[arackstein89]

Housing:
How many gallons is your tank? Was in a 3.5 gallon until 3 hrs ago, now 10 gallon. Matched the safe parameters from that of old tank, temperature also same. Was informed he has issues a few days ago.
Does it have a filter? YES
Does it have a heater? Didn't need it
What temperature is your tank? 80
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? 3.5 gallon NO, 10 gallon YES
Does your Betta have tank mates? What kind? NO

Food:
What food brand do you use? Aqueon
Do you feed flakes or pellets? Pellets
Freeze-dried? Bloodworms a couple times as a treat but he dodnt eat them as far as I know
How often do you feed your Betta? How much? 2 times 5-6 pellets each time

Maintenance:
Before your Betta became ill how often did you perform a water change? I did not
What percentage of water did you change? DNE
What is the source of your water? Tap cycled for over a month before I bought him
Do you vacuum the substrate or just dip out water? DNE
What additives do you use other than conditioner? What brand of conditioner? Tetra Aquasafe plus

Water Parameters:
What are your water parameters? Please give exact numbers. If tested by pet store please get exact numbers. "Fine" or "Safe" won't help us help you. Important: Test your water before the regular water change; not after one.

These are from the 3.5 gallon obviously. (Just bought strips today to help make the switch to new aquarium. Just saw the members warning post to me a few min ago)

Ammonia: just realized these tests didnt include it
Nitrite:. .5
Nitrate: 30-40
pH: 8.2-8.4
Hardness (GH) 150-300
Alkalinity (KH):120-180

Symptoms and Treatment:
When did you first notice the symptoms? Didn't think there was a problem
How has your Betta’s appearance changed? He's gotten huge, recently noticed his fins looking sharp or splitting but thought it was OK or maybe always like that just he's bigger now
How has your Betta’s behavior changed? Seemed fine
Is your Betta still eating? Not as much but assumed I was feeding him too much bc recently started giving more pellets
Have you started treating your Betta? If so, how? No but aquarium swap might help
Does your Betta have any history of being ill? Not sure
How long have you owned your Betta? 4-6 months maybe
Was he or she ill or suffering some sort of damage when purchased? Maybe, I don't know.

I posted these same pictures on another post and the moderator told me mine has issues and to make a post under this thread. Upon reading about issues, maybe he has fin rot caused by not cleaning water...and over feeding. I would find him up near surface by filter sometimes but thought it was OK since they say to put hammock leaf 3/4" from surface. His was on other side and I only saw him use it once. A month ago I moved his tank to a different spot in my room. About a month ago is when I started noticing all of this. Which is also why I bought 10 gallon tank and began to cycle it in case he needed more oxygen too. Also i noticed he kind of shimmers when he swims sometimes. I thought he was just excited I was home or when he was about to be fed. He used to get extra excited whenever I interacted with him. Again, for the last month or so he only gets excited.. New aquarium has a pump and bubble stone. Everything he does has me worrying now that I'm told he has issues. Also when I made the switch earlier I put the filter cartridge in with the one with the new setup.. Guessing that wasn't a good idea but idk. Please help! pictures were in old aquarium

 

[arackstein89]

 

[arackstein89]

Im hoping he is OK just needs some T. L. C and better housekeeping on my part.

 

[eastumn]

His fins do look a bit tattered. The good thing is that he still looks vibrant and not sickly/pale.

Nitrites are supposed to be 0. You likely had a significant amount of ammonia as well if you did not water change your 3.5g. If I'm not misunderstanding, it's also likely your tank did not cycle. You cannot cycle a tank without doing water changes.

You are right. He will likely get better with just consistent water changes and general good care.

In case he has damaged fins, I'd get some aquarium salt (table salt will hurt your fish) and dose it accordingly with each 100% water change, which I suggest you do every 3 days. Aquarium salt helps with infections and improves the fish's immune system. It is OK to dose with aquarium salt even if he doesn't have an infection, but it will NOT evaporate, so you need to be careful that you're not overdosing.

After he gets a bit better, cycle your tank. I don't recommend you do a fish-in cycle when he is I'll because it may cause more stress. But fish-in after he is stronger should be just fine.

Keep an eye on him to see if he develops any other symptoms like not eating, bloating, lethargy, floating, etc.

Another thing I'd suggest is try to keep light levels and activity to a minimum. It will help him calm down and encourage faster healing.

 

[Feanor]

I second doing regular water changes.

For now, I‘d do four 25% changes a couple of hours apart.


I‘d also get a siphon to vacuum the gravel as left over food and poop will cause unhealthy water parameters.

You could use it with every partial water change. You‘ll find videos online how to do it and I‘m sure you‘ll get the hang of it quickly.

Go from one spot to the next and shovel the siphon deep into the gravel until water runs clear.

I can‘t see his fins really well but would recommend to put an Indian Almond Leave in his tank or let a bag of plain, unscented Rooibos Tea float until water gets tanned.
Both have antibacterial and antifungal properties and Bettas like them.

 

[RussellTheShihTzu]

Your boy does appear to have fin rot. Take heart, though. It is not very bad. If he is already in the 10 gallon, a two-gallon water change 2 x weekly will help keep his water especially clean. I took in a Betta with fin rot worse that your boy's and all I did was the 2 x weekly water changes and kept Indian Almond Leaves or plain Rooibos Tea in the tank.

As long as he is eating and fairly active he should be fine. But if he stops eating or doesn't seem to have energy we'll have to up his treatment. I don't think that's going to happen; however, you need to know what to look for. If you want to get some frozen Bloodworms or shrimp I'm sure he'll be pleased. Many of mine haven't cared for freeze dried, either.

