Betta Fish With Clamped Fins

[DIscoMagician]

So I got my fish, Sola, a few weeks ago. She was originally living in my dorm room at school. I use Top Fin water conditioner to treat the water and kept her in a 1.5 gallon bowl with 2 fake plants (grass and something tall for her to sleep on). She was fine, active, and happy. admittedly the water was too cold but she was okay. I then had to transport her (2 weeks after i bought her) to my house. about a 5 hour drive which she survived in the sup that I bought her in. once she got here i set the tank up the same way I had it at school and bought her a heater. plopped her in and she appeared fine for the first few days (~4). 2 days ago i did maybe a 2/3rd water change because it looked dirty and now she just sits ontop of the heater a majority of the day and doesn't want to eat. I've been able to get her to eat a pellet a day, maybe. I did wipe the inside of the bowl while she was in it (bad, i know). She was very healthy until recently. does it sound like i stressed her to much and could this be a cause of that or could it be the water conditions. I wont be able to test them for a few days as it is Christmas eve. I want to move her into a 10 gallon tank with some (5) neon tetras (and a filter as she does not have one right now) but i'm worried that the move will be too stressful for her.
 
 

 

[NickAu]

Hi
I suspect its the water quality, lets see if we can help you. With a 1.5 gallon bowl you should be changing at least 25% of the water every other day.
 
When posting a request for help can you please include the following info

1. Water parameters. (ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, PH, temp', Hardness etc)
2. A full description of the fishes symptoms.
3. How often you do water changes and how much.
4. Any chemicals and treatments you add to the water.
5. What tank mates are in the tank.
6. Tank size.
7. Finally Have you recently added any new fish?

You may cut and paste the template below and submit in your post:

Request Help

Tank size:
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp:

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):

Volume and Frequency of water changes:

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:

Tank inhabitants:

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

Exposure to chemicals:

Digital photo (include if possible):

 

[DIscoMagician]

Tank size: between 1.5 and 2 gallon. i'm not sure, it wasn't purchased by me. I washed it with hot water.
pH: wont know for a few days
ammonia: "" ""
nitrite: "" ""
nitrate: "" ""
kH: "" ""
gH: "" ""
tank temp: 78F

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): fin clamping and the jerky swimming that comes with it. not eating (a pellet a day). staying ontop of the heater.

Volume and Frequency of water changes: between 1/2 and 1/3 every other day

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: Top Fin Water Conditioner

Tank inhabitants: 1 halfmoon Betta

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): Just the betta, a few rocks from outside (that i boiled first), and some plastic plants. and a 50w water heater (for the eventual 10 gallon)

Exposure to chemicals: none unless the water conditioner counts

Digital photo (include if possible): included with original post.
 
We had what i believe was city water at school and now I have well water at home. I don't know exactly what the difference in parameters may have been. I do know we have a lot of calcium in our water, which from the chem classes I have taken lower pH. I'm looking for a home remedy to keep her as healthy as possible until after Christmas so i can get a test kit and figure this out exactly.

 

[Wildbetta]

Looking at her pics and reading over the information you have provided, it sounds like your betta probably has velvet.  Clamped fins, lethargy, and jerky movements are all prime symptoms of this parasite.  The stress of the move probably didn't help but the rapid change in water temperature is what the main culprit for this parasite popping up is.  Going from no heater with cold water to a heater and correctly heated but much warmer water with no time to adjust is particularly stressful.  

It might be other things as well since it happened after a water change.  Did you make sure the water that you added with the water change was the same temperature as the tank?  Do you have a thermometer in the tank to monitor real temperature?  I highly suggest getting a test kit so you can test both the tank and the tap water to see if there is ammonia present in either source.  

 

[DIscoMagician]

Me again

I have brought the water to the pet store and had them test it. (test kits costs a substantial amount of money and the store does them for free). Nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia are all good. The pH is very high though. I have added acid buffers and such to try and lower it. I did add these while the fish was in the tank. she is back to swimming normally, no clamped fins, BUT she is losing color in her fins and still does not want to eat. I have tried 2 types on pellets for bettas and freeze dried blood worms (which she has liked the most. but doesn't eat as much as she used to).

 

[Jeremy180]

It won't give you your current tank parameters, but your water supplier generally has a water quality report viewable online. this will give approximate parameters for what is coming from your faucet, at any rate.

 

[NickAu]

Hi, Pardon my scepticism, But I do not trust petshop employees when they say your water is fine.
 

Nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia are all good.

The actual numbers are important.
 
 
 

 
The pH is very high though. I have added acid buffers and such to try and lower it.

Who told you to do this,  adding that stuff is a bad idea.
 
PH lowering products are dangerous.
 
Lowering the PH of water is an exacting science there is more to it than just adding a few millilitres of this or that per XX gallons of water.  Depending on your waters buffering your PH will quickly go back to where it was, Fluctuating PH is bad for fish and may kill them.  Your betta is better off in a stable PH even if its high that the constant yo yoing.
 
 
Byron will be able to explain it in detail.

 

[DIscoMagician]

Thank for all the input everybody.

I know that adjusting pH is an exact thing. I've taken acid base chem in college, I truly do understand the chemistry behind all of this. What I do not know is how exact a fish will react to the changes. It seems that I should not have added the regulator into the water while the fish was in the tank. My tap water (which is from a well, so it is rather difficult to get the perimeters), can not, from what I've seen, keep this fish alive. our well is drilled into 200 feet of limestone, and the pH is over 8.0. Besides just buying spring water from a grocery store, I don't know what else I can do outside of trying to get my home pH into a comfortable region. I'd rather not go the buying water route because the price will add up fast.

When I first started added the regulator (Neutral regulator from Seachem) she openned her fins right up and was significantly more active so I think it WAS working but now she is loosing color in her fins. However, she is not back to clamping them up and curling ontop of the filter, so I do not know if this in an improvement.

My main question is, can the sudden drop in pH cause loss of color in a fishes fins? If put into better water conditions will the fishes color come back? Assuming I can keep the pH steady with the regulator, should I go that route, or is the fish guaranteed to die? And does the unclamping of the fishes fins indicate she is more comfortable in the water now than she was 2 weeks ago?

 

[NickAu]

To be honest some of your questions are way above my pay grade as they say, I looked into all this because I wanted to keep Discus in a 6 foot tank, From my basic research I came to the conclusion that the best and safest way to lower PH was Reverse osmosis and then re-mineralising water, I also concluded that it was all too expensive and complicated. During my basic re-search I also found that some bottled water meant for humans to drink was not safe for fish due to the way its processed ( removal of stuff or adding stuff ). Without knowing exactly what’s in the bottle I wouldn’t use it.

 

[DIscoMagician]

fair enough

This is the fish currently. fins are open but the ones in the front are completely see through. very concerned