sick betta

[dancersmama79]

i have a 1 yr old betta who is laying on the bottom of the tank regurgitating and his head looks swollen and his eyes seem to be bulging. i left home for 2 days n came home n he looked like that hes in a 20 gal i just started with 2 large golden mystery snails 1 thumbnail size golden snail and 2 thumbnail size black snails. ive been testing their levels and doing 20% water changes and my snails seem fine. my betta has been eating just fine and the temp in the tank has been 78 any suggestion??? i just moved him from a 5 gal tank that was cycled with the 2 larger snails....

 

[Sillyfishies]

i have a 1 yr old betta who is laying on the bottom of the tank regurgitating and his head looks swollen and his eyes seem to be bulging. i left home for 2 days n came home n he looked like that hes in a 20 gal i just started with 2 large golden mystery snails 1 thumbnail size golden snail and 2 thumbnail size black snails. ive been testing their levels and doing 20% water changes and my snails seem fine. my betta has been eating just fine and the temp in the tank has been 78 any suggestion??? i just moved him from a 5 gal tank that was cycled with the 2 larger snails....

The last tank and a filter and a heater correct? If it didn't then it's reached the end of its life. If not I'm not sure.

 

[shellieca]

i have a 1 yr old betta who is laying on the bottom of the tank regurgitating and his head looks swollen and his eyes seem to be bulging. i left home for 2 days n came home n he looked like that hes in a 20 gal i just started with 2 large golden mystery snails 1 thumbnail size golden snail and 2 thumbnail size black snails. ive been testing their levels and doing 20% water changes and my snails seem fine. my betta has been eating just fine and the temp in the tank has been 78 any suggestion??? i just moved him from a 5 gal tank that was cycled with the 2 larger snails....

When you say just started how long has it been? Did you you acclimate him properly before adding him? What exactly are your water test results? What kind of test kit are you using, liquid or strips? How often are those 20% water changes? When I did fish in cycling I had to 50% +\- about every other day, testing with an API Master Water Test Kit daily.

 

[dancersmama79]

The 20 gal tank I've had for bout two weeks. My API liquid test kit has shown levels of no nitrites n low nitrates ph has been 7.6 and ammonia has been no higher than .25 and temp has been 78-80. Hasn't cycled yet. The 5 gal is fully cycled n his previous tank for the last 8 months he was a bit lethargic after being put in the 20 gal but got used to it after a few days the. I left for 2 days n come back n he's been barely moving since no matter if I put him in his previous tank or the big one.

 

[dancersmama79]

Both tanks do have a filter and a heater and reg water changes I do partial 4 gal changes with the 20 gal when the ammonia is .25 and in the 5 gal I do a 2 gal change when the ammonia is at .25

 

[dancersmama79]

Both tanks do have a filter and a heater and reg water changes I do partial 4 gal changes with the 20 gal when the ammonia is .25 and in the 5 gal I do a 2 gal change when the ammonia is at .25

One of my larger golden snails I found in the 20 gal dead this morning. It was laying upside down n had some cracks all over it's shell for the past month as did my other larger one. The other one seems to be fine growing new shell n moving around n grazing as usual

 

[dancersmama79]

I put my dancer in a jar with warmer water thermometer says bout 82. He's completely on his side his mouth opening n closing his head raised at an angle n his gills opening n closing his underbelly looks grey n scaly n he's stopped eating. I don't think there's anything else I can do for him but I also don't know what's causing his sickness

 

[dancersmama79]

I took some pictures of how he's laying

 

[librarygirl]

It's hard to say. A 4 gal water change on a 20 gal isn't much though; it wouldn't even cut the ammonia by half. Ammo levels aren't out of control though but some fish are more sensitive than others. Try larger water changes with a good dechlorinator like Prime to help detoxify some of the toxins in the water. Also what are you feeding and how much? Did anyone feed him while you were away? Bettas are prone to bladder issues. If he's eating you might want to try feeding him very small bits of a thawed, deshelled frozen pea and then fast him for a day or two. If you don't have peas, just try the fasting. I think moving him back and forth is more stress too; if he's alone in the 20 with just some snails and nothing else to bother him I'd leave him in the larger tank. You could try some aquarium salt as well.

Also you mentioned his belly is scaly....are the scales popping out like a pinecone? If so it might be dropsy. If his eyes are bulging it could be pop-eye as well it's really difficult to diagnose fish especially if there's more than one thing going on. Both are usually caused by poor water quality.

 

[dancersmama79]

He died yesterday. I've not had a tank bigger than the 5 gal. Maybe u can give me some tips wit how much of a partial water change I should do and how often? I bought 3 female Bettas for it n I currently have one large snail and a thumb nail size snail in it. Had to separate one of the Betta's cause she was fighting with the others so she's in my 5gal with 2 thumbnail size snails. The other 2 are doing fine in the 20 gal