[BettaLydia]

Hi, my betta fish Kaida (male twintail halfmoon) has developed little white spots all over him in the past few days. He lately has been trying to bury himself under the pebbles and his tree and I do not know if this is itching or trying to hurt himself.

I haven't seen him flare in weeks, so I did the mirror exercise and he just swam around the mirror.

I am new to bettas, as I only got Kaida in the very beginning of April, and have an about 1 gallon bowl for him. It has no heater or filter but I make sure to keep the water warm. My friend has had bettas for a long time and told me I don't need a heater or filter, but I think she is wrong.

Kaida had a bump on his side and after doing A LOT of research I put a tiny tiny bit of epson salt in the tank to help with constipation, as I thought this was the issue. After I put some in he got off the bottom of the tank and resumed breathing normally. (He was breathing heavily)

Every time he tries to swim down he just gets floated back to the top of the tank. I don't know if this is because of the salt or bloating. He keeps randomly having jolts of energy and 'spazzes'.

I know this post probably makes me seem like I know nothing about the fish.. I know some, but not everything.

I am thinking about getting a heater, filter and water/ammonia testers.

Can anyone help? How do I cure the ich?

 

[haveyouhadyourteayet]

Can you post a picture of him for us?
I imagine he's having swim bladder issues because of the fluctuating temperatures, depending on how you're keeping it warm, and because he's a double tail. They're very very prone to it. What food are you feeding him?

 

[BettaLydia]

I'm feeding him betta bits food pellets.. but I suspected it was swim bladder, and I am going to get a heater tomorrow. I gave him a boiled, mashed pea as I read along other forum posts here. This seems to have helped but every time he goes down he still floats back up

I can't figure out how to get the URL of the picture.

 

[haveyouhadyourteayet]

I would avoid the peas, it really can do a lot of damage. If a heater doesn't sort both problems, let us know and we can help more.

 

[BettaLydia]

I gave him some peas before I read that.. They seemed to work, although he is not floating at the top anymore he still has the lump on his side and I still don't have a heater. My dad says it is totally unnecessary to get a heater, and says that 72°F for a Betta is just fine.. Is it? I keep telling him it has to be about 78°F but he won't listen.

 

[LittleBettaFish]

If you want to treat ich (it sounds like it could be ich based on the jerky swimming and development of white spots) you are going to need to get your water temperature to at least 86 degrees and have it hold stable.

Ich is notorious for being brought about by fluctuating temperatures, and without a heater, I would assume this would be the case in your gallon bowl.

72 degrees is slightly cooler than I personally keep bettas, but are you certain that your water is staying at this temperature 24 hours of the day, 365 days of the year? Smaller bodies of water can lose heat very quickly and water temperature is usually a couple of degrees colder than room temperature.

Ich can kill your fish if it is left untreated and heat is an important part of the treatment process.

 

[BettaLydia]

I found Kaida this afternoon floating at the top.. The snail got him.. Thank you haveyouhadyourteayet and LittleBettaFish, but it is too late.

 

[TealHoundogg]

Sorry about that, I lost a betta to ich and another to a relapse of fin rot.

At least he's not in pain anymore.

 

[BettaLydia]

That's true. Thanks to everyone who replied.