Betta laying at bottom of tank, not eating or moving

[RAvirani]

SNorlin and dragon14,

Hi guys. Sorry I wasn't able to post earlier. My beta seems to be getting a bit better, but today something extremely strange happened. So at night I went down to get a cup of water and turned on the light. I decided to go check on my betta and when I walked up to the tank, she darted to the top of the other side, hit a wall, swam along the wall, hit another one and kept doing this until she had gone around the tank one and a half times. This is not normal at all and it was kind of scary to watch. I thought she was going to jump out! Is this normal if you wake up a betta or is something wrong?

Thanks!

 

[dragon14]

It's ok!

Hmmm that is weird. I don't really know what happened there, but, if you suddenly turned on a bright light, especially if it was close to the tank, you could have startled your betta enough to make him/her do that.

 

[Fishanatic]

The betta might be slightly blind, or something of the sort or as said mightve just been startled which sounds weird.

 

[SNorlin]

I would say startled, but I've never had that reaction with my betta ( but tank, lights, etc are different). Good to know your betta is looking better. How was it when you saw it in the morning.


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[SNorlin]

How is your betta?


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[RAvirani]

Hi everyone,

I have been watching my Betta and she is getting better. I have not been able to get a picture because she is normally either hiding in the plant and toys in the tank or moving too fast for me to get a picture. Also, thank you for all of the help! If my betta doesn't continue to improve, I will let you know and if she comes back completely to the way she was, I will also post. Once again, thank you so much for all of your help and I really appreciate everything that you have done.

 

[Polkadots]

That's good news!!


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[dragon14]

I'm so glad to hear she's doing better

And you're welcome!!!

 

[SNorlin]

Yea! I wish a full recovery.


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[Autumnsky]

I didn't see how often you do pwc?

I would do one 25% pwc each day for 4 days. Then see how much better is any he is feeling. Sometimes you just need to make sure you get the water very clean. It can be better not to do it all at once and a little at a time to keep the water parameters similar but better each pwc.

Do you use water treatment for your pwc? Prime is great for helping the water quality to be its best.

Have you noticed it pooping? color or clear, white or stringy? He could have constipation.

You can try feeding him some boiled, can use the microwave fresh or frozen green garden peas. You can use a little treated water or tank water if you have a fish dish, or scrub appropriately. You will remove the green shell which holds the two halves of the pea and the sprout.

Try giving a bit of the half, if he eats it keep giving him until he stops eating it. You can remove it if he won't eat it. You can also squeeze a drop of garlic juice from a clove of garlic onto the pea as well. That should help stimulate his appetite for it. There is a supplement called Kent Marine Garlic Xtreme also can be used with FW fish if you want to spend the money, but you can do it yourself.

You can fast him a day once a week or feed pea once a week.

Hope he continues to improve!

 

[RAvirani]

Hi guys,

Update: things have got worse. I thought that she was getting better but her stomach seems bloated (not vertically but horizontally - it is wide) now and she continues to do the same thing - lying at the bottom with nothing but her gills moving. She seems to have trouble getting off the ground. I have only treated with aquarium salt. I want to do a water change and start treating with those strips for parasites but I am not sure if it will stress her too much. does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[RAvirani]

Here is a picture of her sitting at the bottom.

 

[RAvirani]

Here is a video of her sitting at the bottom. It is not very good but you can see that nothing is moving except her gills.

 

[Autumnsky]

How many water changes have you done this week?

 

[RAvirani]

Autumnsky,

I have done one water change - 33% and I started treating with Karacyn in the case that it is dropsy. She also doesn't seem to want to eat peas so I do not know if she is constipated of something or not. Do you have any ideas as to what I could do?

Thanks!

 

[dragon14]

Epsom salt should be used for dropsy, not aquarium salt. Do some searching for the correct dosage.

Aquarium salt can cause more water retention.