I am really new to fish keeping

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Linda Bengtson

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I am a new person to fish keeping. I adopted a betta. from someone who didn't want him anymore . He is a pretty blue betta .
my problem is I don't know how old he is . I put him in a 5 gallon aquarium with heater and filter. .
I noticed yesterday that his color from the tail up had turned to a gray color. I treated him for ich and he is not better . he still eats but sleeps a lot. doesn't move around as much sits in one corner at top of aquarium.
could he be dying from old age?
 
Hi,

The first thing to ask is, did he come with the 5 gallon tank or is that new? If it's new, did you cycle it before putting the fish in?
What are the ammonia and nitrite readings in the tank?

If the tank was not cycled before he was put in, there will be ammonia and later nitrite building up in the water which will be affecting him. If you don't already have testers, you need to get some for ammonia and nitrite as soon as possible, and until you have them do a 75% water change every day. Once you can test the water, be guided by the readings. If either are over zero, do a water change.

The fact that he has ich indicates he is stressed, and poor water quality will stress him. Raising the temperature to 86 deg F, and leaving ti there for 2 weeks should kill all the ich parasites. When you do the water changes make sure the new water is at this warmer temperature.
Just to check though - he does look as though someone has sprinkled him with salt? That's what ich looks like, not turning grey.
 
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Since you are new at this I have to ask.Did you treat the water with water conditioner for the chlorine? That is the 1st thing you need to do. Then you will have to deal with ammonia with water changes. You keep treating the water as you do your water changes. It is complicated at 1st if you are new to keeping fish but it does get easier once you cycle your tank.
 
Hi,

The first thing to ask is, did he come with the 5 gallon tank or is that new? If it's new, did you cycle it before putting the fish in?
What are the ammonia and nitrite readings in the tank?

If the tank was not cycled before he was put in, there will be ammonia and later nitrite building up in the water which will be affecting him. If you don't already have testers, you need to get some for ammonia and nitrite as soon as possible, and until you have them do a 75% water change every day. Once you can test the water, be guided by the readings. If either are over zero, do a water change.

The fact that he has ich indicates he is stressed, and poor water quality will stress him. Raising the temperature to 86 deg F, and leaving ti there for 2 weeks should kill all the ich parasites. When you do the water changes make sure the new water is at this warmer temperature.
Just to check though - he does look as though someone has sprinkled him with salt? That's what ich looks like, not turning grey.
he looks like he is turning gray. not scratching or anything like that . still goes to bottom in his hidey hole at night and comes up for food . did a water change yesterday and treated for ich but he is no better this morning . I am the one that is stressed .
 
First of all, if he is not covered in white spots that look like grains of salt, he does not have ich so you can stop treating him. Ich treatments are strong chemicals and they will stress him.

Secondly, if the betta was put into a brand new tank that had not been cycled first, there will be ammonia and/or nitrite in the water which will be making him sick. You need to be able to test for these.
Fish excrete ammonia. This is toxic to them, it burns their skin and gills. In a cycled tank, there are ammonia eating bacteria which use this ammonia as food. They 'poop' nitrite which is also toxic to fish - it binds to their blood so it can't absorb oxygen. There are more bacteria which eat nitrite and they 'poop' nitrate. This is much less toxic and we need to keep this below 20 ppm.
These bacteria take several weeks to grow, and until there are enough of them to eat all the ammonia made by the fish, and the nitrite made from the ammonia, it is our job to remove them to keep the fish safe. We do this by doing water changes, replacing ammonia and nitrite containing water with fresh water.

If the tank is brand new there will be ammonia building up which will make him ill. After a couple of weeks, ammonia eating bacteria will start to turn ammonia into nitrite, which will then build up and make him ill. His turning grey and hiding away sounds as though he is becoming sick. The best thing you can do is to change three quarters of the tank water every day. Using a water conditioner that detoxifies ammonia will help, though the effect only lasts for 24 hours so you still need to do a water change next day.
Another thing that will help is to put some live plants in the tank. These use ammonia as fertiliser, and floating plants are best for removing ammonia.

But you do need to able to test the water so that you know for sure if there is ammonia and/or nitrite in the tank water, and how much.
 
First of all, if he is not covered in white spots that look like grains of salt, he does not have ich so you can stop treating him. Ich treatments are strong chemicals and they will stress him.

Secondly, if the betta was put into a brand new tank that had not been cycled first, there will be ammonia and/or nitrite in the water which will be making him sick. You need to be able to test for these.
Fish excrete ammonia. This is toxic to them, it burns their skin and gills. In a cycled tank, there are ammonia eating bacteria which use this ammonia as food. They 'poop' nitrite which is also toxic to fish - it binds to their blood so it can't absorb oxygen. There are more bacteria which eat nitrite and they 'poop' nitrate. This is much less toxic and we need to keep this below 20 ppm.
These bacteria take several weeks to grow, and until there are enough of them to eat all the ammonia made by the fish, and the nitrite made from the ammonia, it is our job to remove them to keep the fish safe. We do this by doing water changes, replacing ammonia and nitrite containing water with fresh water.

If the tank is brand new there will be ammonia building up which will make him ill. After a couple of weeks, ammonia eating bacteria will start to turn ammonia into nitrite, which will then build up and make him ill. His turning grey and hiding away sounds as though he is becoming sick. The best thing you can do is to change three quarters of the tank water every day. Using a water conditioner that detoxifies ammonia will help, though the effect only lasts for 24 hours so you still need to do a water change next day.
Another thing that will help is to put some live plants in the tank. These use ammonia as fertiliser, and floating plants are best for removing ammonia.

But you do need to able to test the water so that you know for sure if there is ammonia and/or nitrite in the tank water, and how much.
my tank is not new. it is a five gallon tank with artificial plants and places to go into . I tested the water
AMMONIA 0 PPM
PH 7.6
HI PH 8.O
NITRATES O PPM
HI NITRATES 5.O PPM
I TREATED HIM yesterday with a partial water change and added (JUNGLE) Ich guard. He is about the same today.
 
If he does not have ich please stop the medication. Can you post a picture. Until we know what is going on the best course of action is to do a 50% water change every day. Make sure the water you put into the tank is a similar temperature to the tank itself, and make sure you use a de-chlorinator.
 
If he does not have ich please stop the medication. Can you post a picture. Until we know what is going on the best course of action is to do a 50% water change every day. Make sure the water you put into the tank is a similar temperature to the tank itself, and make sure you use a de-chlorinator.
I took a picture but do not know how to post it
 
There is an "Upload a file" button next to "Post Reply" if you are using a web browser. You may have to reduce the size of the picture. You may also have to make a few more posts before you are allowed to post a pic. A lot of sites do that so spammers can't come straight in and do what they do :).
 
There is an "Upload a file" button next to "Post Reply" if you are using a web browser. You may have to reduce the size of the picture. You may also have to make a few more posts before you are allowed to post a pic. A lot of sites do that so spammers can't come straight in and do what they do :).
 

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