Betta Fish Breathing Heavily + Laying at the Bottom of Tank

[julayjoel]

This will be quite long so I apologize.

I bought a betta fish from Petco about a month ago. Unfortunately, my research on betta was limited to Petco’s website and my family’s advice, so he came home in a 1gal tank with no heater or filter. My family swore to me that this was acceptable, as we had a betta awhile ago that did fine in these conditions.

After more research I bought him a heater as a temporary solution before I bought him a 5gal tank. (COVID put me out of work)This was because I realized he was too cold in his bowl (72 F), but the heater kept the water too hot (82~86 F) and it was stressing him out so much he was glass surfing. I was doing 75% water changes every 5 days at this point.

Cut to last week. I moved him to a 5gal tank with a light filter and heater, and everything seemed fine in the sense that he was still eating, seemed active, etc. The next morning I woke up and found he had ich. This is where everything started going extremely downhill. He starting hiding away for large periods of time and stopped eating. I used aquarium salt in his water to treat ich as I couldn’t pay for any medication.

Last night he swam to the surface and ate some food, which was a huge improvement and I was thinking that he was finally starting to get better.

Yesterday morning I woke up and his ich was gone. But he was extremely lethargic and not really swimming around a whole lot. If I tapped the glass he would swim around, but would go right back into hiding. It seemed that it took a lot of effort for him to swim. Additionally, some parts on his body appeared pasty white. It didn’t look slimy or as if it was attached to him or anything, just a little discoloration.

Today he absolutely refused to move at all. The white patches on him seem to have disappeared, but he’s not really moving so I can’t get a good look at him. All day he has been breathing heavily and laying motionless at the bottom of his tank. I don’t know what to do and I’m really worried for him. There’s a lot of misinformation on Google about a lot of things which is confusing me even more. The testing kit I bought hasn’t come in the mail yet, so I couldn’t check the ammonia or nitrate/nitrite levels, but I did a 50% water change regardless. However, that seemed to have not done much of anything. He does not come to the surface at all.

His water right now is at 78 F. I turned his filter off when I got back from work today (I just got back to work last week) because I was worried the current was too strong for him. It wasn’t the case but I’m still nervous to turn it back on in case it affects something I’m unaware of.

He has no tank mates at all and was the smallest betta at the Petco I got him at so I don’t think this is a matter of old age. If it’s relevant, he made a bubble nest about three weeks back when he was in his bowl.

Please be patient with me as I just want to make him healthy and happy. Attached is a photo of the pasty whiteness on his body. This was from yesterday.

 

[KevinZ]

Do you have the water parameter info ?
Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, KH and GH will help us to give you information

 

[julayjoel]

Do you have the water parameter info ?
Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, KH and GH will help us to give you information

I have no water parameter info unfortunately because my testing kit hasn’t come in yet. When I get it I’ll test the water but I have no idea when it’s coming in. Could his behavior be due to possible high ammonia/nitrite levels?

 

[aqua.land]

Hi.

Unfortunately breathing heavily and lying at the bottom of a tank is most likely ammonia poisoning.
It could not be, I'll read the post over again, but since you don't have a test kit yet its just safe to assume.
You should probably change half more of the water right now, even if its not ammonia poisoning it wont do much harm.

 

[julayjoel]

Hi.

Unfortunately breathing heavily and lying at the bottom of a tank is most likely ammonia poisoning.
It could not be, I'll read the post over again, but since you don't have a test kit yet its just safe to assume.
You should change half of the water right now, even if its not ammonia poisoning it wont do much harm.

I changed half of the water about five hours ago and there has been no noticeable change. I’m going to do another water change in the morning when I wake up, but I fear that he isn’t going to make it

 

[aqua.land]

Hi,

So, without the water parameters we can't really be 100% sure of anything
A bubble nest is part of the breeding process so I doubt that would mean much/affect the illness.
Are you using dechlorinator to clean the tap water? Is your tank cycled?
It's better to test the water before putting a fish in to check for the right GH, KH, nitrite, nitrate and other levels

Hopefully everything goes well, keep us updated.

 

[Jan Cavalieri]

When you get your test kit you may see high ammonia levels and normal levels of everything else, this generally means the tank was not cycled before you added the fish (a full cycle takes about 6 weeks) Petco rarely tells you about this because they want you to go home with a fish on the same day you buy your tank. One thing you can do to speed up the cycling process is to purchase Tetra Quick Start plus. It is basically a bottle of good bacteria that may get you're cycling started. You will see a slow decrease in Ammonia followed by an increase in nitrites, after a while ammonia will go away daily, nitrites will start to be converted to nitrates - at that point do a 70% water change and see how it goes - if it cycled you should never have a water problem. There is also bottles that split ammonia into "good ammonia" and "bad ammonia" - fairly easy test to run but kind of a pain. You add the correct dosage to the tank, stir well (get that filter turned on) and run the test about 45 minutes later - what it will show you is how much ammonia the solution inactivated and how much is "live" generally you'll find all the ammonia has been converted to inactive ammonia - but you'll need to add this solution every few days because the ammonia will "put itself back together again". Keep doing this until the tank is cycled. Keep in mind that the test you ordered online will only show TOTAL ammonia so if your Ammonia tests out at 4 then it will still be 4 even though you inactivated it by using the solution. The test kit only tests total ammonia - that's why you need the other kit to show if the ammonia has been inactivated. Runs up the cash flow real quick especially when your out of work.

BTW: Ick can also be cured by raising the temperature on the tank to about 84 degrees (F) for several days. You might check that temperature online - I'd hate to fry your fish. I know betta's don't usually require heaters but in this case and in the winter you probably should have one running. Set it to a cooler temperature that a tropical fish (78 degres F) and realize the cheap heaters only set it to 78. I just paid $60 for one that is both F and C and lets you set up the setting and display the temperature at the same time. Plus if it works it will save you the cost of buying ick treatment.

 

[Naughts]

I have no water parameter info unfortunately because my testing kit hasn’t come in yet. When I get it I’ll test the water but I have no idea when it’s coming in. Could his behavior be due to possible high ammonia/nitrite levels?

Hello and welcome.
1) Read up on cycling for a fish- in-cycle in the beginners section. The tank wasn't cycled so you will need to follow aqua.land's advise and do daily water changes of 75% until you get your test kit. Make sure new water is dechlorinated and the same temperature as the tank water.
Turning off the filter prevents the tank cycling so leave it on. If it is too strong and you can't adjust it then use a filter sponge, pantyhose or plastic to baffle the filter.
Reduce feeding to once every other day so that ammonia doesn't build up quickly.

2) The ich going away is part of it's life cycle. It falls off the fish and multiplies in the gravel then re-infects the fish. Raise the temperature to 84 F/ 30 C as Jancavelieri described and leave it there for two weeks. Make sure the tank is well aeriated during this period.

Good luck, let us know how you and the betta get along.

 

[aqua.land]

Hi.

I agree with most of the stuff above.
I think Betta do usually need a heater, (unless you live in a very hot country or the tank is near a radiator). Betta fish are tropical fish.
I highly recommend getting a treatment, you can get fairly cheap ones - I got a treatment for only just over £3 (around 4 US$).
Ich Information sheet