in a panic, sick betta, please help! other one died

[Sarah E]

hello.

my little erne, my red betta fish is sick. i sadly dont have a picture as i am out and about. he is missing a few scales, or at leat has some white scales on his head above his eye. I feel really bad, as im worried i may have caused it. i moved him, and all his other pals out of my dirt tank, to change it to a gravel bottom which i washed first, then put them back in generly right away. thefilter was also unplugged for twenty four hours wothout myknowledge. im worried because he is acting weord, doesnt want to swim arpund. it actually took putting my net in and moving the plant sligtly to get jom to move up to the surface to eat.

he is usualy at the glass the second i go in the room.... im buying a betta bowl to move him from the other fosh, but im very worried.

the last time my female betta fish had this, and i moved her thinking my shrimp attacked her, she died the next day.... hes been acting weird since i changed the gravel.... HELP! i really dont want to lose him.

 

[librarygirl]

Hi Sarah, sorry about your fish. Have you checked your water parameters yet (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)? If you can test those and post them it'll help. That's usually the first thing to do when something goes wrong to either pinpoint or rule out a water quality issue.

The changing of substrate shouldn't have affected him. It's possible he got injured during the move; have you noticed this before moving him? The filter being unplugged may have done something to your beneficial bacteria; did it stay wet even though the filter was off?

First two things I'd do is at least a 50% water change with dechlorinator and test the water. If you can do those and post the test results it'll help. A pic would be good too if you can get one.

 

[Sarah E]

I'll run and get my levels, but here are some pictures. He's breathing rather fast, and sitting on the floor of the tank, even on his side... We moved him to his own betta tank with a heater, and put in Betta Fix... something like that in the tank to help him...

Running off to get tests. I did a 50% water change as well...

 

[Sarah E]

Okay, I used my API Master freshwater test kit (Except for the PH Which i used a PH Meter) And they are:

PH= 7.5

Ammonia= 0.25

Nitrite= just over 0.25

Nitrate= between 0 and 5, closer to 0 though.

 

[librarygirl]

OK the nitrite and ammonia are likely the culprits. How long has the tank been set up? What size is it and what are the other fish in the tank?

The missing scales may be from ammonia and nitrite burns if the levels have been like that for some time.

Are those test results after the water change or before? If after, you should do another 50% water change to get them down further.

If the tank was already set up for a while and cycled then the filter being off (and maybe changing the substrate, but not sure) could have set the tank into a mini-cycle. If it's a relatively new tank it may not have been fully cycled yet.

You should test the water twice daily and any time ammonia and/or nitrite are .25 or above, do water change(s) to get them as close to 0 as possible. If they are high when you test, you may need to do a few 50% water changes back to back to get them down.

 

[Sarah E]

The tank was set up over a month ago... i believe... it's a 20 gallon tank, and i have 2 (Very small, babies right now) SAE's, and 5 Corydoras catfish who are under 2 inches. I also had around 10ish feeder guppies, but I moved them to a new tank last week.

That was after the water change, i did another 50% Water change a few minutes ago, and i took Ammonia and Nitrate readins, they were Ammonia- 0.50 ppm *Grimaces* And NItrate between 0 and 5.0 ppm, but closer to 0 ppm.

New update... he seems to be having a little trouble breathing, and there's a little bit of white stringy substance (almost like hair algae) Coming off one of his gills.... Is there any change he will recover?

Also, overnight i had to move my other betta to the tank he had been in, for her fins were just shredded by one of my tetras. Tomorrow I'm bringing the tetras to my LFS who said he could sell them, and I can move her back to her tank then... will she be alright there overnight? With the levels like this and all.

 

[Sarah E]

I'm very happy to tell you, that he is doing much better. The white spot on his head, which I now believe was burns, is almost gone, and he's eating much more now. Though he's still resting, he seems to be happier than he was a three days ago.

Also, my female's fins are healing quite fast! Yay!

 

[thebettafish100]

Hope he will heal soon