Female Betta not looking too good

[gigist]

Greetings,

First and foremost, thank you in advance for any advice/help.

My 5 month female betta is not looking too good (sitting at the bottom of the cup just to get air, however, now she happens to be floating fine -- scratch that, now she's sitting on the bottom again). Picture attached.

I just did a 80% water change from a 10 gallon tank, I transfer her by putting the cup in the water and she'll just swim right in (so she wasn't hurt).

I washed all her plants with WATER only and placed them back into the tank (including the rocks). Filled it with tap water, added the de chlorinator, waited 20 minutes and placed her into the water. The water in the cup was 72 degrees to 79 degrees in the tank.

She started to swim around like normal, but when I checked up on her she was breathing heavily and swimming really quick (back and forth). So I grabbed some spring water, pulled her from the tank into the cup with the spring water and just now added some beta-fix.

My girlfriend says she sees some sort of mold coming off of her (confirmed, pretty large pieces *picture attached too* -- and it now looks like it's growing on her now after putting the beta-fix). Odd because she was perfectly fine until she got in the tank.

I'm thinking since I cleaned the rocks with the rock vacuum cleaner, all the shit was still floating around (since we have no pump) got stuck in her gills. I have no clue.

Anyways, sorry for the confusing style of post as I am type as I see it happen.

THANKS a lot!

[gigist]

After adding some more beta-fix, the mold is like shedding from her now. Should I be replacing the water?

Seems as though it was a mold issue, but that doesn't explain all this happening when her water was changed. I thought it was a PH problem/ hard water, so I just added water conditioner to the tank (which is sitting empty until she gets better).

[gigist]

She goes from a still position to swiming around very violently to get water (even swimming backwards). I;m afriad she is hurting herself.

Moving her now to fresh water.

[Sakura8]

Hi gigist and welcome to the forum. I'm sorry to hear your girl is acting sick. How long have you had her? There should be a sticky at the top of the forum so if you could fill that out, it would really help us help you. But just from what you've said, I wonder if she isn't developing a fungus. But once we get some more info from the sticky, we'll be able to tell a little more what could be wrong. In the meantime, keep an eye on her and post back immediately if she takes a turn for the worse.

Oops, family friendly here! Gotta watch the language. (Forum rules, not mine, don't hit the messenger ^_^)

[gigist]

Doesn't look like she's breathing now.

[gigist]

Thanks for your time all :/. She's not moving nor breathing.

I'll look through the sticky for future care.

[Sakura8]

I'm so sorry, gigist. Was her behavior very sudden? Or had she been acting funny for a few days? I'm sorry we couldn't help her in time. You obviously cared about her because you came to the forum for help. :(

One more note regarding proper disposal. Just don't flush the body. Bury it, burn it, or wrap it in newspape and put in the trash. Flushing could harm the environment etc etc.

If you decide to get another betta, please do keep posting and we'll help you all we can.

[gigist]

It was very sudden :/. We also have a male in the same tank (it was divided) and he seems fine (swimming normal). He's just not eating right now... I guess he's really stressed from all this (looking for her :/).

Eh, I dunno what else to say :/. Wish I could have done more.

[gigist]

Sorry about curse word, I cannot edit it from the org post.

[Sakura8]

Oh, don't worry about the curse word. It, uh, happens. Especially when you are losing a fish. I'm very sorry about that. Keep an eye on your male and if he starts to show any of the symptoms your female did, post right away. For now, you're right, he could easily be stressed from losing his tankmate. Post too if he hasn't started eating again after a few days. I hope your male does okay.