Hello everyone,
I bought a new betta fish from PetSmart yesterday and I'm worried that he my already be heading down hill... The worst part is that it might be something I did wrong with the tank. Here is a play by play of what I've done since having him.
I apologise in advance for the novel i'm about to write... I'm just really worried.
When I found him, he wasn't in one of the little cup-tubs that they usually have the bettas in, but instead was in one of the big tanks on the wall, all by himself. He seems quite small for what I'm used to, but I don't know what significance that may have. At the store, he looked healthy, if a litle quiet, but had good healthy coloring and full, clean, even fins that he held semi-flared.
I brought him home in one of the bags they give you and sat him on my desk while I prepared the small 1.5 gallon tank I have. (I know that this is very small, but I am due to move back home in about a week, and didn't want to have to trasport the big tank with him in it.)
Here's where I think I messed up, based on what I've been reading since about tank preparation. I was wary of my dorm water, so I used my roommates Britta filter to fill the tank. I put the tank thermometer in place as well as the small 2-15 gal heater I have. I let the heater run in the water for about an hour to make sure the temperature was stable before I put him in. However, even though the box for the heater dsays it will maintain a 78 degree tank it stayed consistently at about 72. This was still within the "green" range on my thermometer, so I thought it'd be OK. I then floated him for another half hour and then emptied him and the water in the bag into the tank. I fed him 3 frozen (not freeze dried) blood worms-- which he ate-- and then went to sleep. The next morning I looked in on him and saw him sticking quite close to the heater, but was in a rush so I had to leave (even before I could feed him :/).
It wasn't for another 8 or so hours that I came home and he was still sticking really closely to the heater. I tried to feed him, but he ignored the food. I tried to make him flare with a mirror (to see how reactive he was), but he swam away from it, resting at the bottom, behind the heater, or wherever else he swam away to. An hour later, he was still quite listess, hanging at the top of the tank with his labrynth organ at the surface, his fins clamped tight (as they had been since the stressful bag-ride). I then noticed that the water that I had only put in there the night before was really cloudy (a yellowy cloudy like plant water, not milky). I decided to change him to a 1 gallon jar, with tap water (retaining 50 percent of the old water) I also put 7 drops each of amquel and novaqua plus before adding him.
He still wont eat and is resting up on the submurged part of the sloped log toy I have in there for him. What is there that I can do to improve his situation. I used a test strip and his old water read normally (General Hardness-0, Carbonate Hardness-40, PH-6.5, NO2-0, NO3-20). His new water reads the same but with 0 for NO3.
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
Similar Threads
