new betta..not sure if healthy

[recenguru]

2.5 gal bowl
pH about 7.6
temperature about 76-78 with little 10w auto heater
fake plant and little castle for hiding
use API betta water conditioner

Bought betta on friday. It is now Monday around the same time i bought it, so its been here for 3 solid days. It hasn't eaten other than the fruit fly that fell in yesterday and disappeared (assuming it was eaten). I have Omega 1 betta buffet, Tetra freeze dried blood worms, and today(monday) i bought Hikari frozen blood worms. I try and give it pellets at morning and at night and it doesn't eat and I've tried both types of bloodworms only once on different days. Can it be that pickey of an eater i should try something else?
Furthermore, he is only using one fin now and the other only to swim fast to another part of the tank. He just keeps the one against his body otherwise. Today he was also primarily staying in his castle. I just did a 50% water change and within the hour i noticed more use of his other fin and not staying in the castle anymore, being very active...i'm guessing he needed that so thats great, but what about his diet i don't want him to starve either.

[Oldfishlady]

Welcome to the forum....

Its not uncommon for a new Betta to go off feeding for up to 10 days and sometimes longer...keep offering the food and remove if he doesn't eat it...Bettas can go a fairly long time without food-so don't worry too much about him starving......

Good that you went ahead and made a water change.....In a 2.5gal unfiltered without live plants-needs twice weekly water changes....1-50% and 1-100% to maintain water quality-provided that uneaten food is removed within a reasonable time......

If the tank is filtered-twice weekly 50%...

Good call on the varied diet...that always best....have you tried the frozen food yet......and if you have access to mosquito larva...offer some rinsed....he will love it.....

Love to see some pics and hear more about your Betta adventures....

[recenguru]

Thank you for the information. Just a few more questions now that you bring up the frozen food...
The worms are in frozen squares, should i just give him one worm and return it to the freezer?
Is the worm enough or should i also give him a pellet (when he finally decides to eat)?
And my little Aqueon auto heater doesn't seem to get the water above 76/77 unless my house gets into the 70's during the day or while i cook. Is that ok or should i get a heater that i can control the temp and raise it a few degrees?

[Oldfishlady]

Frozen food-if you can cut a small piece from the block..about the size of 2 of his eye balls...more or less ....then place that small piece in something and add dechlorinated water or tank water to defrost-shouldn't take a min or less-then rinse-you want to try not to add any of the juice since this can be high in bacteria-use tweezers or a blunt end of a toothpick or something and try to target feed-toss any defrosted-uneaten/unused

I would feed one type of food at a time-small frequent meals....feed a different food for each meal...more varied the better...what one food is missing the other may have to help meet nutritional needs....for example-feed pellets in the AM-frozen in the afternoon-freeze dried for a mid-day snack-flakes in the evening.....something different for each meal.....

The preset type heater usually will only heat the water 5-10 degrees of the room temp....more or less....the adjustable heater will do the same thing-except usually it will only vary by 5 degrees more or less based on room temp....generally, a healthy Betta can tolerate these gradual temp changes based on room temp and day and night temps....sudden extreme changes can be stressful or if the Betta already is compromised in some way......even in small tanks especially without water movement-you can have temp differences within the tank in different levels that the Betta will move to and fro without issues....keeping the water temp somewhat stable in the 76-80F range is generally tolerated by a healthy Betta

How is he today...has he eaten for you.....

[recenguru]

Yesterday it wasn't really any better or worse, and I did a 100% water change, adding API betta water conditioner and API stess coat. i also took a few cups of water out so there isnt such a distance to the top for him.
However, today is not so good. Having problems swimming upright, still not much use of right fin and he just looks bad. Also he is just sitting at the top of the bowl motionless until i check on him and he swims around a bit. Dont really know what to do or give him

[brownmane]

Welcome to TFK. Your betta may still be settling into his new home. He may not have been well when you got him. Keep up with the water changes. He ate two days ago, so he isn't starving. Bettas do get bored and often float doing nothing until someone comes to visit. If he is showing interest in you when you come in, that is a good sign.
He may need some recouperation time. Oldfishlady knows what she is talking about.