My betta fish died today. I've had him roughly 6 months. He started out in a 10 gallon and was downgraded to a 5 gallon (used media from the other tank to cycle) a couple weeks ago. From start to finish, whatever killed him took 12 hours. He was literally acting perfectly normal at 9.30am when I got up, listless and acting weird at 11.30 when I went to feed him. He didn't eat (I fished the food back out somewhere in the afternoon). He spent most of the day either laying at the bottom of the tank (sometimes on his side, sometimes not) or pointed straight up at the surface of the water. At 1, I had to turn the filter off because even a very gentle current was whipping him around the tank. Every now and then he'd have these little convulsions.. It looked remarkably similar to my cat having a seizure. Then he'd zoom around the tank and resume either his head straight up position at the water line or laying on the bottom of the tank. I added some salt and turned up the heat hoping it would help cause I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Obviously, it didn't. He DID come in contact with some other fish just before he moved to his new 5 gallon tank but they all seem fine. I'm watching them like a hawk now..
When a fish dies from weird causes and is the sole occupant of a tank, what should I do to prepare the tank for a new occupant? Tear it down, clean it, and re-cycle? What should I do with the plants? No matter what I do with the tank, it's going to be a couple weeks to a month before I can even think of getting a new betta to put in there. I'd like my plants to survive but I don't want to just stick them in my other tank in case whatever killed him was infectious.. Can I just keep the tank running and feed it fish food to keep it cycled? Would that be enough to keep the plants healthy? It's fairly sparsely planted at the moment. And if I can do that, how much is the cycle going to be harmed by being off for several hours? I can take media out of my other filter but I'm not sure there's a point if there's no fish in the tank...
I'm at a loss here.. And the only thing the person who normaly helps me with my fish can think of is that he caught something from one of the other fish.. But if that were the case, wouldn't they be sick too? The water paramaters have always been good. No ammonia or nitrites and always low nitrates on both tanks. Partial water changes and a good gravel vac every week, sometimes twice a week, how much I change varies depending on when I last did it and how well I'm feeling (I have chronic health issues) but never less than 10%. The last one was Sunday and then I did about a gallon this afternoon in hopes that I just wasn't seeing something and it might help. I'm frustrated. I was really attached to that fish.
When a fish dies from weird causes and is the sole occupant of a tank, what should I do to prepare the tank for a new occupant? Tear it down, clean it, and re-cycle? What should I do with the plants? No matter what I do with the tank, it's going to be a couple weeks to a month before I can even think of getting a new betta to put in there. I'd like my plants to survive but I don't want to just stick them in my other tank in case whatever killed him was infectious.. Can I just keep the tank running and feed it fish food to keep it cycled? Would that be enough to keep the plants healthy? It's fairly sparsely planted at the moment. And if I can do that, how much is the cycle going to be harmed by being off for several hours? I can take media out of my other filter but I'm not sure there's a point if there's no fish in the tank...
I'm at a loss here.. And the only thing the person who normaly helps me with my fish can think of is that he caught something from one of the other fish.. But if that were the case, wouldn't they be sick too? The water paramaters have always been good. No ammonia or nitrites and always low nitrates on both tanks. Partial water changes and a good gravel vac every week, sometimes twice a week, how much I change varies depending on when I last did it and how well I'm feeling (I have chronic health issues) but never less than 10%. The last one was Sunday and then I did about a gallon this afternoon in hopes that I just wasn't seeing something and it might help. I'm frustrated. I was really attached to that fish.
