Betta fish trouble-new to fish tanks

[Kaida2]

I have a Female better fish in a 2and1/2 gallon tank with a filter meant for a four gallon, She has been sitting and breathing heavily at the bottom or in the plant for two days now and she goes to the top sometimes but its like her tail is dragging her down. I was just wondering if their is something I can do to help my betta. Thank you.

 

[Guppylover3x]

I have a Female better fish in a 2and1/2 gallon tank with a filter meant for a four gallon, She has been sitting and breathing heavily at the bottom or in the plant for two days now and she goes to the top sometimes but its like her tail is dragging her down. I was just wondering if their is something I can do to help my betta. Thank you.

Hi and welcome to the forum

I’m sorry to hear of your difficulties. How long has the tank been set up and what are your parameters?

If the tank is new any ammonia or nitrites could be irritating the fish. It’s recommended to perform 50-75% water changes during cycling.

That being said I can’t imagine one single Betta alone will build up enough toxins to kill itself.

It’s also useful to post the GH/PH readings to see if these are within the right ranges for your Betta. Who ideally prefer softer water.

Posting a short 20 seconds video would be useful so that we can identify if there is anything physically wrong with the fish e.g. fungus, fin rot, or white spot.

Best of luck!

 

[Kaida2]

ok, give me a minute or two

 

[Guppylover3x]

ok, give me a minute or two

Apologies, I forgot to add. Bettas usually prefer to naturally live in still water.

If your water current is too strong from your filter this could also be causing your fish stress.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Most fish health issues are directly related to poor water quality caused by too much food going into the tank and inadequate biological filtration.

Get your water tested for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day until we work out what is going on.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

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Post pictures and video so we can see what is happening.
If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube. If you are using a mobile phone to take the video, have the phone horizontal so the video takes up the entire screen. If you have the phone vertical, you get video in the middle and black on either side.

The following link has information about what to do if your fish get sick. It's long and boring but worth knowing.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-to-do-if-your-fish-gets-sick.450268/