is my betta stressed or sick?
is my betta stressed or sick?
I've had Eros for about two weeks now, and at first, he was doing great. I made sure to clean his tank and decorations before adding them, and I even used conditioner on the tap water. I also let the water filter for a week before bringing him home and dosed it with bettafix to prevent any diseases - my previous betta had passed away from a possible bacterial infection, so I wanted to be safe. Everything was thoroughly cleaned after the other fish died, too. He's in a 5-gal tank with plenty of hiding spots and plants, no direct light, and it's kept warm between 78-80 degrees. At first, he seemed fine, but today his coloring looks dull, his fins are clamped, and his tail fin is a bit ragged. He's still eating and isn't sluggish, though. Today was weird, though - he was darting all over the tank, bumping into the glass walls aggressively. He also jumped on top of his floating log and was above the water for a bit, which freaked me out. Luckily, I was there to put him back in the water before anything bad happened. After that, he'd lay his head on the log and rest. I kept an eye on him for a bit to make sure he wouldn't hurt himself, and later he went inside the log and started nudging it aggressively. I ended up moving the log out of the tank because I was worried he'd get stuck on top of it again while I was asleep. I'm really lost on what to do to calm him down or help him - any advice would be super helpful.
Re: is my betta stressed or sick?
I'd like to know the levels of ammonia and nitrite in the tank. It's possible that when you cleaned the tank, you killed the filter bacteria, which means the tank is no longer cycled and ammonia could be building up. To be honest, I've seen this happen before and it can cause some serious problems for your fish.
When a fish's behavior changes like this, the first thing to do is test the water and do a water change of about 50%. This will help if it's a water quality problem. If there is ammonia and/or nitrite in the water, you'll need to do daily water changes until the tank is cycled again.
Also, keep in mind that water changes will remove the bettafix from the water. I'm not a fan of using these products, to be honest. The company claims it's safe for bettas, but I've read that the stuff in bettafix can interfere with the labyrinth organ of bettas and gouramis.
When a fish's behavior changes like this, the first thing to do is test the water and do a water change of about 50%. This will help if it's a water quality problem. If there is ammonia and/or nitrite in the water, you'll need to do daily water changes until the tank is cycled again.
Also, keep in mind that water changes will remove the bettafix from the water. I'm not a fan of using these products, to be honest. The company claims it's safe for bettas, but I've read that the stuff in bettafix can interfere with the labyrinth organ of bettas and gouramis.
Re: is my betta stressed or sick?
I'm guessing you haven't done a single water change since getting Eros, and I wouldn't be surprised if the ammonia levels are sky-high. What's the brand of water conditioner you're using, by the way? I've gotta say, I'm not a fan of Bettafix - it's not worth the risk, if you ask me. You should do a 50% water change, pronto - that's the first thing I'd do in your shoes.
Re: is my betta stressed or sick?
I'm still a bit stumped, I don't have a test kit for ammonia or nitrite levels, but I did manage to check the pH and it's at 7. I've been doing some research on water changes and I'm not sure which method would be best for Eros. I've read about the gravel vacuum method, but I'm not sure if that's too stressful for him. He's stopped darting around now and is just hiding, which is a bit concerning. Also, if I shouldn't be using bettafix, what's a good alternative for treating any potential illnesses? I want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to help him recover.
Re: is my betta stressed or sick?
You really need to get your hands on some ammonia and nitrite testers - those are the things that can make your betta seriously ill or even kill him. I always use liquid testers with test tubes, they're way more accurate than those strip things.
When it comes to doing a water change, there's not a lot of room for variation, but the exact method can be tweaked a bit. I use a gravel vacuum and a bucket to siphon out the old water - make sure you get some of the debris out of the gravel too, especially if you've got a substrate that's prone to getting clogged up. If you've got live plants, you can leave them be, but if it's just gravel, give it a good clean. Stop when the tank's about half empty, and keep an eye on your betta at all times - they're nosy little creatures and they'll come to investigate what you're up to.
