New tank sick fish? Help!

[Mellybean527]

Hello,
I am brand new to this site and relatively new to owning a Betta fish (my younger sister owned her before she moved and now I have her). I have a female named Jules who is about a year old.
Previously I had her in a 2.5 gallon tank with no filter but did 100% water changes every other week as recommended to me by petco. I recently upgraded her to a 5 gallon tank with a filter and new decor for her to hide in along with a glass heater(she previously didn’t have one but I have been slowly increasing it from her normal 68 to 78 over the past three days like I read to do online). I added water conditioner from petco as well.
I feed her 3 pellets a day but she has been refusing food for the most part and is pooping only white mucus. She’s bloated and darting around the tank and not acting herself. I haven’t seen her sleep and have been super worried. She has little to no color and has stress lines as well. Are all these changes too much for her at once? I thought the new tank set up might make her happier...

[Aiken Drum]

Are you still doing water changes?

Do you know your water parameters? pH / ammonia / nitrite / nitrate.

Your new tank will not be cycled. Your old tank wasnt cycled either, but your water changes will have kept the parameters tolerable.

You will need to do a fish in cycle. Feed sparingly. Test water everyday for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. If the ammonia and nitrite combined are 0.5ppm then do 25% water change. When you are consistently seeing 0ppm ammonia and nitrite and your nitrate is steadily rising you are cycled and can cut back to weekly water changes. This might take a few weeks. You can try and speed up the cycling process with bottled bacteria like Dr Tims One + Only or Fluval Cycle.

If you see anything untoward your first actions should be test your water, then do a water change. If you arent in a position to check your water parameters, get a test kit and change 25% of the water daily, until you can test your water.

[Mellybean527]

Originally Posted by Aiken Drum

Are you still doing water changes?

Do you know your water parameters? pH / ammonia / nitrite / nitrate.

Your new tank will not be cycled. Your old tank wasnt cycled either, but your water changes will have kept the parameters tolerable.

You will need to do a fish in cycle. Feed sparingly. Test water everyday for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. If the ammonia and nitrite combined are 0.5ppm then do 25% water change. When you are consistently seeing 0ppm ammonia and nitrite and your nitrate is steadily rising you are cycled and can cut back to weekly water changes. This might take a few weeks. You can try and speed up the cycling process with bottled bacteria like Dr Tims One + Only or Fluval Cycle.

If you see anything untoward your first actions should be test your water, then do a water change. If you arent in a position to check your water parameters, get a test kit and change 25% of the water daily, until you can test your water.

Thank you so much! I have a test kit coming in Friday and have been doing 25% water changes regularly. I will try adding the bottled bacteria as well!

[Shaun777]

Hi MellyBean527,

After doing some careful research on the internet:-
White mucus is just an external sign that your Betta is not eating. A lot of sites claim that the white mucus can be an internal parasite (if this was the case) then the white poop will be stringy because then it is actually a worm but this is highly unlikely.

It is more likely that your Betta is constipated, maybe from eating limited foods like pellets. If this is the case then try fasting your Betta for a day or two (don't worry Bettas can live 2 weeks with no food).
Then try feeding your Betta peas (1 or 2 will be enough), remove the shells and microwave them for 30 seconds.

Then try a more varied diet, try feeding your Betta cyclops or bloodworms or daphnia or brine shrimp maybe once a week for a more varied and protein filled diet and the odd pea now and again will help.

Defiantly cycle your tank as Aiken Drum suggested, performing water changes and testing the water parameters.

[Shaun777]

PS....... do not overfeed your Betta, if your Betta is constipated this is the reason. Battas are greedy, mine is constancy grazing for more food, he thinks he's a cow lol.

[Mellybean527]

Thank you guys for the advice! I’ve been regularly doing water changes and fasted Jules for two days. I got some sea monkeys and Tetra plus for more variation in her diet. She seems a lot happier now and is no longer darting around the tank. She seems to be adjusting well and likes to explore the faux corals and plants (I also added one live plant to help cycle the tank better).