BETTA SICK! help me i dont no what he has!?

Question

he looks perfectly normal exept he's acting really wierd he usually is swimming around but now he just lays on the floor of his tank and his side fins dont move and his back fin isnt up and he's not eating what should i do he just looks depresed and not sick but i dont think fish can get depresed

Answer 1

The answers to many questions already asked here will help you solve your problem. He defintely doesn't look perfectly normal at this point, so you will have to run through a checklist of what his conditions have been, to help you figure out his problem now. We can help a lot more by knowing things such as

-What size tank/bowl is your fish kept in? (how much water does it hold)
-How often do you change the water?
-Do you age the new water, dechlorinate the water, or treat it with anything else beforehand?
-What temperature is the fish usually kept at?
-What do you normally feed your fish; how much, and how often?

Answer 2

First, check his environment, does he have adequate water (temperature, alkalinity, oxygen, etc)? Does he have adequate room, company, plants, etc?
Next try varying his diet some (a different food, etc).
Be sure to change his water in small amounts (10% - 25% depending on how often youre doing changes) full water changes all at once are bad for fish. It stresses them out.

Fish may not have actual "depression", but they do get "bored" with everything being the same (especially bettas, who are generally put into a very small bowl with no friends, plants, room, filters, lights, etc). It is a common misconception that bettas must live a life in solitary. Though it is true that MOST MALE bettas CANNOT be put with other MALES it is not true that they must be alone. A single male put into a tank with 4 - 5 females will generally do well (DO watch for signs of trouble though, sometimes they wont do well together after being put into the little pet shop bowls for so long, they just dont know how. The younger they are raised together, the better your chances of success.) You MUST watch for nipped or split fins over a course of days up to a week to be certain if there will be problems. You also must watch to see that the females dont intimidate each other (More rare, but DOES occasionally happen.) Dont try to house only one female with the male.... he will chase her to death (literally) because male bettas are very amourous.
Be sure to get yourself a few good books on ONLY bettas.... a world of information is at your fingertips on bettas, and your local library should have a good start.

Answer 3

Actually Betta's can get depressed according to BettaTalk web site. Have you tried using a mirror for a few minutes? Try feeding him some bloodworms? Betta's can't resist those! How about the water in his tank? How often do you clean it? Did you remember to put the conditioner in it? Some times it is simply things that we look over that could cause a fish to act sick. Go to www.bettatalk.com and click on Betta health. There is a list of diseases and medications you can use to treat him with.

Answer 4

He is definitely ill. How old is he? How warm is your water? When was your last water change? If he's more than 2-3 years old, he could just be reaching the end of his life. They rarely live more than 3 years, though you sometimes hear people saying they've had them longer. If your water is cooler than 78 degrees, he may need to be warmer - but that can be hard to do if you have him in one of those small 1-gallon bowls or tank. If you haven't done a water change in awhile, do a partial change now, being careful to match the water temp when you add the new water.

You may need to prepare yourself, though, because IME, when they start acting like that, it's hard to bring them back. Here's a good site talking about Betta care and there are pages on diseases and treatments.

Answer 5

Is his mid siction puffy? he could be constipaited ( means He can not poop) if that is the case it could be fixed...

Check the temp, the water could be too cold for him. (can be fixed also)

is the water cloudy or merky?



Check its gills, see if they are irritated (this could happen if conditioner was not added or there are other things in the water...


I may be contaced using the contact me link located on my Q&A Page

Answer 6

check the temperature of the water, it might be too cold for him. They prefer between 76 and 85 degrees F and can get really lethargic if it drops below that.

Answer 7

Let me guess you have him in a bowl, problem solve.


New problem arising!

"omgz i dont haves teh monies for teh tank"

Craigslist.com, problem solved.