I need help with my betta.

[NickAu]

Healthy fish should eat, and spitting out food can often indicate disease

Really? I never knew that. This isnt the first Betta I have seen.
Its a new fish, Yes he wont be in the best of health and probably has some finrot, all he needs is lots of clean water.
Most new fish refuse to eat and hide, I have had Bettas that refused to eat for 7 or more days, no big deal he will eat. If you have some blood worm try giving him a bit.

In nature bettas are not the pretty colors that we breed them to be.

Wow I never knew that, Thank you for educating me.

 

[J CZA]

In nature bettas are not the pretty colors that we breed them to be. Which gives them a natural camouflage, they still like to have that.
Also I think the original problem got sidetracked. Healthy fish should eat, and spitting out food can often indicate disease. Since he was recently aquired he may very well be sick (petsmart/petco are not the most ethical at how they care for their livestock). When he is out do his fins look clamped down? Have you seen any holes in his fins? Is his coloring dull? Any of these signs would indicate he is ill.
Sidenote and i apologize if it's already been stated, but do you have a heater in your tank?

I have the tank heated so his metabolism is better, I checked his fins and it dosent look like he is ill or has clapmped fins. His color is still a vibrant salmon color. I got him at a diffrent shop because petsmart's shipment of bettas all had diseases and multiple ones. He is finally hanging out at the top of the tank and isn't laying on the floor rn. I think he was just a bit cold he is in a big tank and didnt know the surroundings.
He still hasent eaten yet, but he seems to be doing better.

 

[J CZA]

Really? I never knew that. This isnt the first Betta I have seen.
Its a new fish, Yes he wont be in the best of health and probably has some finrot, all he needs is lots of clean water.
Most new fish refuse to eat and hide, I have had Bettas that refused to eat for 7 or more days, no big deal he will eat. If you have some blood worm try giving him a bit.


Wow I never knew that, Thank you for educating me.

Do you think he has finrot? He is a crown tail and its hard to tell. I could post a photo of his tail.

 

[Colin_T]

post a picture of him if you think he has a disease. But I highly doubt he has finrot.
Finrot is caused by a dirty environment, lack of water changes, no gravel cleans, dirty filter. Then bacteria start to damage the fins.

 

[J CZA]

post a picture of him if you think he has a disease. But I highly doubt he has finrot.
Finrot is caused by a dirty environment, lack of water changes, no gravel cleans, dirty filter. Then bacteria start to damage the fins.

Yea I dont think that he hase any fin rot. But someone said they thoght he could have it

 

[Colin_T]

the problem with red fish and fish with long straggly fins like your betta, is finrot causes splits in the fins and redness too. So someone who is not as experienced in fish diseases could easily see a male fighter and say it has finrot due to the fish's fins, which are actually normal

 

[NickAu]

post a picture of him if you think he has a disease. But I highly doubt he has finrot.
Finrot is caused by a dirty environment, lack of water changes, no gravel cleans, dirty filter. Then bacteria start to damage the fins.

I agree.

 

[J CZA]

the problem with red fish and fish with long straggly fins like your betta, is finrot causes splits in the fins and redness too. So someone who is not as experienced in fish diseases could easily see a male fighter and say it has finrot due to the fish's fins, which are actually normal

Yea, that happend with my other betta who is also a crowntail. The setup is new and I clean the tanks before they ever start tolooks stingy. I hate the look of dirty tanks so much.

 

[J CZA]

the problem with red fish and fish with long straggly fins like your betta, is finrot causes splits in the fins and redness too. So someone who is not as experienced in fish diseases could easily see a male fighter and say it has finrot due to the fish's fins, which are actually normal

I agree.

My fish still hasent eaten. Its been 6 6 to 7 days and he still dosent look sick or hurt.

 

[Colin_T]

Check your water quality today and see if there is any ammonia or nitrite. Even if he isn't eating, if you are adding food and the filter is not established, you will still get an ammonia reading from uneaten food in the tank.

Have you done any water changes since you got him?
Try doing a 75% water change and gravel clean the tank. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it goes into the tank.

Make sure the temperature is above 24 degrees Celsius.

If you don't have nay floating plants yet, add a couple of artificial plants and let them float on the surface.

When do you feed him, first thing in the morning, lunch time, night, when?
You want to let him wake up and spend several hours awake before feeding him. So don't feed him straight after turning the lights on or opening the curtains. Wait until lunch time or early afternoon so he has a chance to wake up.

Have you offered him any live food, brine shrimp, mozzie larvae, aphids, etc?
If not get some live brine shrimp from the local petshop and offer him a few of them.

Don't worry about him starving. He will not starve to death in a week. However, the fact he has not eaten after 6 days would suggest something is wrong with the tank, either water quality, temperature (which you recently corrected), or stress.

