Betta seems sick, behavioral change!

[goodeyesniper]

Hello,

Currently my betta fish is acting very odd. He's laying on the bottom of my tank with his fins clamped down, just breathing. Some of his fins look to be slightly twisted, and another part look to be losing color--they have a silvery look to them. I also found him hiding in a small house structure I have in the tank.

He's been extra aggressive lately--I just added two platys to my tank a week ago and today I noticed he's extra mean to them than before. He chases after them for a bit and tries to attack them. He's even chasing after neons, which he has never done before.

None of my other fish are acting weird aside from him. He's having extreme difficulty swimming with the filter on, even at the far point of the tank away from the filter flow, which is heavily baffled as is.

Tank is cycled, heated to 80* with aquarium salt. I have an Aqueon QuietFlow 10 filter baffled with a sponge.

Any ideas?

 

[LyndaB]

I think your betta is trying to convince you that he's not a community fish. I would isolate him. Stress leads to illness.

That's a lot of fish, with the betta, for a 10 gallon.

What are your readings?

 

[goodeyesniper]

I haven't had a chance to check them, I've been in class all day and I have to leave for a meeting in a few minutes.

I've heard that my setup was okay for a 10g, but definitely capped. but of course I could have been misinformed.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Can you post some pictures of him?
I agree with lyndaB, if he's acting like that he needs his own tank.

 

[goodeyesniper]

Here are some pictures. In one you can kind of see his tail twirling and a bit of the silver. The other two are (clearly) him laying down on the sand.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

He's not looking very happy. Looks like he's got a bit of fin rot. What are your parameters? He'll need very clean water to recover and prevent it happening again.

 

[goodeyesniper]

Ammonia: 0, maybe slightly over.
Nitrites:0
Nitrates: Higher than 0, lower than 5.0
pH: 8.0

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Ammonia: 0, maybe slightly over.
Nitrites:0
Nitrates: Higher than 0, lower than 5.0
pH: 8.0

Thats good As already said, getting him his own tank will cut down on his stress and keeping his water clean will help with his fins.

 

[goodeyesniper]

I don't have a spare tank on me, they're all at home :/
Would just regular aquarium salt with the PWC help until I can get a second one to keep him in for a while?

 

[goodeyesniper]

What kind of medicine should I get my betta, if any, to help with the healing?
I know some might affect invertebrates negatively, so that's something I'd need to keep in mind too.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

You don't need anything but clean water for fin rot. Salt can be helpful too. How is he going? Still sitting in the bottom?

 

[goodeyesniper]

Yeah hes still hiding in the house-- I saw him earlier just laying on the tank's carpet but now he's in hiding again

Do you think the rot came from a few of the dying plants in my aquarium?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

So no other physical signs other than the fin rot?
Fin rot isn't contagious. It doesn't spread from fish to fish. Rotting plants and fin rot are two completely different things. Not related at all.

 

[goodeyesniper]

I didn't know if that would be related to the water quality or not is all.

He's been hiding but nothing else seems different so I guess I'll just change the water more frequently and add AQ salt

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I didn't know if that would be related to the water quality or not is all.

He's been hiding but nothing else seems different so I guess I'll just change the water more frequently and add AQ salt

Oh ok

Sounds good. I guess I should have asked but is his belly bloated at all?
And how old is he?

 

[goodeyesniper]

I don't remember it being bloated when I saw him last. I've had him for a little less than a year

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I don't remember it being bloated when I saw him last. I've had him for a little less than a year

Ok That's good.
Asked his age because I had an old Betta (5 years) that spent his days on the bottom of the tank. He wasn't ill just old.

 

[goodeyesniper]

Ohh gotcha. He's currently laying down under the cover of some plants in the back of the tank, looks like he's lost a lot of color, or it could just be the shade.

I don't know how old he was when I bought him but I doubt he's that old :/

Edit: color looks okay, but his fins are getting real tiny

 

[goodeyesniper]

Found my fish dead this morning
Thanks for all the help, I appreciated it!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Oh I'm very sorry to hear that