Help! Betta is lethargic and is breathing heavy

FishForums.net Pet of the Month
🐶 POTM Poll is Open! 🦎 Click here to Vote! 🐰

youbettadont

Fish Fanatic
Joined
Jan 20, 2022
Messages
76
Reaction score
20
Location
USA
I recently transferred my betta back into his 5 gallon at my college. However, since it was winter break, I had to bring him home. The tank he is in right now has been running empty for a month. Before it was cycled, but since it has been empty, there are no signs of any ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. My betta was doing fine the first two days that I moved him back in. Now he stays in his cave all day and breathes heavily; He has been like this for the past three days. He still came up to eat, but I have been fasting him for a day just in case. His tank is at a good 80 degrees with a heater and filter so I have no idea why he is suddenly so lethargic. I have never seen him like this before. Occasionally, he will come out if I stare at him long enough, but he just darts around the tank(somewhat erratically) for like 5 seconds and goes right back into his cave. Even thought there are no signs of ammonia ,I've still been doing 25% water changes daily just in case, but nothing has changed.
 
Last edited:
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

FIRST AID FOR FISH
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week or until the problem is identified. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Post pictures and maybe a 1 minute video of the fish.
Upload videos to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.
 
Try checking your nitrates and nitrates. Maybe get a sponge filter or bubbler to add more air to the water.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

FIRST AID FOR FISH
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week or until the problem is identified. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Post pictures and maybe a 1 minute video of the fish.
Upload videos to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.
I just siphoned the grave and did a little more than 75% water change. I also rinsed the filter media in tank water and rinsed all tank decorations in water that was treated with seachem prime. I dosed seachem prime and stability in the tank. He is acting somewhat more normal, and I will update you in the morning if anything happens. I also ordered seachem stressguard which should be arriving tomorrow. Thank you so much!
 
Try checking your nitrates and nitrates. Maybe get a sponge filter or bubbler to add more air to the water.
My tank was left running empty for a month, so my cycled crashed with no signs of nitrites or nitrates. I'll definitely see if I can get a bubbler. For now, I just removed my homemade filter buffer and hoped that a slightly stronger current would add some oxygen. Thank you!
 
My betta swam around for like 5 minutes, but now he's back in the cave :/. As I said, I'll update in the morning and post pictures and videos if needed then.
 
My betta swam around for like 5 minutes, but now he's back in the cave :/. As I said, I'll update in the morning and post pictures and videos if needed then.
Oh I'm sorry I just jumped in there a little bit too quick. ...
I'm sending hugs and prayers to your little one !
 
The tank might have been contaminated by something while it was free of fish.

The fish might be stressed out over the move from uni to home, or there is a change in water chemistry between the uni and home.

Water changes and monitor and see how things go.
 
The tank might have been contaminated by something while it was free of fish.

The fish might be stressed out over the move from uni to home, or there is a change in water chemistry between the uni and home.

Water changes and monitor and see how things go.
There is definitely a huge change in water quality. Back home, I was able to give my betta RO water that was remineralized with seachem equilibrium and alkaline buffer, which he probably enjoyed. I tried to keep the ph the same as my college when using RO water since the tap water at my college is really high in ph(8.3). However, since I am a broke college student, I do not know if I can afford to buy him RO water here. He was doing fine in my college tap water before break, so maybe he just got used to the RO water???
 
Last edited:
He is doing a lot better now and swimming around! I'm assuming that the tank might have been contaminated like Collin said or there was just a large growth of unhealthy bacteria/microorganisms that formed and had to be removed. I'll keep everyone updated just in case something goes wrong again.
 
He is doing a lot better now and swimming around! I'm assuming that the tank might have been contaminated like Collin said or there was just a large growth of unhealthy bacteria/microorganisms that formed and had to be removed. I'll keep everyone updated just in case something goes wrong again.
Good to hear!
 
Betta can be tough little fellas!

I know this is going to sound weird but he sounds like he's exhibiting cat-like behavior and telling you just exactly what he feels about you moving him around changing his water messing with his lifestyle lalalalala
 
Betta can be tough little fellas!

I know this is going to sound weird but he sounds like he's exhibiting cat-like behavior and telling you just exactly what he feels about you moving him around changing his water messing with his lifestyle lalalalala
stop talking about cats on a fish forum, your making me hungry :werewolf:
 

Most reactions

trending

Members online

No members online now.
Back
Top