Betta death

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NCKayaker

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Jan 13, 2016
Messages
6
Bought a male Betta 1 month ago. Put him in a 5 gal filtered tank. Heater set to 78. No ammonia, no nitrites, nitrates at 40ppm. Ph @7.4. He was thriving on a diet of Betta pellets and freeze dried blood worms.
Yesterday morning I went to feed him. Most of his tail was gone and his color had gone pale. I put him in a smaller 1 gallon tank at 78 degrees while I worked on his tank. He died last night. Where did I go wrong??????:confused:

It happened so fast. I saw no obvious symptoms before the fin loss
 
All I can think of is was he getting the blood worms as a treat and also eating all of them? It sounds like a rapid bacterial infection (unless water conditions suddenly changed eg ph, water company, temp). Normally something sets these off but it could be there was something low-level going on, something else happened and the combination was too much?

Sad news on your loss :(
 
Thank you. Are you saying that he was eating too many bloodworms. Was I feeding him too many. That could be it. He would almost leap out of the tank when I put them in. Looks like it was my fault.
 
Thank you. Are you saying that he was eating too many bloodworms. Was I feeding him too many. That could be it. He would almost leap out of the tank when I put them in. Looks like it was my fault.


Hi, not so much - just throwing up ideas for consideration. Was he looking bloated or perhaps over-fed?

Another might be could he have got caught in the filter intake? On mine I have a sponge over it just in case.

Had anything changed in the tank or looked a bit off in the last few weeks?

Actually I should ask why do think his tail was gone?
 
Just giving my two cents, but your ph was a little alkaline for a betta, and your nitrates at 40ppm is also pretty high. Ideally you want them at like 10ppm at the most, and Bettas actually like slightly acidic water.

If you mean the tail was gone as in frayed or rotted away, then I'd imagine he had fin rot, which is pretty common among Bettas and I believe a bacterial infection. I'd imagine either poor water quality or that your tank was still cycling led to this. Or that combined with that he could have been purchased sick as most pet stores keep Bettas in bad conditions.

I'm sorry about your fish!
 
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