Kesh88
Aquarium Advice Newbie
I picked up a new betta last week and he hasn't been doing too well. His symptoms are making me think there's more going on than stress.
1~What type of fish is afflicted? In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability (i.e. cotton like growth, bloated, etc.). A male betta. Over the last week he hasn't been moving very much, has been unresponsive, he only eats once every couple of days and a couple of days back he had big chunks of slime coming off his body. No white patches, bumps or raised scales. I've added a dose of Blue Planet Multi Cure (at the advice of the pet store) to the tank which helped with the slime problem, but he's still not really moving around.
2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values. Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates = 0, temp = 25 degrees celsius, ph = 7.2
3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up? 24 litres, been set up for 10 days.
4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known. A small sponge filter with an Aqua One 2500 air pump.
5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes? Just the one betta, he's small and most likely no older than 6 months
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time? 25% water change last night when dosing the Multi Cure. I am doing 2-3 x 25-50% water changes per week until the tank is cycled. I'm using Seachem Prime and Seachem Stability.
7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them? One week. I acclimatised him by removing water from his cup with a medicine syringe, and replacing this with tank water - this took around 25 minutes.
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.? Last night I added Multi Cure. Today I added some Anacharis to give him some more plant cover.
9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently? I feed him one Nutrafin Max pellet twice daily (I cut the pellet in half so he can get it in his mouth).
Is it just a case of wait and see if he will settle in and become more active in time? Strangely he was really active when I got him and seemed more comfortable being in a cup... as soon as he went into the tank he stopped moving. Yesterday he was so bad that even when I netted him he didn't react, and he was twitching a lot and unable to swim :-/ He can swim today but is still looking very stressed. Have I done something wrong?
1~What type of fish is afflicted? In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability (i.e. cotton like growth, bloated, etc.). A male betta. Over the last week he hasn't been moving very much, has been unresponsive, he only eats once every couple of days and a couple of days back he had big chunks of slime coming off his body. No white patches, bumps or raised scales. I've added a dose of Blue Planet Multi Cure (at the advice of the pet store) to the tank which helped with the slime problem, but he's still not really moving around.
2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values. Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates = 0, temp = 25 degrees celsius, ph = 7.2
3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up? 24 litres, been set up for 10 days.
4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known. A small sponge filter with an Aqua One 2500 air pump.
5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes? Just the one betta, he's small and most likely no older than 6 months
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time? 25% water change last night when dosing the Multi Cure. I am doing 2-3 x 25-50% water changes per week until the tank is cycled. I'm using Seachem Prime and Seachem Stability.
7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them? One week. I acclimatised him by removing water from his cup with a medicine syringe, and replacing this with tank water - this took around 25 minutes.
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.? Last night I added Multi Cure. Today I added some Anacharis to give him some more plant cover.
9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently? I feed him one Nutrafin Max pellet twice daily (I cut the pellet in half so he can get it in his mouth).
Is it just a case of wait and see if he will settle in and become more active in time? Strangely he was really active when I got him and seemed more comfortable being in a cup... as soon as he went into the tank he stopped moving. Yesterday he was so bad that even when I netted him he didn't react, and he was twitching a lot and unable to swim :-/ He can swim today but is still looking very stressed. Have I done something wrong?
