the reason why a male and female cannot be kept in the same tank, especially a small one. The only time they CAN be kept together is in a very large tank with many females per one male and lots and lots of hiding spots for the females to retreat to. More females means no one female gets picked on to the death. This setup can be done but unless you are trying your hand at "natural" breeding, it is not recommended ever.

Keep an eye on your female to make sure she is not exhibiting any strange behavior and keep the water very clean. And you might want to pick up a new testing kit.

[jschristian44]

well i kind of already knew that, but they were in there for like a month and got along very very well. he was a little beat up, but that might be because she was nibbling him when he was dead or something. both these fish dying in the same day or two leads me to believe something is wrong with the water. the only thing i ever changed was the substrate though. but the new guppies are doing fine in it.

[Sakura8]

Hmm, could be the water. I'd suggest a test kit so you can find out for sure. And I still heartily advise never housing males and females together. Once they get into breeding condition, everything changes and that's when things get aggressive. It's like a Jekyll and Hyde thing. A change of substrate shouldn't have had that drastic of an effect but again, the only way to find out is to test the water.