unwell female betta

[dragon14]

Our newest finned female betta friend is not doing so well.

For the past few days she has been acting mopey and bleh and not herself

Yesterday we tested her water and it was at about .25 ppm ammonia she got nearly a full water change. Unfortunately I am not as good at matching temperature as I thought, and her water was about 10 degrees warmer than she's used to after the change. It's normalized now, but, I cannot let that happen again! I will use a thermometer when I do her water changes from now on, if she makes it :'(

She was acting not good for a few days before the water change, though.

She's been laying under the under-water filter.... a little bit ago she swam up vertically for a breath, then swam back down, laid on her tummy and tilted to the side a bit. She is now under the filter again.

Update, she has moved out from under the filter and is tilted to the side, the only thing moving right now is her gills. Her pectoral fins aren't even going :'(

Is there anything we can do for her without netting her or moving her or disturbing her any more than we have to? she's in a Deep Blue 5B tank. It holds 2.5g and we have an Aqueon underwater filter which we have unplugged for now as she was laying against the intake and we didn't want her disturbed by the current when she is feeling like this. No heater (yet), the water has been a pretty stable 74-76 degrees room temp since we got her.

I am so upset. We've only had her just over two weeks and we love this little fish.


ANOTHER UPDATE: I just noticed SIX little white wormies under her filter. Planaria?? I hope they're not making her sick??? She was just barely able to get up for a breath.... :'(

 

[dragon14]

I'm going to cry at some point. She's laying on her side and comes up for a breath every so often, but it's difficult for her.

We love this little fish. I hate there's nothing I can do for her. I've been sitting with her for almost an hour now.

Any ideas?

20mins later update.
She came up for a breath, then basically let herself sink, and now her head is resting against the thermometer. . I don't want to lose her.

 

[dragon14]

If the wormy things are hurting her, are there any betta-safe parasite medicines?


We are going to take a trip to the LFS soon to look at medicines and also to get some shrimp to try out in our 10g with the blue crowntail male betta.

 

[dragon14]

She's still alive but barely. We'll see what's at the lfs.

 

[Chels10117]

Water changes every single day. 80%. Turn your tank lights off. Get those worms or whatever they are out of there right now. At this point you're probably going to have to treat it with meds. I'd also raise the tank temp a little bit. Fish laying on their side is usually a bad sign. And when they are at that point there is usually not much you can do... Water changes, meds, and hope for the best.

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[dragon14]

What Meds?? No light. It's on our table. Indirect natural light thru the window tho.

 

[dragon14]

Just got home, she was gulping air, vertically, at the surface. I looked her in the face for a bit. Then she let herself sink, vertically, and now she is basically standing on her tail :/ Gills moving ever so slightly :'(

 

[Delapool]

How's it going?

 

[Ulmina]

Sorry your girl is unwell. My instinct says to lower the water level to maybe half or no more than 2/3 what tank will hold, so she doesn't have to come up so far for air, since Labyrinth fish have no choice but to breathe air periodically. Less water volume will accumulate toxins faster, though, so increase your WCs. Have you googled the worm things yet? I would be googling my rear off, if it was me.

 

[dragon14]

I looked them up before when we found them in our 20g. Most likely Planaria.

She is gone now :'( Just when we were getting to know her.... that explains her hiding for a few days before we noticed she was sick day before yesterday... :'( also her gills are red and looks like there may be a sore on her face in front of her gill.... not sure if we want to get any more bettas from ::unnamed chain store:: They do have a 30 day fish guarantee though.... I don't care one iota about a refund, but, may as well use the guarantee, I guess. It is 50 minutes away, though, so if they need a water sample and fish, not sure what to do in the meantime until we can get there. We only had her for 19 days (just checked to see when I wrote down when we got her in my fish journal).

On an unrelated note, our blue male crowntail is getting along, or at least not not getting along, with two amano shrimp that we put in with him in his 10g tank yesterday, so that is good news at least

 

[dragon14]

I miss her. She had spunk. I wonder what got her

 

[Ulmina]

Oh dear, I am so sorry about your fishie-girl, poor baby. i hope she didn't suffer. sending you Love.

 

[dragon14]

Thank you <3. I hope she didn't either.

 

[Jessy2363]

Hey, sorry didn't read everyones posts as there's heaps but this is what i'd use for worms or parasites of any type. I've always had great results with tetra parasite guard. it has a wicked combination of meds that don't seem to stress the fish out and actually works.

If the fish is really on deaths bed and you've treated for parasites then it's likely a secondary bacterial infection has come along. treat with antibiotics. A broad spectrum one. Seachem Kanaplex is good and API furan 2 combined. Or Seachem sulfathiazole. both can get into the fish internally to heal any damage the parasite have done internally.

 

[dragon14]

Thanks Jessy

Unfortunately she passed on the night of July 4th :'(

I'll keep your information in mind should we ever encounter this again.

 

[Jessy2363]

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