betta on laying on bottom

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water12

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jan 4, 2012
Messages
197
Location
Illinois
Hi everyone, lately my male betta has been very lethargic and I almost always catch him laying on his side on the bottom of the tank instead of his favorite plant...I've had him for almost 4 months and he has been battling fin rot, his fins have been healing very nicely, until about a week ago. I do have a decent sized diatom problem that has erupted, could that contribute to the fin rot or causing him to lay at the bottom? I thought diatoms are harmless to fish. He also has a "tumor-like" bulge on one side that had been there since I got him, I didn't notice it at the time of purchase and it doesn't seem to affect him. He is in a 15 gallon tank by himself and I do 25% pwcs every week. Amm is 0, nitrite is 0 and nitrate is 20. Temp is kept at 79 degrees
Does anyone have any ideas what he could be suffering from? This started about a week ago and in seeing him lay at the bottom more and more sometimes not moving until I practically dance in front of the glass to get his attention and I'm worried
 
Your conditions and tank size sound fantastic, all i can suggest is doing a 50% water changes daily and hoping for the best. Sadly once a fish is lying like that though it doesn't tend to end well :(
 
Thanks for the quick reply! He is a beautiful betta and is hate to lose him, but I can't for the life of me figure out what's wrong. I just hope it isn't painful, he perks up plenty when its time to eat so I take that as a good sign
 
Don't rush out and start adding medication to the tank. It is easy to panic and try and help our fish when they fall ill like yours has but that will more likely than not make it worse.

Keep up with the daily water changes, don't feed him for the next couple of days and you'll be doing the best you can for the poor bloke :)

Hope he recovers!
 
As of this morning his condition is still the same. I'm going to clean things good during the pwc here in a bit to see if I can get any left over gunk out so the water is pristine as possible
 
I wonder if he has an internal parasite. Maybe that would explain the tumor thing.

Im considering it. I guess he fooled me when he was acting and looking healthier than ever for a month. Since he acted fine I dismissed the "tumor". I would try to get a pic of it but he does not like his picture taken and won't hold still
 
Some bettas are just lazy. I have one that lazes about all day sometimes on the bottom or on a plant, but he perks right up as soon as he sees me. I have another betta that's just the opposite. He's constantly swimming and seeing what he can get into.
 
Some bettas are just lazy. I have one that lazes about all day sometimes on the bottom or on a plant, but he perks right up as soon as he sees me. I have another betta that's just the opposite. He's constantly swimming and seeing what he can get into.

I would say he's lazy bit I've had him for 4 months and he's always patrolling the tank, this is not normal for him
 
Some bettas are just lazy. I have one that lazes about all day sometimes on the bottom or on a plant, but he perks right up as soon as he sees me. I have another betta that's just the opposite. He's constantly swimming and seeing what he can get into.

Very true. One of my Bettas is lazy but when I come near
The tank he perks right up. 2 of mine are always patrolling the tank, and the other one floats around then stares at me when I come.
 
Just thought I'd let you guys know that he passed on today, it took a while to get him to show any signs of life last night, he was just laying flat on the bottom. Today got the best of him
 
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