Daughter's Betta Sick

[curlyfish]

Housing
What size is your tank? 1.5gallon
What temperature is your tank? 76 degrees
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? not sure
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Tetra BettaMin tropical medley
How often do you feed your betta fish? now 1x/day, but he's not eating; used to feed him 2x/day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? partial every few days
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? about 1/3
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? bowl buddies

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? NO If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? not sure
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? sits on bottom and hides, does not swim unless provoked
When did you start noticing the symptoms? 2 months started swimming less, but worse last 2 weeks with not eating
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Changing filter more
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no
How old is your fish (approximately)? got him from Petco 18 months ago

Very concerned that he will no longer eat and that he basically just sleeps all the time. yesterday when I tapped teh tank to get him to wake up and eat it looked like he was struggling to swim and still he ate nothing. I have been skimming off the uneaten food daily. Any help you can provide is appreciated.

[BerkB33]

If his appearance hasn't changed noticably (bloated belly, white spots on skin, scales pine coning, etc.?) then he may just be aging. Theoretically they can live 4 to 5 years, however, it's more practical to figure 2 to 3 years. That's MY opinion. So...he could be reaching his "golden years."

Here's what I would do...change about 65% to 75% of his water...making sure to keep temperature the same as the tanks currently...and add a teaspoon of aquarium salt to the new water.

Without being able to SEE him it's very hard to give you more information. Good Luck.

[Oldfishlady]

Welcome to the forum and sorry your Betta isn't well.....

As BerkB33 has posted...it may be age related...sadly, this is not a longed lived species to start...average lifespan being 2-3 years..rarely reaching 4-5 years....however, don't give up....I would start by making some daily 50% water changes with like temp dechlorinated water....you may want to invest in a different type of dechlorinator like Prime by Seachem....hold all food for now and hopefully he will perk up after 2-3 days of water changes and start to eat for you....turn off the filter and lower the water level by half since he is struggling to swim

If not perked up after the improved water quality-I would QT in a small container that can be floated in the heated tank to maintain a temp in the 76-77F range and start a Epsom salt(Not aquarium salt) treatment, tannins along with 100% daily water changes with some pre-mixed treatment water for 10-14 days.....

Pre-mixed treatment water-1gal jug of dechlorinated water-Add Epsom salt 2tsp/gal and tannins-either IAL or dried Oak leaf-let this steep for about an hour before use and shake well...use this pre-mix treatment water for 50% water change while he is in the small QT container on the first day of treatment-he need to stay in this treatment water all the time during the treatment-in 24h-make 100% water change using the pre-mixed treatment water-this water should look darker as the tannins steep releasing more tannins and this is what you want-making sure the treatment water and QT water are close to the same temp so not to shock him......make these 100% daily water changes with the pre-mixed treatment water for the next 10-14 days.....

Nutrition is really important- once he start to feel better he should start to eat, however, if you have access to any live foods like mosquito larva this can help stimulate his hunting/feeding instinct to get him eating again.....if not frozen is a good choice too....feed small frequent meals removing any uneaten food...

Good luck and keep us posted.....

[curlyfish]

Thanks for the tips and concern. I am worried and have been prepping dear daughter that her beloved fish may be getting old (sleeping a lot and eating little.)
How does aquarium salt differ from other salts?
What is scale coning?
His body color looks good, but his head looks a bit splotchy (white spots) and where his fins attach to his body, looks almost greyish dirty.
I just lowered the water level and turned off the filter.
I will try to get to the store tomorrow to purchase the tannins.

[Oldfishlady]

Good that you are prepping your daughter...it can be hard sometimes depending on the child age......

Aquarium salt is sodium chloride and Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate...although both have antibacterial/fungal properties they have some different actions as well as same actions in regard to effectiveness/treatment for Bettas...

Scale coning-I think you may be think of pine-cone-when the scale of the fish stick up due to excessive swelling...usually when you see this symptom the Betta is in system shut down and not much can be done at that point except to keep them comfy.....

Color changes-head, body, fins going lighter in color, hump back, sagging fins can be signs of aging sometimes....not always....

Tannins- depending on your location-often pet shops don't sell IAL (Indian almond leaf) usually have to get this on-line.....if you have Oak trees...you can use naturally dried and fallen from the tree Oak leaf...10-12 crushed per gallon of water-this is what I use....

Good luck.....

[curlyfish]

THANKS! My daughter is 4 but aware of death and knows she will miss Curly her fish. We do have Oak trees, so I'll look for some leaves. I just changed his water and de-chlorinated it. He's acting and looking like an old person:(

[roadrunner]

18 months that's nice age for betta. I was wondering if it also could be buildup of nitrates. You should be doing 100% WC in tank that size. When you change 1/3 of water, do you usually vacuum bottom of the tank? It's really important to clean fish poop and food leftovers from the bottom, especially if you do not have live plants.
Oh and when you change water, make sure that the water temperature is pretty close to the temp he is in.

[BerkB33]

"Old Fish Lady" knows her stuff...if you do what she says you'll be doing all you can...