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Help! Betta twitching/spazzing out

3.8K views 25 replies 7 participants last post by  driver  
#1 ·
My betta is in a heavily planted 5 gallon tank, I have had him for around a month now. Tank is cycled. He lives with 4 shrimp and 2 nerites and a bunch of trumpet snails.

2 days ago I noticed him spazzing out every now and then. The next day he was fine, this morning he was fine, I was gone all day but when I got back he was hiding in the bottom of the tank. He came to greet me but shortly after he did that twitch spazzing out thing repeatedly and went back to the bottom to hide.

I have a new light (current usa satellite plus pro), its powerful so I dimmed it a bit. He did not come out, even when I call him. I tested my water and it is normal. I typically have good water and it got a 30% change yesterday. My tank is quite clean.

I checked for signs of Ich and Velvet but I don't notice any, it is hard to see when he is hiding. I added just under a table spoon of salt, I raised the temperature and I am trying to get it to 86 degrees. I also added 1/2 the recommended dose of bettafix and 10 drops of Prime.

I want to add that I have added some Seachem fertilizer products which include Excel, Flourish advance, Flourish trace, and Flourish Iron today. I normally just use Excel and every now and then as well as Flourish once a week.

Any ideas what is going on? I have no lights on for the night. My shrimp seem healthy. I did not add food today and will not add food tomorrow.

Additional things I would like to note, the light is new and ever since I got it I notice tiny white worms on glass, its not a lot but I frequently remove them ( I think they are the harmless type ), I also notice some cyclops and copepods (which my understanding is it is a good indication my water is healthy) this is why I did not feed today. Normally I hand feed him so there is no extra waste, but my algae is low so I have been adding shrimp pellets and I got the light to help maintain some algae of the snails and shrimp. I suspect my worms are from excess shrimp food.

Thanks in advance. We love our betta and me and my daughter would be devastated if he dies!
 
#3 · (Edited)
Housing:
How many gallons is your tank? 5 Gallon
Does it have a filter? Yes
Does it have a heater? Yes
What temperature is your tank? Usually 80, I turned it up to 86 to help my fish feel better
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? Generally no, Tonight I put one in for the night
Does your Betta have tank mates? What kind? 2 Nerite snails, ~15 Trumpet snails, 4 "blue velvet" shrimp that are random colored and not blue at all

Food:
What food brand do you use? Omega One, Hikari bio-pure FD blood worms
Do you feed flakes or pellets? pellets
Freeze-dried? Afternoon treats
How often do you feed your Betta? How much? Hand fed 5 pellets in the morning, 5 pellets at night, and a couple of Hikari bio-pure FD blood worms for treats in the evening. No food today.

Maintenance:
Before your Betta became ill how often did you perform a water change? Once a week
What percentage of water did you change? 25-30%
Do you vacuum the substrate or just dip out water? Vacuum as close to the bottom as I can, the tank is heavily planted.
What additives do you use? What brand of conditioner? No conditioner normally, after sickness I used prime, my well water is good. I use Seachem fertilizer products which include Excel, Flourish advance, Flourish trace, and Flourish Iron today. I normally just use Excel and every now and then as well as Flourish once a week. The others I added yesterday and today to help my red plants.

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.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5
pH: 7.5
Hardness (GH): 120
Alkalinity (KH): 180+

Symptoms and Treatment:
When did you first notice the symptoms? 2 days ago occational twitching. Yesterday none, today morning None, today evening twitching and remaining on bottom.
How has your Betta’s appearance changed? No
How has your Betta’s behavior changed? Not until this evening where he stays at bottom and the mentioned twitching
Is your Betta still eating? Did not try to feed today.
Have you started treating your Betta? If so, how? I added 3/4 table spoon of salt to tank, 36 drops of bettafix.
Does your Betta have any history of being ill? No, Happiest peaceful betta that loves to play
How long have you owned your Betta? Was he or she ill or suffering some sort of damage when purchased? approximately 1 month. Seemed healthy but washed out colors when purchased.
 

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#5 ·
Well I went to check on him this morning and he was out swimming around being his happy self again. Ill keep an eye on him. I turned the lights on in a dim mode a little early to get these pictures. It is about 1.5 hours early.

How long should I wait before changing the water with the bettafix and salt in it? Could it possibly be caused by excessive brightness? I had 2 lights on, one being a current usa plus pro on full blast along with the factory Spec V light. I ran that for 2 days to build up algae for my snails and shrimp. They ate it all and I was worried they would grow hungry and I did not want to use food in there to control the worms. Should I feed him today or go for 1 more day with no food?

Please look at the pictures and tell me if you notice anything. I sure don't. I included lots of pictures, sorry, I just want to be sure, it is my daughters fish and we both love him to death, and he loves us.

Thank you.
 

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#6 ·
The twitching behavior from today! It happens at 10 seconds and at 25 seconds. This is new behavior but yesterday he would do that consistently then hide in the bottom of the tank on the ground. You see him at the end rest on some plants but that is normal for him. He was actually hiding out of sight right on the ground. Any thoughts?

 
#9 · (Edited)
I would agree but it's pointed upwards to the side and he can just sit in most parts of the tank. It's just the one side that has a strong current and he usually plays with it and van swim up against the current and do flips with it. I also drilled 4 holes into the outflow pipe pointed at the hidden heater so it gets tank water mixed in for accurate temp readings and to reduce the pressure. It is also in its lowest settings. I did a 20% water change today. He is quite happy today and since that video I have not seen him twitch.

Do you mind if I take a mother video of him doing his thing so you can help me determine if the outflow is too strong?

I did not dose anything today. No food either. I think he is hungry tho.

Is there such thing as too much light?
 
