[watergale]

i have been on vacation for a week, when i left adrian my betta was zooming around as usual, my family was at the house until wendsday, and someone was feeding him untill friday, we got home saturday at noon. I just quickly glanced at him and he looked alright, a little grey but nothing serious. I just chalked it up to not haveing much human interaction. but yesterday morning i found him laying sideways on the bottem of the tank, i qt him to a small half gal so he could get air easly, but i have no idea what is going on,


Housing
What size is your tank? 3gal my qt is .5 gal
What temperature is your tank?i don't know
Does your tank have a filter? under gravel filter
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? yes small airstone, been in for months
Is your tank heated?no
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? 1 snail 2 months

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? betta flakes or pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? 2 times a day, one pinch or pellet in morning and one pinch or pellet at night
my betta likes flakes better but there very messy

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? once a month
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?60-70
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? betta safe by tetra

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?
i have not no money for a testing kit
Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? grey body
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? lays sideways at bottom of tank only comes up for air.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? yesterday
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? yes put in a tank that my betta can reach the surface easily
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no


thanks sorry for any spelling
How old is your fish (approximately)?

 

[Pataflafla]

Even if you have a filter in the tank, you'll be needing to do more changes than what you already are. Snails produce a huge amount of bioload, which is adding a lot to your already big problem.

Tanks smaller than 5 gallons are hard to keep a steady and reliable cycle in, so you're more prone to have ammonia swings which are dangerous and can be fatal. In your 3 gallon you should be doing around 1 100% and 1 50% weekly (This is based off of an unfiltered 2.5 gallon tank with just a solitary betta). I think you would experience better health from both your betta and your snail if you followed this since the only really effective way of removing ammonia in smaller tanks is water changes.

For now, while your betta is in quarantine, do 100% daily water changes for up to a week to help him heal from any ammonia damage he may have received. Also, start changing the water in your usual tank more frequently for the snail.

I highly recommend 1 50% and 1 100% weekly for your tank, even if it does have a filter.

 

[watergale]

but what's wrong with him right now? will he make it?

 

[Pataflafla]

He's probably having issues with ammonia damage.

Keep the water level low and change it 100% daily. He should improve given time.

Ammonia burns and poisoning cause reddening near gills and loss of coloring on the body. The best way to treat is pristine water and possibly aquarium salt if it's very bad. sounds like your case is mild however if he isn't breathing heavily and his gills aren't red or inflamed.

 

[watergale]

he does not have red gills but is being super despondent and grey. breathing normally thanks for the help!

 

[Myates]

It does sound as if he is having either ammonia, but most likely, nitrate or even nitrite. Ammonia you tend to see them gasping at the surface, nitrate/ites gasping on the bottom- either way a deadly situation.

Nitrate poisoning occurs when fish are exposed to gradually rising nitrate levels over a period of time. This typically happens when regular tank maintenance is not performed. Overfeeding and overstocking are also significant contributors to rising nitrate levels. If steps are not taken to reduce nitrates, the cumulative effect can be fish death. Although nitrate shock usually happens when fish are suddenly exposed to a much higher level of nitrate, fish can be shocked if nitrate levels suddenly drop dramatically.

Nitrite poisoning follows closely on the heels of ammonia as a major killer of aquarium fish. Anytime ammonia levels are elevated, elevated nitrites will soon follow.

In a 3 gallon tank, with a snail you are looking at wanting to do 2 50% water changes per week- with vacuuming one of those times, each week. Anything less then you are putting your fish at risk..

As for your guy now, you can try to do the AQ salt treatment- 1 tsp per gallon, daily 100% water changes and see if that helps reverse anything..

These guys can go a ways in unfavorable water conditions, but it will ALWAYS catch up to them at some point.

One more word of advice- weekly water changes are a must, but if you don't, do not do a large water change after a period of a couple weeks+ of no water changes- the sudden change in ammonia/nitrate/ites is very deadly and can cause them to go into os. shock and pass... did you do a water change after you came home?

 

[watergale]

he died last night while i was sleeping

 

[Gen2387]

First of all, I want to say I'm very sorry for your loss. IMO I think it might have been ammonia poisonning. Water changes are very important to do. In my 3gallon filtered tank I do 2x 50% change every week because ammonia builds up too fast. I think another problem is that it wasn't heated. Because bettas are tropical fish and need to be in water between 76 and 80 degrees, low temperatures can lower their immune system and make them a little weaker and more susceptible to catch diseases.
No heater and unfrequent water changes are mistakes that are quite common in the world of betta keeping because of all the myths circulating around.

 

[Jessicatm137]

I am so sorry he died.

 

[watergale]

it's ok, i would have gotten him a heater if i could have, i was hard pressed to get any of the supplies i had, my sister bought him and just threw him away to me after a month, i suppose it was the best i could do for him...