My betta won't move

[pankelephant]

Edit: My betta has died. Feel free to read the post below to get some idea of what has been happening. Otherwise, I could use some help identifying the problem so I know if my other fish are in danger. See photos below.

I have abbreviated this post significantly to include only the basic details.


- Problem started five days ago.

- Normally very active, but is now almost stationary for hours. Moves only with provocation.

- He looks healthy - there's no discoloration, his fins look good and he doesn't have any trouble swimming (when he does). As his condition worsened, I saw fin damage and difficulty swimming. No clamped fins. No darkening of fins.

- Stopped eating.

- Was in a peaceful community tank; no one bothered him.

- I had been having difficulty keeping him from eating the other fishes' food, but thought I had it under control.

- Recent change - new Eheim classic. Moved all old media. Ammonia - 0, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - ~10. Restricted flow from canister.

- Behavior: lying on the bottom or floating still near the surface for hours at a time.

- Moved him to clean 2.5 gallon tank, condition continued to decline. Died some time last night.

 

[pankelephant]

The two pictures below show the only area on his body where there was any abnormality. One is when he was alive, the other this morning. You can see that one of his ventral fins is missing - I'm pretty sure I saw it in the water yesterday. The area around there looked fuzzy. Some of his anal fins had begun to look ragged. There was no damage to any other fins. You can also see significant swelling right in the area where the fin damage was the worst.

Please help me. I need to find out if my other fish are in danger. They all look fine and are behaving normally, but so was Moe until Monday.

 

[Cammywammy]

Your betta probably died from old age or over eating. Sometimes bettas can also choke on food and die. That is what happened to mine:/ sorry for your loss.

 

[pankelephant]

Thank you. I do find it hard to believe that there would be this kind of damage if it were simply old age or over-eating. The swelling would seem to support over-eating, but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't cause his fins to fall off.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?