Betta Is Ill

[PrairieSunflower]

I started this thread yesterday http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/419313-betta-behavior-no-love/#entry3537538 about my betta not being himself.  Basically ignoring me and and napping which was out of character for him.
 
First the stats...
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0 (was unclear yesterday if it was 0-0.25)
Nitrate 10
Temperature 78
 
Tank is 10 gallons and has been cycled for about 2 years, is planted and he is the only one living there (well and a few assassin snails, been working on spotting them and moving them).
 
I've had the betta for 1 week and 2 days now.
 
Yesterday, he seemed to be ignoring me and resting during the day.  Previous to yesterday he always came to the glass to see me and even responded when I would wave from across the room.
 
Today, he is hovering in the quietest corner and didn't eat his breakfast and is still not interested in responding to me.  I am sure something is wrong with him.  I just don't know what.
 
As for appearance, no sign of anything on his fins or scales, his color is normal.  I don't know what a clamped betta looks like but he seems to be in his regular relaxed position.
 
I have, at the moment, given his tank a half dose of general tonic in hopes that will perk up his lethargic behavior.

 

[Mamashack]

RCA is the one I know who has a lot of experience of bettas and their behaviour. I believe she's having computer problems at the moment but I'll mention it to her. I am a relatively new betta keeper myself and fortunately haven't experienced any betta illness so far (touch wood!)
Just a thought have you got any Indian Almond leaves in your betta tank. It's supposed to have a calming effect. Hope it's just a mood yours is going through.


He may be bored - do you have anything for him to play with like a pingpong ball maybe?
Mine has the company of a young male platy some amano shrimp and an assassin snail. It would depend on how aggressive yours is tho - they are all different. Try showing him a mirror and see how he reacts to his own reflection.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I've shown him mirrors before and he found it interesting but non-threatening... I am going to upload a photo shortly in case that helps... wondering if maybe he could be starting to be bloated or something... maybe he ate too much the other day... not sure what a bloated betta looks like so might not be that either.


Right some pictures... I'm now thinking maybe he is bloated....
 
 
This is him the day I bought him...

 
 
This is him today... he is in a very hard spot to take a decent picture as he chose the corner next to my other tank so I had very little room to have my camera in there far enough away....  (His color looks worse in this one but visually in real life he doesn't look different in color).


In case it is bloating maybe due to over feeding... here is what I have been feeding him.
 
I started off feeding him 1 blood worm for supper and a tropical fish flake for breakfast (for a few days before I got the proper food, one still coming).  For the last 3 days I've been feeding him Tetra Betta flakes for breakfast (just a small bit he eats it all) and a blood worm for supper.

 

[Mamashack]

I only feed mine once a day and then it's about 3-4 soaked betta pellets. I also put in 2 floating tropical pellets for the single platy and some ground up tropical flake for the  shrimp. Who actually gets what is anybody's guess. With yours it could be over feeding I guess, but I suppose that shows he hasn't lost his appetite at least. He could be constipated. Try him with a chopped, shelled, cooked and cooled pea to see if that helps.

 

[Shelster]

Is there a way we can tag wildbetta into this?

 

[Mamashack]

Do you know her well enough to PM her Shel? That's the only way I think of.

 

[Shelster]

I've just sent her a pm, wildbetta is from the USA so she'll be pushing z's at the mo......

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I was reading that bettas do better with very small meals twice a day so that was my goal.  Happy to feed him once a day if that would be better for him.
 
I have ordered betta pellets as there weren't any in my local shops, so that is the one thing I am waiting on still.  I don't like the betta flakes as they are so small and hard to portion easily.

 

[Wildbetta]

Your water stats look good and your temp is in the right range.  I would however suggest bumping it up to around 80F or so just because they really like warmer water.  In your last two pics he is clearly bloated.  I would fast him for at least 3 days (don't worry bettas can easily survive a month or so without food) and see if the bloating goes down.  When you feed your betta always remember that his belly is the size of his eyeball and they are very easy to constipate.  The thawed peeled pea is another way of helping constipated bettas but I normally find fasting works the best since some bettas will not eat peas.  I always advise to avoid flakes just because it is really hard to judge correct amount and they tend to foul the water quickly when the betta doesn't eat all of them. I may have missed you posting this somewhere but is the bloodworm frozen, live, or freeze dried?  It does make a difference because freeze dried foods are bad to constipate bettas.  As for feeding once a day VS twice a day....that is up to the owner and what you feed.  I feed my bettas 3-4 times a week and use a varied diet. (yep you read that right - 3-4 times a week, I rarely feed every day with any of my fish except my fry tanks)  
 
On another note, why are removing all the assassin snails from this tank?  

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I am waiting on some betta pellets which I ordered since I am finding the flakes hard to portion, that should arrive Tuesday or Wednesday (tomorrow is a holiday so no mail).  I will refrain from feeding him for now.
 
I have freeze dried blood worms.  I've had a bad experience buying the frozen ones and they made my fish (guppies) ill so I don't trust my local place with those anymore.
 
As for the assassins.  I've had a thriving community of them in this tank for sometime, they used to be feed on leftovers that the fry didn't eat.  With the betta in there now there isn't anything dropping to the bottom for them and I worried that if I feed extra the betta would eat too much.... which maybe I am feeding him too much already!    So,anyway, when I spot them I just move them over to the next tank (there are far more in there than I will ever catch and move).

 

[Meeresstille]

   I hope his condition improves soon! 

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Thanks.  Will update if anything changes or after his fasting.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

A question for you Wildbetta.
 
The other day I was worrying that my betta had fin rot.  When I look at him in the tank I see that the edges of his fins just look "thinner" and blackish.... I have taken many photos thinking to show it on the forum but they all come out perfectly blue.  Is there any possibility that what I see with the naked eye is something and the camera deceives?  Someone else mentioned that bettas are a bit irredescent... is it possible I could be seeing the beginning of tail rot but the photo shows the irredescence?

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Well, nevermind the question.  Jimmy died.
 
Feeling quite discouraged with my first attempt at having a betta.

 

[Mamashack]

I am so sorry to hear about Jimmy, Prairie. It's disheartening for you tho he may well have been ill before you got him. I can't imagine that one possible little spike in nitrItes will have caused him to become ill so quickly.
Give your self time to get over his death then pick your self up and dust your self off and start again.