Who Gives A Fish Forums

I've had my male fin tank for over 2 years now, got him from the pet store. Lately, I've noticed he's been having some swimming issues - he's been sitting on the bottom a lot and leaning to one side, or just resting on his plant near the surface. His appetite hasn't been great, but he does perk up a bit when I come to feed him. He'll eat a few of the small kibbles, but not as much as he used to. His fins aren't as nice as they were when I first got him, but I don't think it's fin rot since they've looked like that for a while now. This has all been going on for about a week, except for the fin thing - that's been going on for at least a year. Any ideas what could be going on?

Hi floraison, welcome to the forum. I'm happy to help you out with your fin tank concerns. Can you tell me, are his eyes looking a bit cloudy at all?

His eyes are clear, no cloudiness at all.

I think your betta is likely around 2.5 to 3 years old. Three is considered old for a betta in captivity, especially since we don't know what they went through before we got them. I had a betta that started declining around 2 years old - his body developed age spots, his eyes got cloudy with cataracts, and his fins became really tattered. He spent most of his time on a favorite leaf, but he still ate. Towards the end, I had to feed him blood worms right in front of his face. Some people on this forum might not agree with that, but an aquatic research vet suggested I give him children's liquid vitamins, which I did for the last 6 months of his life. I really believe it helped him a bit. Sadly, he passed away in his sleep at 34 months old. When they get to this point, all we can do is give them love, keep their water clean, and make them comfortable. I'm sure my betta knew I cared about him.

I'm curious, are your water parameters in check and do you stick to a regular maintenance routine? Weekly water changes are a must, I'd say aim for around 75% each time.

I do water changes about every week to every other week, and I keep his tank at room temperature, which is around 74F.

His ideal temp should actually be around 80F, not 74F. I'd highly recommend increasing the frequency of those water changes to 75% daily for the next couple of weeks and see if that makes a difference. It's possible it's just a water quality issue that's causing his problems. Can you tell me a bit more about his tank - what's the size and is it filtered?

I think it would be a good idea to test the water for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate - could you please post the results with actual numbers? Also, have you checked the GH (general hardness) and pH of your water supply? You can usually find this info on your water supply company's website or by giving them a call. If they can't help you, take a glass of tap water to the local pet shop and ask them to test it for you - make sure to write down the results, including the units (e.g. ppm, dGH, etc.).

As Deanasue recommended, doing a 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate every day for the next couple of weeks might help. Just make sure any new water is free of chlorine/chloramine before adding it to the tank. If you haven't cleaned the filter in the last 2 weeks, now's a good time to do it - wash the filter media in a bucket of tank water and reuse it. If you have a filter with pads/cartridges, wash those in a bucket of tank water and reuse them.

For the next few weeks, try feeding your fish 3-5 times a day with a mix of dry, frozen (thawed), and live foods.

Would you be able to post a picture and a short 30-second video of the fish? If the pics are too big for the website, try setting your camera to its lowest resolution and taking some more - that should make them small enough to post. Check the pics on your computer and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, then post them here. Don't forget to turn your camera's resolution back up after taking the pics. If the video is too big for the website, you can post it on YouTube and share the link here - we can take a look at it on YouTube. If you're using a mobile phone to take the video, try holding it horizontally so the video fills the whole screen.