#15 ·
I'm a newb for the most part, but I have a Fluval Spec V as well and after a few mods to the filter, it's still a bit too strong for my guys' liking. I have a sponge filter on the outflow so it slows it down. I had to play around with it to get just the right amount of flow. It honestly looks too strong for him in my opinion, if he were mine I would think he looks a little agitated at the current. But it doesn't really explain his twitching.

Also, does anyone think his dorsal fin looks a bit clamped? Like from stress or something?
 
#16 ·
Well the filter has been like that forever. I'm not disagreeing that it may be too strong, and I agree it looks like is gets agitated. I just don't think it's the water current. It is just one area that may be too strong and he freaks out all over. Now it looks like he hit his head and lost a couple of scales. As far as I can tell he enjoys playing against the current. This agitation and twitching is really new behaviour that started 3 days ago. I can turn the filter off and monitor him for an hour to cancel that possibility. I'll do that now and report back. I do t want him hurting himself.

One possibility I was thinking off is those worms. They float in the water and cling to glass. Everything I have read indicate they are harmless and this is day 2 with no food. I believe I caused it by over feeing the shrimp. Maybe they cling to him and he freaks out like I do when I find a spider on me! I've been sitting in front of my tank for 2 days sucking them out.

Can that be a possibility?

Also I am going to try to feed him a pea to see if that bulge goes away. Maybe he is constipated and it hurts him now and then.

I have no peas but I'll try a neighbor or get some tomorrow.

I'll report back on the filter thing in a couple of hours.

I want to thank you guys for trying to help and I appreciate it. I am confident we will figure it out.
 
#20 ·
A bulge there would not be caused by constipation, his digestive tract is right behind his head. If it's an organ then it would be the swim bladder.

If the bulge has been there and always been that size then it's unlikely to be causing his current behavior. If it's new, or has gotten larger, then it might be it. Personally I'd just keep an eye on it and see if it gets any larger. It may be just the way he's holding his tail in the picture that's causing it.
 
#19 ·
If you can get frozen daphnia, it's much better than a pea. As long as you give him a tiny piece, it wouldn't hurt him but it wouldn't do good either.


Tell you the truth, I wasn't into aquascaping in my Spec V, so I didn't really pay attention on the plants...lol The plants were not affected though. It would still have some current/flow even if you block the outflow with the heater for sure.
 
#22 ·
Ok he was twitching again. I took a pea that looks and tastes like it's cooked and frozen amd gave a bit of the inside... I may have messed up a bit tho. I looked up constipated betta and it says I was supposed to boil it and put it in ice water first. I skipped that step :(

Also the article I was reading said it can lead to swim bladder desieases and I was thinking of the bulge and it being where the swim bladder is.

I'm going to turn the filter back on and see if he poops and I hope that is not his swim bladder that is swollen. I'm going to cross my fingers and see if he poops. I've watched him for hours since I got him and never seen him poop. I've seen the snails poop. The shrimps poop.. just not him.

I'm going to hope for the best here. I'll dim the lights for now. I usually have them on for 12 hours but they were turned on early today but not full blast till the normal time. I'll keep them dimmed till the regular time they turn off and see what happens tomorrow. I'll keep watching him for now and I'll report back tomorrow.
 
#23 ·
From what I see, that bump appears to be his swim bladder, it's a little more pronounced in some bettas.

Flashing (spazzing) can sometimes be a sign of external parasites, but he would be doing it constantly and you would see him deliberately swim up to a piece of hardscape, rub against it and then suddenly bolt away. I didn't see that in the first video (and he would be doing it constantly anyway).

I don't recommend giving him peas, there are much better options such as daphnia or epsom salt.

You may never see him poop, if you want to alleviate some fears, a report could be warranted. With that gravel, I don't know if you'll ever see his poop, but you can feed him as normal, put him in a smaller container for the day or so to get an idea of what it looks like.

TBH, from the videos, I don't see anything out of the ordinary for him. He likes playing in the current even though it might be a little strong. The tank is beautiful, however, the light seems to be bright and everywhere, and with no top cover, I don't see a dark spot where he can hide away if he wants.

Do you notice him flashing all over the tank or generally only in spots where there is a good current?
 
#25 · (Edited)
He does it anywhere, and he did it while the filter/pump is off so it doesn't seem related. I thought he could be playing when he did that at first but he went into hiding 2 days ago. He did not hide yesterday and did not twitch nearly as much as when I was worried, but it does seem to be him getting agitated when he does it. I just don't know from what. He banged his head from it yesterday because I see a couple of scales missing.

I resumed feeding today, I wont run both lights anymore, and I will put the light in the cloudy dynamic mode where it dims and switches colors around by itself to help with the brightness untill i get more plant cover.

Tiny likes alot of attention. He gets pets from me and my daughter, we don't do it much but a few times a day. I have not been doing that as much and neither has my daughter. Maybe he is pissed we are not playing with him? Maybe it is the opposite, maybe our fingers and making his "skin" agitated?

I also thought maybe he is trying to mimic the shrimp and copepods? They flick and dart.

I added a picture, that is supposed to be my shady area, my dwarf lilies produced those floating leaves all within a couple of weeks, with the newest one almost fully open on the top. It was too shady and dark with the old light but with this new light its not shaded very much yet. I will make sure that area is properly shaded with plants it'll just take a week or two.
 

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#26 ·
Well guys. He has been acting his normal self today. I seen him twitch once or twice but I think its just him being him. When I started this he was doing that repeatedly or hiding and and would not come out for anything. I think it is safe to say he is well for now. If I notice anything I will bring this thread back to life.

Tomorrow I will do a water change, clean filter, and go back to my regular dosing of stuff. We will see how it goes!

Thank you all for your help and input, I have learned a lot. You guys are great and I am happy to be a member of this forum!