Upgraded his tank and now he's sick :(

[rockin3]

I have a betta fish that I inherited from a laid off coworker, and have been responsible for him for over a year. He's about 3-4 years old. I recently changed jobs and brought him home, where I decided I wanted to upgrade him from his 1 gallon bowl. I got a 2.5 gal tank, which has glass rocks at the bottom, one of those painted tiki hut fish decorations, and a faux plant. I use water conditioner and aquarium salt, but I don't have a filter. (Actually as a side note, if anyone has some suggestions about how to go about putting one in, I'd be interested. I have no idea how to use one.) I completely clean the bowl/tank once a week.

Anyway, he seemed super happy the first day and was incredibly active. Then he started to get sickly. This happened to him a few months ago, but after a week of using bettafix he got better (however, that time his fins had some obvious damage). Anyway, he has no obvious exterior problems, besides his color looking dull. (I checked all the stuff on bettatalk.com about diseases, and he really only matches depression.) He's still eating, just not as much, and he's not swimming much. He also isn't very responsive to people. I've been using betta fix for the past three days, and I put in a little betta heater (I have a thermometer in the tank to watch it). The night after I moved him to the new tank, it got really cold, and his water temperature dropped a lot. So I don't know if it's something to do with the temp drop or the new tank.

Any ideas and suggestions would be appreciated!

[Oldfishlady]

Welcome to the forum and sorry you are having problems....

How many days has he been at your house....and what is the source water in regards to changing from work to home, how did you acclimate him to the new source water, what is the water temp, what did the temp change to and from.....how much salt are you using and have you been using it long term or just since he got sick......

The one thing that stick out to me is his age.....sadly, this is a rather short lived species and you may be seeing end of life signs/symptoms....

Life span is normally 2-3 years-rarely 5 years......

[rockin3]

Originally Posted by Oldfishlady

Welcome to the forum and sorry you are having problems....

How many days has he been at your house....and what is the source water in regards to changing from work to home, how did you acclimate him to the new source water, what is the water temp, what did the temp change to and from.....how much salt are you using and have you been using it long term or just since he got sick......

The one thing that stick out to me is his age.....sadly, this is a rather short lived species and you may be seeing end of life signs/symptoms....

Life span is normally 2-3 years-rarely 5 years......

He's been at the house for about a week and a half. He previously had a two week stopover at another person's house while I was on vacation between jobs. At all three locations tap water was used (but from three different towns) then the water conditioner and salt. As for acclimating I just used warm water and let it sit for a while before he went back in. I've been using salt since the time he got sick a few months ago. I put about a teaspoon size in with each water change. He moved to the new tank on Saturday, then Sunday night the temp dropped a lot.

[Arashi Takamine]

Ouch you may want to be more careful. If you keep adding salt you'll turn the fresh-water into salt-water. You need to use a heater at all times and turn it up to eighty if you have to. Betta's are cold blooded fish.

[rockin3]

Originally Posted by Arashi Takamine

Ouch you may want to be more careful. If you keep adding salt you'll turn the fresh-water into salt-water. You need to use a heater at all times and turn it up to eighty if you have to. Betta's are cold blooded fish.

So the aquarium salt is bad then? The stuff I have is API Aquarium Salt. It says for freshwater fish, and use a 1/2 teaspoon per gallon.

[Oldfishlady]

Long term salt use is not needed or recommended for this species of fish...it is great for short term treatment when used for the right reason, dosage and duration.......

What did the temp drop too....and what is the current temp....

[rockin3]

Oh forgot, in regards to the temp drop, it probably went from 75 to 60? Possibly a bit lower? That's just a guess though, as this was before I had a thermometer in the tank. I didn't have the heat on in the house.

I've got it up to 70 now with the heater.

**Side note, PetCo lady told me to put the salt in each time I changed the water back when he originally was sick :/

***Another side note, PetSmart lady told me to get the little betta heater and advised me against the one that was set to keep the temp at 78 :( This little one is only raising the water 5 degrees above room temp.

[rockin3]

Ahhh...I had an idea that a local fish store confirmed. Could the Tiki Hut be leaching chemicals? It was like $15 from PetSmart. Have you guys had bad experiences with these types of decorations? Here's the specific one: http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...ductId=4008715
The one on the top right.

I'm going to take it out and change the water when I get home from work. Hopefully my betta lasts the day!!!

[rockin3]

UPDATE

I switched him back to the one gallon bowl and the old decorations. I didn't put his new heater in either. He's now almost completely better! What?!? Do you think the big tank made him lonely or something? Ah well, I have a new home for another betta I guess.

[Oldfishlady]

Could be....some Betta don't/can't tolerate large spaces as well as others....especially males with large heavy fins...they can get really tired and stressed with too much space and filtration/water movement.....hope he keeps getting better for you.....