Is my betta sick or just old?

[YewBush]

I have a 2.5 year old betta, a nearly 1.5 year old nerite snail, and a Cory catfish who is under a year old (I think I may move him out soon) in a 20 gallon aquarium.

My betta recently went blind in one eye for a week or two probably due to an eye injury (apparently some fish can regrow their retinas), and because she couldn’t see in that eye she bumped into more things and got more injuries. This started over a month ago and she was almost better. However, she’s acting weird now. She used to always greet me when I came over to her tank, but now she just slowly turns around towards me. Also, she’s been getting air more often. Is this due to old age, or did her injuries allow her to get sick more easily? If she is sick, which I’m guessing she is, what should I do? I’m going to try changing her water. Also, I did see her act normal for a little yesterday.

 

[Deanasue]

She looks like an aging betta. Perhaps lower her water a little and give her tall plants to rest in so she doesn’t have to swim so far for air. She may begin getting cataracts too. If so, feed her blood worms and pellets that you can dangle in front of her with tweezers. Continue regular water changes. What is the temp if the water? Are your parameters in order (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate).

 

[YewBush]

She looks like an aging betta. Perhaps lower her water a little and give her tall plants to rest in so she doesn’t have to swim so far for air. She may begin getting cataracts too. If so, feed her blood worms and pellets that you can dangle in front of her with tweezers. Continue regular water changes. What is the temp if the water? Are your parameters in order (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate).

I was planning on getting her live plants when stores started opening up more, but maybe I could look online.

Thank you for the suggestion for when she starts getting cataracts. Right now, I almost always put her food in her floating log.

The temperature of her tank gets high sometimes. It has an adjustable heater, but sometimes the temperature goes up without me touching it. It got all the way to 85°F recently, but I turned it down and it got to around 78°F. I should probably get a new heater.

I ran out of water testing strips, so I’ll just play it safe and do a 60% or 75% water change.

Thank you so much for helping my fish! I really appreciate it.

 

[Deanasue]

I was planning on getting her live plants when stores started opening up more, but maybe I could look online.

Thank you for the suggestion for when she starts getting cataracts. Right now, I almost always put her food in her floating log.

The temperature of her tank gets high sometimes. It has an adjustable heater, but sometimes the temperature goes up without me touching it. It got all the way to 85°F recently, but I turned it down and it got to around 78°F. I should probably get a new heater.

I ran out of water testing strips, so I’ll just play it safe and do a 60% or 75% water change.

Thank you so much for helping my fish! I really appreciate it.

No problem. I had a very old betta. Loved him until he died one night while I was asleep.