My Betta is sick, but I'm not sure what it is exactly or how to treat it, can anyone help?

Question

I have one male Betta(about a year old) that has stopped eating, rarely moves around and lays at the bottom of the tank. When he does move, he seems to have trouble keeping balanced or will float on one side or just float to the bottom without moving fins or do a nose dive into the gravel. I noticed him spazing out a few times when he is at the surface. He also seems to be breathing heavily. I've done a 70% water change, added aquarium salt, coppersafe and one tablet of tetracycline (just started tetracycline treatment today and will complete) as I'm not sure if it's a parasite, bacteria, or both. Also, the carbon has been removed from filter so the meds aren't removed from tank. I'm not sure if I'm going about this the right way as I have no clue what could be wrong/what I'm dealing with. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Specs: kept in a 10 gal. tank (not a community tank) with power filter kept on lowest setting possible, with heater, feeding (or fed, rather) freeze dried bloodworms.

Answer 1

The first thing I would suggest is to do a large water change to get rid of the coppersafe & salt. CS can be extremely toxic and you will need special testers for it.

Some fish are okay with preventative salt, but I wouldn't suggest it with Bettas. Sometimes, their kidneys have problems removing the salt from their system. Plus, unless you have a high nitrite problem, or are using an external-parasite med with the salt, it won't really do anything.

It doesn't sound like the tetracycline is needed either, but I would continue it due to the possibility of resistance. It's not the most effective medication in any case.

Freeze-dried bloodworms are not good for Bettas, as they can cause severe constipation. I feed Hikari frozen (thawed out) bloodworms and Betta pellets.

It would also be very helpful if you would post your water parameters.

Is the Betta swollen in the abdomen? Has he pooped?

So, for now, I would:

1- do a large waterchange with same temp, same pH treated water to get rid of the CS and salt. Continue with the tetracycline.

2- fast your Betta for a few days and follow that with a tiny piece of shelled, cooked pea. Then watch for poop.

3- when you resume his feedings, change the food and limit him to 2 pellets and 2-3 bloodworms per day. (feeding am and pm)

This also may be a swimbladder issue. I'll post something you can read it
http://p076.ezboard.com/fflippersnfinsfrm11.showMessage?topicID=5.topic

Good luck! I hope he gets better!

I just wanted to add that a Betta can live to 5 years. :)

Answer 2

My 1st concern would be a swim bladder disorder from over feeding. Blood worms are a great food, but it's a really bad food to over feed. Also a little variety in his diet would be good. (I use both blood worms and brine shrimp with an occasional algae flake day to clean them out, but I've got a lot of other fish.)

At the current time I'd do the following:

0)Read the betta talk disease link. If he doesn't have ich, or velvet put back in the carbon filter, and stop using cooper safe.

1)Continue the tetracycline with the carbon filter in, and replace the filter after treatment.

2)Fast him for 2 days, and on the 3rd day cook, and peel a pea. Feed him 1/2.

Also raise the temp in tank to 83-84F for the duration as bettas like the heat. Salt won't help or hurt, but 1 teaspoon per gallon is safe for a week or 2.

Answer 3

It sounds like you are doing everything right with the meds and treatment. I just lost one of my males with the same symptoms. After he died, I was told by a fish breeder that the most common problem with Betas is stress. And that the water flow from even the smallest filter can cause this type of stress. I had NO idea. I don't have a filter it the small tank now and by doing a 25 percent water change about every 5-7 days and feeding him less,this fish is very active and is doing better than any that i had while using a filter. Good Luck

Answer 4

Without knowing the true age of your betta when bought, it could be age. Also, you could be feeding him too much. When using bloodworms, it is best to only feed your betta every other day, very small amounts. Bloodworm feeding is very messy and detrimental to tanks with only one fish. Although feeding bloodworms is readily acceptable it can cause tummy aches when fed too much. Try using micropellets or betta pellets, when your fishy gets better. When feeding this way only 2-4 pellets are needed to keep your fish well fed. If you would like to continue with the bloodworms, alternately feeding weeks with pellets should help.
If you have not tried using Betta conditioner, I would also add this to the tank. Try going for 2-3 days without feeding your betta. This will clear out his system and let the medication run it's course. Hope this helps and good luck.

Answer 5

Well, you certainly have a good sized tank, heat and filter so environment isn't the issue, but there still could be bad water quality. Have you tested the water to see what the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are at? It could be constipated. You may want to not feed for a couple of days. Also, you're overmedicating. All of those medications aren't necessary and could just be making the fish sicker. Since you don't know what it has, I would scale back to just salt for now and test the water.

Answer 6

Did u got rid of all the water in his tank? if u do u could desire to have tousled his cycle. ammonia can burn his gills and physique+ he's often down on the gravel is likewise yet one greater reason for ammonia. if thats no longer the project feels like ur fish has exterior parasites i might sayy Gill and blody flukes and perchance anchor laptop virus imo if ur fish has that i might recommend u purchase a sparkling one and end his existence rapid by way of fact it hurts him greater then u think of in view that all the stuff u could could desire to repair him and if u can restoration him will cost like 5 betta fishes

Answer 7

Are you overfeeding perhaps? Sounds like it could have swim bladder disorder.
Fast the betta for a day then try feeding it a pea (unthawed frozen pea, not one from a can) that's about half the size of it's eyes.
Hope your betta gets better!

Answer 8

Most likely a swim blatter infection a year is about the life span for a beta anyways Sorry

Answer 9

what is the temp at?
when was the last water change
and the one before that?
have you cleaned the gravel?
has it lost any color?

check this also

http://bettatalk.com/betta_diseases.htm
hope this helps!

-Ivan