Male Betta not doing well

[eatenbylocusts]

My daughter was given this male betta October 1. We put him in the supplied 1/2 gallon. After doing some reading I added a plant, then bought the 2.5 Aqueon Betta bow tank which comes with a filter and light. He's been in this tank for over a month and I added a wisteria when setting up the bigger tank.
The Wisteria did some growing and at the same time I noticed some dark green stuff floating around. I trimmed the plant, changed the filter which was very green and we scooped up as much green and dirty gravel as we could. I had to do another filter change a week later and twice I have found the filter unplugged.
Two days ago the fish was sitting on the bottom of the tank in the am, but interacted. When my daughter got home she was concerned and he was lying on his side on one of his rocks. I noticed the filter unplugged (this was the second time). I changed the green filter again and we broke out the master test kit that I had never opened.
12/9/12-Ph 8.1, ammonia 0.25, nitrite 0, nitrate 6.0ppm. I did close to a 50% water change. We haven't fed him since 12/8 night.
I made a stop at Petco yesterday, checked the pH again and found it to be 7.8. I used 4 drops of API Ph down yesterday afternoon. I bought a gravel filter from them, but haven't done that yet. The filter has very little green on it right now. I just didn't like the way he looked last night, he was spending most of time hiding behind a plant and rock at the bottom of the tank so I put him in his little container he came in with half being fresh water. (I do use drops to treat all the tap water).
I will clean the gravel, rocks, and walls real well later today and re-test everything, but would like some insight into what went wrong. I just gave him 2 flakes of nutrafin which he gobbled up.
Thanks

 

[Hholly]

I have a couple of suggestions.
1. He needs a heater. His water should be around 80 degrees(despite what they tell you at the pet store).

2. Every time you replace the filter pad and scrub everything, you get rid of the beneficial bacteria that break down his waste. Please read this: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/i-just-learned-about-cycling-but-i-already-have-fish-what-now/
And this: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/guide-to-starting-a-freshwater-aquarium/

3. Doing a partial water change every day, for a while, may be necessary. In a small tank, wastes build up faster. Ideally he would have a larger tank(much more fun to watch!).

4. Quit trying to adjust his pH. It's better for him to have a stable pH than to keep messing with it.

5. If you don't have the right lighting, plants probably won't grow. You may be better off using plastic plants.

But for now, read up on cycling and provide the heat that he needs and hopefully he will get better. Good luck!

 

[shellieca]

I completely agree with Hholly, he definitely needs a heater & regular water changes. One other question, does the tank have light? Are you leaving it on more than 8hrs a day? This can contribute to algae build up in the tank if the light is on too long.

 

[eatenbylocusts]

I have a couple of suggestions.
1. He needs a heater. His water should be around 80 degrees(despite what they tell you at the pet store).

2. Every time you replace the filter pad and scrub everything, you get rid of the beneficial bacteria that break down his waste. Please read this: I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice
And this: Guide to Starting a Freshwater Aquarium - Aquarium Advice

3. Doing a partial water change every day, for a while, may be necessary. In a small tank, wastes build up faster. Ideally he would have a larger tank(much more fun to watch!).

4. Quit trying to adjust his pH. It's better for him to have a stable pH than to keep messing with it.

5. If you don't have the right lighting, plants probably won't grow. You may be better off using plastic plants.

But for now, read up on cycling and provide the heat that he needs and hopefully he will get better. Good luck!

Thank you for your quick response. I have a heater, but haven't used it yet because the water has stayed between 74-78 with the light from the aquarium. I have read a little bit on cycling-enough to be confused, but I always wondered about removing the beneficial stuff if we were to do a thorough cleaning as I have read suggested in different places. I've never done that. The plants are doing fine (it seems); I had to trim the wisteria because it was getting too tall and I noticed the green slime at the same time.

Thank you also shellieca. We turn on the aquarium light in the morning and turn it off before my daughter goes to bed. Since my daughter has had so much homework lately the light is on for about 15 hours 4 days a week. So, I will probably start using the heater earlier in the evening and shut the light off.
I also bought some drops yesterday that is supposed to inhibit algae.

 

[Hholly]

Sounds like you are on the right track. Maybe change out half his water every day for a while. Don't forget the dechlorinator. And hopefully he will come around. Do his fins look okay? If the plants are growing, great. Just limit the time the light is on to 8 or so hours to cut down on algae. Good luck! And post a pic if possible. We love us some Bettas!

 

[eatenbylocusts]

He is still not back to normal, but looks a bit better today. I never did use the algae inhibiting drops after reading the instructions that state the aquarium should be at least 3 months established. All of the drops appear to be quite harsh and not all compatible with live plants.

I did 2 50% water changes since I posted last and about a 20% today. The pH continues to test high (8.0 today after the water change. It was 7.8 before). I haven't used any of the pH drops lately per the advice here. Everything else tests fine except ammonia which continually tests as 0.25 except for 1 time after a 50% change when it tested as 0. I did just notice in the instructions that the color chart for ammonia is appropriate for freshwater aquariums that have added salt. I don't know if this would affect my readings? I just sent an email to the company for clarification.

It is odd that in the past week the betta will occasionally swim around and when he touches something, ie the thermometer, filter, etc, he will act like it hurt him or shocked him. To me it looks like his breathing is labored and he continues to spend most of his time on the bottom of the tank. Today I offered him a few flakes while he was at the top and he ate it all. He is a toasty 80 most of the time with the heater. I think the light is still on more than 8 hours a day since we aren't home early enough, but we have cut the time down for sure.