When you're refilling the tank, use freshly dechlorinated tap water that's been warmed up to the same temperature as the tank water. I just use my hand to check the temperature, it's close enough. Pour the water in slowly so you don't stir up the substrate or stress your betta out. I use a jug to ladle the water from the bucket, and I pour it through a makeshift colander to keep things calm.
Some people just scoop out the water, but that doesn't do much for cleaning the substrate. And some people take the betta out of the tank to clean it, but that can be super stressful for the poor guy. As long as you keep an eye on him, it's safer to just leave him in the tank.
Until you can get your hands on some testers, I'd do a water change every day. Once you've got the testers, use them to guide your water changes. Test the water every day, and do a change whenever the ammonia or nitrite reading is above zero. Once the levels stay at zero for a week, you can start doing weekly water changes.
Those -fix medications aren't really treatments, they're more like preventatives. They're like our antiseptics - fine for keeping things clean, but if your betta gets sick, you'll need something more serious to treat him. Most fish illnesses can be prevented just by keeping the tank water clean, and a lot of the time, a few extra water changes will do the trick.
When it comes to doing a water change, there's not a lot of room for variation, but the exact method can be tweaked a bit. I use a gravel vacuum and a bucket to siphon out the old water - make sure you get some of the debris out of the gravel too, especially if you've got a substrate that's prone to getting clogged up. If you've got live plants, you can leave them be, but if it's just gravel, give it a good clean. Stop when the tank's about half empty, and keep an eye on your betta at all times - they're nosy little creatures and they'll come to investigate what you're up to.
When you're refilling the tank, use freshly dechlorinated tap water that's been warmed up to the same temperature as the tank water. I just use my hand to check the temperature, it's close enough. Pour the water in slowly so you don't stir up the substrate or stress your betta out. I use a jug to ladle the water from the bucket, and I pour it through a makeshift colander to keep things calm.
Some people just scoop out the water, but that doesn't do much for cleaning the substrate. And some people take the betta out of the tank to clean it, but that can be super stressful for the poor guy. As long as you keep an eye on him, it's safer to just leave him in the tank.
Until you can get your hands on some testers, I'd do a water change every day. Once you've got the testers, use them to guide your water changes. Test the water every day, and do a change whenever the ammonia or nitrite reading is above zero. Once the levels stay at zero for a week, you can start doing weekly water changes.
Those -fix medications aren't really treatments, they're more like preventatives. They're like our antiseptics - fine for keeping things clean, but if your betta gets sick, you'll need something more serious to treat him. Most fish illnesses can be prevented just by keeping the tank water clean, and a lot of the time, a few extra water changes will do the trick.
Re: is my betta stressed or sick?
I did a 50% water change this morning but Eros is still acting really weird. He jumped on top of the log again and I'm getting really worried about him getting stuck and drying up. I've ordered an ammonia test kit, but until I get it, I'm not sure what to do about his behavior. He's hiding a lot more than usual now, which is really concerning me. I'm just trying to figure out what's going on and how to calm him down.
Re: is my betta stressed or sick?
I just got the test kit and ran some tests on Eros' water. Everything seems fine - ammonia levels are normal, nitrate and nitrite levels are normal too. The pH is neutral, chlorine levels are normal, and the alkalinity is good. The only thing that stood out was that the water is hard, but I'm not sure if that's related to his behavior or not.
Re: is my betta stressed or sick?
To be honest, when you say his ammonia levels are normal, that doesn't really give us anything to go on. We need the actual numbers to get a better understanding of what's going on. I've seen it time and time again where people say their levels are normal, but when we get the actual readings, it's a different story altogether. With ammonia, the only safe level is zero, so even if it's just a tiny bit above that, it could still be causing problems for your betta.
Re: is my betta stressed or sick?
I ended up getting strips since the liquid tests weren't available, which means I can only provide ranges, not exact numbers.
Re: is my betta stressed or sick?
Hi, I'm still concerned about Eros and I was wondering, had you done a water change for him before the 50% change you did recently? You mentioned you've had him for about two weeks, so I'm curious to know if this was the first time you changed the water, or if there were any changes before that.