SOS fish appears very unwell

[Marvensmom6]

Hi I have a betta fish who is lethargic and laying on his side and swimming vertically. He hasn’t eaten in 3 days. Water parameters are ammonia between 0-.25, nitrite same 0-.25 and nitrate 5. PH is 7.2. He seems very weak and like he’s struggling to breathe.
His belly does not appear to be swollen and I can’t see any major pine coning although there may be a wee bit.

He’s in a 10 g tank with 3 ottos.

What shall I do? I love this lil guy.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Sounds like it could be a swim bladder issue, which has a few different causes. Most likely cause is digestive problems, but could also be bacterial/parasitic infection.

Move your fish into quarantine if you can. No food for 3 or 4 days (which you are probably already at). Slowly raise the water temperature to 80f/27c. Try and get him to eat some blanched, skinned pea. If that doesn't do the trick, then look for a broad spectrum antibacterial fish medication.

Personally i wouldn't treat your main display tank, as you dont want to be treating other healthy fish, and medication could crash your cycle. But thats your choice. If you cant quarantine the fish, up the water changes to ensure water is kept pristine which will give the fish a better chance of recovery without detriment to your tank as a whole.

Pineconing is a sign of dropsy, which isnt treatable. If your fish deteriorates and is in a situation where it appears to be suffering (cant eat or swim), consider euthanising the fish.

From your previous threads, your fish was previously in ammonia you described as "off the charts" and this could easily be down to an historic water quality issue.

 

[m.j.gomez]

Hi I have a betta fish who is lethargic and laying on his side and swimming vertically. He hasn’t eaten in 3 days. Water parameters are ammonia between 0-.25, nitrite same 0-.25 and nitrate 5. PH is 7.2. He seems very weak and like he’s struggling to breathe.

His belly does not appear to be swollen and I can’t see any major pine coning although there may be a wee bit.



He’s in a 10 g tank with 3 ottos.



What shall I do? I love this lil guy.

Hello, if Betta is not eating you may want to do a pure Epsom salts bath.
You will need 2 tubs that hold 1gal apiece. 1st is for bath the other is a recovery tub. The first tub you need temp matched treated water w/1 teaspoon dissolved Epsom salt. In recovery tub you want 1/4 epsom salt water from 1st tub & 3/4 water taken from Betta tank.
Gently put Betta in 1st tub 5-8min. Keeping a close eye on him in case gills stop, he starts floating on side or poops. If this happens then move to recovery tub.
The recovery tub is so he can acclimate to fresh water. Keep him in recovery tub about 10min. Then move him to tank.
You can give once a day for up to 8days more than that can harm fish. If it doesn't work the first few days for me I usually switch to medication.
I like to train my bettas when young to eat boiled peas & normally feed them 2-3 times wkly cause they are prone to blockages. Hopefully this helps you!!!!!

 

[ADsnail]

m.j.gomez, how do get them to eat the shelled boiled pea? I've had no success with this whatsoever, even with young ones. It just sinks to the bottom and remains there as waste, with no interest from the fish.

 

[m.j.gomez]

m.j.gomez, how do get them to eat the shelled boiled pea? I've had no success with this whatsoever, even with young ones. It just sinks to the bottom and remains there as waste, with no interest from the fish.

They don't know it's food smash w/fingers & feed only pea it usually takes about a couple of days to a wk. Once they realize it's food they will eat. Then I make sure to feed 2-3× a wk. This seems to keep swimming issues at bay.