Betta sorority mystery illness

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BettaBettaBetta

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Hello all,

I've recently set up a new betta sorority in a 29 gallon aquarium. The original set up was just plastic plants and some small caves for hiding but I've recently added live plants and driftwood along with new substrate to aide in the plant growth. This is right around where all the problems with the girls began.

We had a couple deaths prior to this be it's become apparent something is really wrong now. In the past I've been able to diagnose disease in my fish by looking at them (ich or fungus) and monitoring their behavior and we've successfully rescued the tank from ich in the past.

This time is different, not seeing any obvious external symptoms, fins aren't looking frayed, there are no spots or parasites I can see the fish are just general lethargic, lots of lying on the bottom and much less interest in food. I've also noted some stringy white feces - I've heard this may indicate internal parasites but I also read this is usually introduced from live food and I only feed the freeze dried pellets.

I've tested water quality and the strips I have indicate that nitrite, nitrate, ph, kh and Gh are all at acceptable levels. The kit doesn't test ammonia - would this be reflected in the nitrate and nitrite levels? Also if there is ammonia poisoning wouldn't I see more gasping and surface dwelling than bottom lying lethargic behavior?

We've started a tetra lifeguard treatment and we're on day 3 of 5. We removed the carbon filter for this. The fish still seem to be dying and don't seem to be altering their behavior, those that never exhibited symptoms are still ok but those that were sick are still sick and don't seem to be improving.

My general plan is to test ammonia and do a water change if this is high but I don't want to change the water mid lifeguard treatment.

Hoping some more experienced fish keepers could chime in and let me know what their plan would be in this situation. Should I finish the lifeguard treatment? Should I do a water change? How much? Should I switch to a different t treatment?

Before the upheaval and the planting all the girls seemed very happy
 
Ah same thing happend to my female Betta after I changed my sand substrate, Bettas are sensitive to change. I know for a fact that Bettas hate change, what probably happend is that once you added new decor, your fish got stressed, live plants carry parasites, its best to dip your plants before putting them into your tank, did you get your plants from a petstore in a display tank with other fish, or did you get it from a tank with just plants, it's likely that these plants carried some form of parasite and your fish got stressed due to their territory changing and became more susceptible to infection, no idea why life guard isn't working, it cleared my fish of Gill flukes.. test your parameters ASAP make sure the PH is stable and ammonia nitrate and nitride levels are low
 
Tyler - thanks for the response!
I got a master test kit to look into water qualityas I was missing the ammonia measurement - the tank had 0.5ppm ammonia! This is low but anything above 0 can be bad news as I've read. So I did a 30% water change and added quick start and stress coat and salt. I'm still going forward on day four of the lifeguard treatment but I think the major issue may be "new tank syndrome" based on all the changes the nitrogen cycle got messed up. So I'm hoping the quick start will help jump start the cycle and get the water quality back up which will help the fish fight whatever may be killing them off.
 
Natural tannins help Bettas a lot too! Cattapa leaves, or almond leaves make the water more comfortable for fish and create a more natural-esk black water aquarium, tannins help Bettas with fighting off illness and disease. A lot of people don't personally like the look of blackwater, and it does lower the ph naturally, which could be a pro and a con depending on what fish and plants you have. But from my experience with blackwater it really helped my Bettas recover faster from injury
 
I've tested water quality and the strips I have indicate that nitrite, nitrate, ph, kh and Gh are all at acceptable levels.

Can you post your numbers please.

We've started a tetra lifeguard treatment and we're on day 3 of 5.
What exactly are you treating for? Just adding medication to the tank without knowing whats wrong can be detrimental.

What is the water temp in your tank
Is it filtered
What water treatment do you use. Eg Seachem Prime.

Heres a tip at the first sign of anything wrong in the tank do a water change 70 to 80 % I suggest you go do one now.
 

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