Gruesome Betta Death

[Leahzebelle]

I noticed he had been laying on the sand a lot lately, and just not swimming around as much in generel. So i got up to my room after printing some stuff out downstairs and he was dead! and looking like this. Im not positive exacly when this happened. I could have sworn he was alive this morning, but he could have been in this position dead and i had no idea. He looks perfectly fine until you look at him up close like this....

I've only had him for a few months, and he was doing great i thought....

 

[stang1]

So sorry for your loss.
What other tankmates are there?
What are your water stats?
Were there any signs of illness?

 

[Leahzebelle]

Well, hes got three male guppies in with him, two really tiny corydoras, and i JUST put in an upsidedown catfish in there so i could keep an eye on him, i know the tanks getting crowded. Im going to put the catfish back in the ten gallon pretty soon. as for tank stats...ive got a test kit to test alkalinity, acidity and everything. Its all fine as far as i can tell. im going to check it again here and tell you what its at now. The temperature is around 75-80 degrees right now.


Edit: ok i checked with the stick things:

The nitrates were a bit high, i need to change the filter, and will when im done typing this.
The Nitrate NO2 is in the safe zone.
The hardness of the water is in the medium-soft zone. 100-180? (im really not that good with the numbers of measuring these things, sorry if this isnt helping, i just of what the sticks tell me.)
The alkalinity is on the 50 mark
And the pH was on the 6.8 mark

I dont know if itll help...but the water smells excessively "fishy". more so then usual. And i saw no signs of illness. I got a fourth guppy in there a few days ago, but it died, which is normal i thought when you get fish from walmart. the second one i got with the one that died is doing great though, as are the two i had in there before i got the one that died and the one that is doing great. i see no ick signs either.

 

[bubblesburst80]

sorry for the loss of your betta, i lost a pictus today too, its never good

xXx

 

[Leahzebelle]

sorry for the loss of your betta, i lost a pictus today too, its never good

xXx

Thankyou, im sorry about your pictus, they are beautiful fish. Its so sad when things like this happen, especially when you think things are going so well.

 

[stang1]

What are the actual readings for your nitrite and ammonia?

 

[Leahzebelle]

I hope this helps, i didnt see anything that said amonia:Top left:

Top Middle

Top right:

Middle Left:

Middle Middle:

Middle Right:

Bottom Left:

Bottom Middle:

Bottom Right:

Ugh, sorry if im missing something huge.

 

[stang1]

Unfortunately, test strips will not give you a very accurate reading at all. It is worth investing in a liquid test kit as they are more accurate and will provide ammonia tests.
It's difficult to say what killed your Betta without knowing the actual water stats. It might be worth doing a water change just to be on the safe side.
There isn't really anything in your tank that may have attacked him so you can pretty much rule that out. It may well be old age depending on how old he was when you got him and how long you've had him.
I've just noticed in your profile that you have all of these fish in a 5G tank. To be honest, a 5G is only big enough for a Betta or 3 guppies at a push. There may well be problems with your water quality as it is overstocked. If you could move the Corys and the Catfish then your 5G should be about right.

 

[Leahzebelle]

I knew i was kind of pushing it, the corys are so tiny im worried the killy fish in my ten gallon will gobble them right up, and the upsidedown catfish was temporarily in there so i could keep an eye on what foods it prefers, ive put him back in the ten gallon now. But the baby corys....i mean i have to leave them in there for their own safety, until they get bigger of course, im going to do a partial water change right now. And this monday we are going to go to an actual Petsmart or Petco, im definitely going to get something different from the test strips. Thankyou for telling me that about them! i had no idea they were that unreliable. I may be getting another ten gallon next monday too, if i do ill be able to put the baby corys in the ten gal.

Thankyou very much!

 

[stang1]

No problem and I hope it all works out for you.
I should imagine that the Cories will be fine with the Killifish but worth double checking on that. Also worth upping the number of Cories as they prefer to be in groups of about 5+.

 

[Leahzebelle]

Ill definitely be getting more corys at the store!! i have been meaning to for the last few weeks, im very excited about it! i love corys.

 

[branjie]

Sorry to hear that your pretty Betta died. I think they all go that nasty colour when they have been dead for a while. The rest of his body would have gone like that if left longer. I would give it a good week before adding anything else to the tank, just in case one of the others is going to fall ill.

 

[tidytourniquet]

Sorry about your betta. The only that looks off with your water params would be your nitrites, they look very high and changing your filter isn't going to do anything about that. They should be at zero and anything higher can kill fish. Since you have them it either means your tank was too overstocked and there weren't enough beneficial bacteria to convert that into nitrates or your tank hasn't finished cycling. The only safe way to remove them would be to do a simple water change.