 

[Scottyhorse]

I would purchase a 5 gallon tank, plant it, get the heater, filter, lighting, etc and start to cycle it! A 2.5 gallon tank it hard to keep stable, as you have probably noticed.

Also, to get him eating and healthy, try getting some frozen bloodworms. He'll love them!

The reason his breathing may be labored is from the ammonia. It can cause burns on the gills.

Adding salt with not change anything.

For now, try doing a 20 percent water change every day, and clean half the gravel once a week.
Don't throw away the filter cartridge, because then there will be a mini cycle in the tank, which, is not good.

If you have any more questions, just let me know

 

[shellieca]

He is still not back to normal, but looks a bit better today. I never did use the algae inhibiting drops after reading the instructions that state the aquarium should be at least 3 months established. All of the drops appear to be quite harsh and not all compatible with live plants.

I did 2 50% water changes since I posted last and about a 20% today. The pH continues to test high (8.0 today after the water change. It was 7.8 before). I haven't used any of the pH drops lately per the advice here. Everything else tests fine except ammonia which continually tests as 0.25 except for 1 time after a 50% change when it tested as 0. I did just notice in the instructions that the color chart for ammonia is appropriate for freshwater aquariums that have added salt. I don't know if this would affect my readings? I just sent an email to the company for clarification.

It is odd that in the past week the betta will occasionally swim around and when he touches something, ie the thermometer, filter, etc, he will act like it hurt him or shocked him. To me it looks like his breathing is labored and he continues to spend most of his time on the bottom of the tank. Today I offered him a few flakes while he was at the top and he ate it all. He is a toasty 80 most of the time with the heater. I think the light is still on more than 8 hours a day since we aren't home early enough, but we have cut the time down for sure.

The Ph is not a problem, a lot of people have Ph in that range with no problems. It looks like you're keeping the ammonia under control so that's good. If you can I would get a timer for the light, I have one on each of my tanks & they're great, I don't have to worry about turning the lights on or off ever. I can't recall if it was mentioned that sometimes a filter in a smaller volume of water can be too much current for a Betta. Have you left the filter off for a few hours to see what he does?

 

[marsh]

I was trying to rescue my BF's Betta and what I ended up doing is setting him up in a large (25-30 gallon) shallow Rubbermaid bin while the smaller tank finished cycling. This way the larger volume of water was less likely to have swings with ammonia.

I put the heater in the big tub but kept it high at 80(his fish had some fin issues and they grew back nicely, the temp was supposed to help)

While a smaller tank is being filtered and the cycle is developing keep that tank warm too if the heater is moved, that may speed the cycle up versus a 70 degree tank. If you can use pure ammonia to cycle the tank if you choose to move the Betta out, much faster in my opinion. I got my ammonia at Ace Hardware(it's hard to find the pure stuff, no scents or detergents)

 

[eatenbylocusts]

I decided to test our tap water and found that it is testing at least .5ppm. We have an RO filter and that tests close to .25 ppm. I did another pwc today and decided for the heck of it to use some RO water before I even thought to test our tap. My husband says the RO filter doesn't remove minerals, but if I need to use RO water what minerals should I be checking for just to be sure?

And maybe I'm being a fish hypochondriac, but I clicked on the fish disease pack and noticed something like shimmie? Is this something a betta might get. My daughter disagrees, but I think he is doing more shimmying when he swims.

Another question- I read somewhere that dechlorinator should be added for the total water size, not just the new water being added? If so, why? If the existing water has already been treated, why would you need to do that?

 

[eatenbylocusts]

I'd still like answers for my questions from 12/18, but I'm happy to report that a few hours ago the betta started swimming around like normal! Haven't seen this in quite a while. Yeah!

 

[bnpleco]

Good! that whole treatment thing is wrong that's way to many chemicals for a small tank: it's still wrong but no big deal, but a 110gall. And you refil 5 gallons of water. And treat the water for 110 gallons the chemicals will kill the fish quicker than what is bad in the water.

 

[Hholly]

I decided to test our tap water and found that it is testing at least .5ppm. We have an RO filter and that tests close to .25 ppm. I did another pwc today and decided for the heck of it to use some RO water before I even thought to test our tap. My husband says the RO filter doesn't remove minerals, but if I need to use RO water what minerals should I be checking for just to be sure?

And maybe I'm being a fish hypochondriac, but I clicked on the fish disease pack and noticed something like shimmie? Is this something a betta might get. My daughter disagrees, but I think he is doing more shimmying when he swims.

Another question- I read somewhere that dechlorinator should be added for the total water size, not just the new water being added? If so, why? If the existing water has already been treated, why would you need to do that?

1. There's a product that replaces minerals in r/o water. I forget the name but you can google it.

2. I can't answer about shimmy. But glad he's improving.

3. You add dechlorinator for the full volume to be extra sure it's enough, and most of them detoxify ammonia and nitrite. So you want enough in there to treat all the water.

Keep up the good work. Eventually the beneficial bacteria will be able to take care of the ammonia from your water.

 

[oscarchic11]

when replacing water i was told that if you use buckets, treat for the volume of the bucket, if you refill srtaight from a hose/python, treat for the full volume of the tank to be sure all chlorine is broken down. hope this helps... i just got a betta 2day, my first since i was little... i keep a 5g bucket of treated water @ hand for emergency wc's in my smaller tanks, and for top-off water...