Make sure you don't have any soap, perfume, deodorant, grease, moisturising cream, or anything else on your hands when you feed him. This can contaminate the water and put strange smells on the food, which might discourage him from eating.

Make sure nobody is smoking, painting or using any sort of spray in the room.

 

[J CZA]

Check your water quality today and see if there is any ammonia or nitrite. Even if he isn't eating, if you are adding food and the filter is not established, you will still get an ammonia reading from uneaten food in the tank.

Have you done any water changes since you got him?
Try doing a 75% water change and gravel clean the tank. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it goes into the tank.

Make sure the temperature is above 24 degrees Celsius.

If you don't have nay floating plants yet, add a couple of artificial plants and let them float on the surface.

When do you feed him, first thing in the morning, lunch time, night, when?
You want to let him wake up and spend several hours awake before feeding him. So don't feed him straight after turning the lights on or opening the curtains. Wait until lunch time or early afternoon so he has a chance to wake up.

Have you offered him any live food, brine shrimp, mozzie larvae, aphids, etc?
If not get some live brine shrimp from the local petshop and offer him a few of them.

Don't worry about him starving. He will not starve to death in a week. However, the fact he has not eaten after 6 days would suggest something is wrong with the tank, either water quality, temperature (which you recently corrected), or stress.

Make sure you don't have any soap, perfume, deodorant, grease, moisturising cream, or anything else on your hands when you feed him. This can contaminate the water and put strange smells on the food, which might discourage him from eating.

Make sure nobody is smoking, painting or using any sort of spray in the room.

I have the temp an 78 to 80 and I did a 20% wc a few days ago with cleaning the gravel. The gravle is new and was washed off. I feed my fish a couple hours before turning the lights off. I dont use perfume or anything much. He dosent look ill or anything. I just dont want him to starve. I tried feeding him pellets, freeze dried blood worms even bottom feedee food when he wouldent go to the surface.

 

[Colin_T]

try him on live food (brine shrimp) and do bigger water changes (50-75%).

He won't starve. I went north for a few months and left my sister to feed my fish. Apparently she fed them once and forgot about it or couldn't be bothered. Anyway, 10weeks later when I returned home, 90% of the fish were still alive and looking good. The only fish I lost were babies and some fish that were specialised feeders that I had recently acquired and were still settling in when I left. But the vast majority of the fish were fine and healthy.

 

[NoLa24]

post a picture of him if you think he has a disease. But I highly doubt he has finrot.
Finrot is caused by a dirty environment, lack of water changes, no gravel cleans, dirty filter. Then bacteria start to damage the fins.

Yes which pet/fish stores routinely keep bettas in crappy water.

Really? I never knew that. This isnt the first Betta I have seen.
Its a new fish, Yes he wont be in the best of health and probably has some finrot, all he needs is lots of clean water.
Most new fish refuse to eat and hide, I have had Bettas that refused to eat for 7 or more days, no big deal he will eat. If you have some blood worm try giving him a bit.

I guess I've been lucky in that every fish I've aquired has eaten in the first day. Finrot is an illness and should be treated. I didn't say her fish did, I was simply asking.


Wow I never knew that, Thank you for educating me.

Well you really took issue to the terra cotta pot thing so wasn't sure if you did.[/QUOTE]

 

[J CZA]

It doesn't look like he has any disease or anything.

 

[J CZA]

Just leave him in his tank. The more you move him about the more you stress him.

Have you checked the water quality for ammonia, nitrite and temperature? if yes, what were the results?

Do you have any floating plants in the tank?
Bettas normally hide among plants just under the surface of the water. If there are no floating plants he will be stressed and hiding under the bridge ornament instead. The best floating plant for them is Water Sprite (Ceratopteris species).

If you don't want any real floating plants then use a plastic plant and let it float around. However, the real plants are better for the fish.

If the fish is new, eg: you have only had him for a day or so, give him a few days to settle into his new home.

Bettas are surface dwelling fish they do not need or want mini Terra cotta pots to hide in, What they want and need is lots of live plants including floating ones, when it comes to Bettas and plants there is no such thing as too many plants.

This is what a Betta needs.

Instead of silk plants try some Annubias Blue Stricta Crypts, for floating plants Water sprite is perfect

Get him a floating log

Safe? can you please provide the numbers.

this is fkd, my fish isn't eating and is looking super anorexic. the stupid petsmart didn't have any floating logs or frog bit or brine shrimp. I got slakes and i still don't see him eat. My other betta has a nice figure and this one looks like he has a massive head since his body is so small. Its been over a week and I don't think it is stress and there isn't any way for me to get brine shrimp or frog bit. Can i order that it online?