Betta died Overnight

[BigDaddy]

My betta used to live in a small 2 gallon tank for awhile but I Moved my Betta into a community tank about 3 weeks ago. He was doing fine until last night when he was hanging out up at the top of the tank and not eating. Found him dead under an ornament this morning. All platies, Otto and shrimp are fine.

Only change I've made is adding two amazon swords 2 days ago which were grown in a tank without fish at Big Al's.

Could the plants be the cause? My water is perfect and he was not harassed at all so I'm at a loss. And honestly pretty bummed.

 

[Convict2161]

I'm sorry about your fish. Have you tested the water? I'm not a big planted guy though. Maybe something carried over from the plants?

 

[BigDaddy]

These are my first live plants so I have no idea either but I followed their instructions to the letter so I know that part was done right, or as right as the guy that told me is.

For the water, I checked it this morning after finding him and it's good so it may be something I can't test for?

 

[LyndaB]

How did you acclimate him to this tank? Even though we have 4 tanks in our house, they all have a different pH and temps, so I would still need to acclimate were I to switch a fish over.

I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[BigDaddy]

Thank you

I did the drip method, sorry if the terminology isn't right, but gradually changing him over to my water rather than just the temperature equalization. Murphy was in there 3 weeks or so and in his Betta tank for about a year before that.

 

[absolutangel04]

I am sorry about Murphy.
How big is the community tank? Any nippy/nasty platies? What do you feed and how frequently?

 

[BigDaddy]

Thank-you

Tank is a 30g long, mix of fake and live plants with lots of places to hide. Has an Aquaclear 30 on it for a filter. Maintain the water temperature at 78.

There's been no conflict or nipping. Murphy has flared a couple times but mainly the red wags keep to themselves, the Mickey mouse keep to themselves, I never see the Otto except for random sightings. Murphy basically ran the show through intimidation.

I feed them tropical flakes and pre-soaked bloodworms twice a week. I did stop the pellets because he never liked them much anyway and no one else looked at them. Flakes are fed over about 5 minutes in Progressively smaller pinches. Murphy would eat about 3 sometimes up to 5 average flakes.

Never let my kid near the food so none extra was added.

 

[absolutangel04]

Hmm... as much as I hate saying this, it may just have been a fluke. Bloat is common in bettas who accidentally get fed too much, but that does not sound like it's case here. Nippy fish can cause stress which can kill a fish even if the actually physical contact doesn't. But, if there weren't issues, I doubt it was stress. That temp and tank size are fine for a betta. No wounds on a body mean it was attacked suddenly. To be honest, my experience is that some bettas (even when well cared for) just simply do not live more than a few years. I imagine it has something to do with wanton breeding and poor genetics, but that is just my guess. I am sorry about your fish though. But, I don't think the death was anything you did.

 

[BigDaddy]

Thanks for the reply. Glad it's not something I did. Appreciate all the responses.