To also help, here is the Forum's cycling tutorial CYCLING: the two-sentence tutorial You will need an Ammonia test. I'd change at .25 ppm Ammonia or Nitrites instead of .50 ppm. Adding the old filter media was a great idea. You can rinse it either in treated tap water or old aquarium water.

Glad you found the Forum. We will do our best for you.

 

[arackstein89]

Q

 

[arackstein89]

Your boy does appear to have fin rot. Take heart, though. It is not very bad. If he is already in the 10 gallon, a two-gallon water change 2 x weekly will help keep his water especially clean. I took in a Betta with fin rot worse that your boy's and all I did was the 2 x weekly water changes and kept Indian Almond Leaves or plain Rooibos Tea in the tank.

As long as he is eating and fairly active he should be fine. But if he stops eating or doesn't seem to have energy we'll have to up his treatment. I don't think that's going to happen; however, you need to know what to look for. If you want to get some frozen Bloodworms or shrimp I'm sure he'll be pleased. Many of mine haven't cared for freeze dried, either.

To also help, here is the Forum's cycling tutorial CYCLING: the two-sentence tutorial You will need an Ammonia test. I'd change at .25 ppm Ammonia or Nitrites instead of .50 ppm. Adding the old filter media was a great idea. You can rinse it either in treated tap water or old aquarium water.

Glad you found the Forum. We will do our best for you.

I got back from work today, he mostly is laying on the rocks, and will swim to me eventually when I stand in front of tank. He is not eating much but is eating. I think the current from the new filter is too much for him which can't be good for stress right now. As I write this he swam up to me went back and forth and then settled down in the corner on the bottom. This sucks. I forgot to mention I bought this fish for my nephew and ended up keeping it myself haha. He just swam back to see me swam around, got launched by the filter current and settled behind a plant where he can't be seen. Even the bubbler on as low as I can get it seems to give him trouble. It's weird, I bought another one 2 months ago, who is way smaller and in a 5 gallon tank with Same filter but i don't see him get launched by the current or anything like I do this guy

 

[arackstein89]

I second doing regular water changes.

For now, I‘d do four 25% changes a couple of hours apart.


I‘d also get a siphon to vacuum the gravel as left over food and poop will cause unhealthy water parameters.

You could use it with every partial water change. You‘ll find videos online how to do it and I‘m sure you‘ll get the hang of it quickly.

Go from one spot to the next and shovel the siphon deep into the gravel until water runs clear.

I can‘t see his fins really well but would recommend to put an Indian Almond Leave in his tank or let a bag of plain, unscented Rooibos Tea float until water gets tanned.
Both have antibacterial and antifungal properties and Bettas like them.

 

[arackstein89]

 

[Feanor]

You could add some tall silk plants. They are soft enough for his fins and will provide some shady resting places with less current.

After a while he will get strong enough and won‘t mind the flow. One of my Veil Tails is in a double Hang-on back filtered tank and swims against the water outlet like a trout. He has calm places between the plants, so is free to choose.

 

[arackstein89]

You could add some tall silk plants. They are soft enough for his fins and will provide some shady resting places with less current.

After a while he will get strong enough and won‘t mind the flow. One of my Veil Tails is in a double Hang-on back filtered tank and swims against the water outlet like a trout. He has calm places between the plants, so is free to choose.

Yes I will do that, his current plant setup is pretty terrible

 

[arackstein89]

You could add some tall silk plants. They are soft enough for his fins and will provide some shady resting places with less current.

After a while he will get strong enough and won‘t mind the flow. One of my Veil Tails is in a double Hang-on back filtered tank and swims against the water outlet like a trout. He has calm places between the plants, so is free to choose.

Any particular food you reccomend? Hes been eating the aqueon pellets since I got him (would have to cut in half for him to eat them before). I'd like to feed him something better, not to mention I've seen him eat just 1 0pellet today thats it . My dragon scale betta is a baby and devours the Hikari food but the other one has never been interested in it at all.

 

[RussellTheShihTzu]

Suction cup a plastic soap dish under the output. That will soften the flow.

 

[arackstein89]

I added 3 large silk plants that he can lay on, and 2 cave rocks in case he wants to hide. I also put his betta hammock in this tank. I could find actual almond leaves at 3 stores, but I the closest thing they had was fritz dark water. He ate a little bit swam around hung out on a few different leaves. Now he goes to the bottom and stares at me. He Swims around for a little comes back and stares for a few minutes and repeats that for 20min now

 

[Feanor]

Great you found some additional plants!

Don‘t worry about the leaves. As mentioned, plain Rooibos Tea (pharmacy) will do as well.

If you‘d like to look into a different kind of food, Fluval Bug Bites (light blue or Betta Formula), Omega One Betta Buffet Pellets, New Life Spectrum or North Fin are all good quality foods.

Frozen Bloodworms 1-2 times a week are usually a very appreciated addition to the staple pellets.
You could cut a cube in half, thaw and feed your boys a couple of them.

 

[arackstein89]

I bought the bug bites over the weekend...my dragon scale loves them, but they sink real fast and although this guy like them too but it's hard for him to get them. He swims around but he doesn't have nearly the energy he used to have he isn't eating his old food at all, so he's not eating very much at all. The good news I do have is that he like he's hammock leaf in his new tank, and I came home from work to find a huge bubble nest right above it.

 

[arackstein89]

 

[RussellTheShihTzu]

You can use a Floating Betta Log to target feed. They have an open spot in the top. When he starts using the log you can feed him when he's in it.

Or, you could feed him directly above the leaf so the food can't sink.

I second frozen Bloodworms or Shrimp.

 

[arackstein89]

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