Please help! We have had a betta for 10 months and suddenly he seems to be sick. He's very lethargic...lays around all day, and is hardly eating. I basically have to drop the pellets of food over his head and then he may eat one or two. He used to be a good eater, and about 2 weeks ago, he stopped. I realized that the food we were giving him was old, so I bought him something new, but a new brand. He doesn't look sick...his color is good, and I don't see any signs of fin rot or anything. Specifics and parameters are listed below. Any ideas would be really helpful!
1~What type of fish is afflicted? betta -- no specific things appear to be wrong, he just isn't moving around or eating
2~What are your tank parameters? ammonia as of this morning was 0, but levels were a little high the last couple of days...between .25 & .5. Ph is about 8.2, but has been from the beginning. Nitrites are 0. Nitrates between 20 & 40ppm
3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up? 5 gallon tank and he's been in it the whole time.
4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number We are using the filter that came with the tank...a Topfin
5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes? Just the betta
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time? I changed the water yesterday and the day before because the ammonia was high. Normally we vacuum and change the water once a week. Usually replacing about 25% of the water.
7~How long have you had the fish? 10 months
8~Have you added anything new to the tank-- we recently had to change the heater b/c the old one was making noise and appeared to be corroded. Algae was growing everywhere, so we also replaced the silk plants. We bought the same ones we had previously, which were from PetSmart.
9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently? Before we were feeding him the Topfin pellets and now I've been trying to give him Omega One betta pellets.
1~What type of fish is afflicted? betta -- no specific things appear to be wrong, he just isn't moving around or eating
2~What are your tank parameters? ammonia as of this morning was 0, but levels were a little high the last couple of days...between .25 & .5. Ph is about 8.2, but has been from the beginning. Nitrites are 0. Nitrates between 20 & 40ppm
3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up? 5 gallon tank and he's been in it the whole time.
4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number We are using the filter that came with the tank...a Topfin
5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes? Just the betta
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time? I changed the water yesterday and the day before because the ammonia was high. Normally we vacuum and change the water once a week. Usually replacing about 25% of the water.
7~How long have you had the fish? 10 months
8~Have you added anything new to the tank-- we recently had to change the heater b/c the old one was making noise and appeared to be corroded. Algae was growing everywhere, so we also replaced the silk plants. We bought the same ones we had previously, which were from PetSmart.
9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently? Before we were feeding him the Topfin pellets and now I've been trying to give him Omega One betta pellets.