Lethargic betta

[Rnbwfimmy]

I have a gorgeous betta fish, I think he's about a year old now. He has a great 5 gallon tank with a 15 gallon filter that I keep at a low setting so he can swim comfortably. It's a high light, excel dosed tank with lots of plants, and a couple of otocinclus. I do everything I can to make sure he's well cared for and not neglected in a tiny space like the ones in the store. His water is crystal clear and very warm, always above 75 but probably like 77. I've had my water tested recently and it's perfect.
The past week or two, he's been spending all of his time laying on the gravel on his side or underneath plants. He's normally pretty active, but lately that's all he does. Hell respond fine to food and me coming by the tank and waking him up, and he's not showing stress marks of any other indicators of I'll health, he's just sleepy and lazy. Is he just old? Is he unhappy?

 

[shellieca]

5g is a great size for one Betta so BIG THUMBS UP!! When you have your water tested do they use strips or liquid? Strips have a tendency to be inaccurate. I would suggest you get a liquid test for at home. It is possible that the strips are not telling the correct story, if you can get a test kit or have the LFS write down what they say your test results are that could help us advise you better. In the mean time, how often do you do a water change & how big? Clear water doesn't mean healthy water. You say he's about a year old, has your tank been running that long as well? How often are you feeding him, how much & what? You didn't say it so I'm assuming he has no tankmates?

 

[shellieca]

5g is a great size for one Betta so BIG THUMBS UP!! When you have your water tested do they use strips or liquid? Strips have a tendency to be inaccurate. I would suggest you get a liquid test for at home. It is possible that the strips are not telling the correct story, if you can get a test kit or have the LFS write down what they say your test results are that could help us advise you better. In the mean time, how often do you do a water change & how big? Clear water doesn't mean healthy water. You say he's about a year old, has your tank been running that long as well? How often are you feeding him, how much & what? You didn't say it so I'm assuming he has no tankmates?

Oops sorry, you did say a couple of Otos? I think that may be too much for a 5g & most likely you probably have some water issues even though the LFS says otherwise.

 

[Rnbwfimmy]

Hi, thanks for responding. They did a liquid test, I have all of the results on a form. He has two otocinclus with him, though he used to live with two dwarf frogs and a snail. His current tank has been running for about 2 months now, I've had him for 6. I feed him 4 tetra betta mini pellets a day and the occasional bloodworm.

 

[Rnbwfimmy]

The Otos have only been there since yesterday, they're just in there to take care of some dust algae, but they're so small that it's not overstocking.

 

[Rnbwfimmy]

Oh, and also, I have 15 gallons of filtration and I do a 25 percent water change once a week

 

[shellieca]

Hmmm, what about your water changes? How often, what size? What did they say your parameters are? Ammo 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 10-20? You said he's been doing this for about 2 wks, so the Otos only being in there for a couple of days aren't the cause, sometimes new fish can introduce an illness if not QT'd 1st. Even though they're small I still think its too much for a 5g, just my opinion. Did you by chance change out your filter a couple of weeks ago? I'm asking a lot of questions because I'm trying to cover all the bases, sorry. Do you fast him at all? I know you said he only gets 4 pellets a day which shouldn't be too much & he's eating fine. I'm kind of stumped since you're not seeing any physical symptoms other than his behavior. It's possible he's older than you think. Hopefully somebody else will offer something else.

 

[Rnbwfimmy]

I let him go without food about once a week. I changed my filter carbon about a week ago.
Ammonia-safe
Nitrate 5ppm
Ph neutral
Alkalinity ideal
Slightly hard water
Chlorine safe
The only thing I dont know for sure about is my nitrite. I ordered a master test kit a month ago and the randomly canceled the order last week.

 

[Rnbwfimmy]

I am seeing little white specks in my water, and I'm certain one just flitted. Should I just do a full water change?
I put Woodrow Gillson in my 55 gallon where it nice and warm and the water is good, but he's just lazing sadly by the heater.

 

[shellieca]

I let him go without food about once a week. I changed my filter carbon about a week ago.
Ammonia-safe
Nitrate 5ppm
Ph neutral
Alkalinity ideal
Slightly hard water
Chlorine safe
The only thing I dont know for sure about is my nitrite. I ordered a master test kit a month ago and the randomly canceled the order last week.

Oh I love it when things like that happen, UGH! You changed just the carbon not the whole filter? It's possible you have a mini cycle going on which means its even more important to know the parameters. Most people won't change out the filter unless it's falling apart, they swish it in used tank water every week or 2. Do your fish look like they're dusted with sugar or you're just seeing floaters in the water? I'd probably do a 50%+ water change & vac. It's possible the Otos brought some Ich with them. You said you moved the Betta to the 55g. Sounds like you've been taking good care of him & his tank so I don't know what else to do. Sorry I'm not being much help.

 

[Rnbwfimmy]

It's part of my filter maintenance to change it it once a month. No sugar dusting, just little white specks floating about the water, some of them appear to swim like bugs. I can't do a proper vac because I have dwarf baby tears trying to root. But I'll change out as much of the water as possible and let it cycle for a while.
Good news is he couldn't give less of a **** about the other fish in the 55, bad news is he doesn't seem to give a **** about anything. I think he may just be worn out and old.

 

[Rnbwfimmy]

He's got a couple of nicks on his side like he's list scales, they're so small I didn't see them

 

[Rnbwfimmy]

He has major scale loss on his head now. I either didn't notice it before or it's new. He'll swim a bit if i coax him, than just slowly float down, sometimes vertically with his head pointed down. I did two 50 percent water changes and then put him in there for quarantine. Unfortunately, my filter has decided that this would be a great time to just stop working. I also still see a ton of flitting little white specks near the surface of the water. I think they're little bugs of some kind, like daphnia or something.