Is my Betta Sick or Lazy?

[Bettta]

Hi! I have a 1.5 year old Betta in a five gallon tank, and he’s gotten significantly lazier than the first six months that I had him. All he does is lay around, and even is slow towards getting food. The water parameters are all perfect, and the tank stays at a constant 79-80 degrees. His fins are a little bit shredded, but the only artificial things in there are a Betta Log and silicone hammock, but those have been in a long time, and he’s never had problems with them before, even had a bunch of fin growth with this same set up while he was still growing up, I’m not sure why his fins got jagged again- he definitely didn’t nip at them.
Any thoughts?

 

[mbsqw1d]

Does look like it has some fin rot.. the white patches, particularly around the edges of the fins.
Do you know all your water parameters; nitrogen (Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate), PH, general hardness?

Have a look into providing some tannins with catappa leaves (indian almond leaves).. have a read up on their benefits

 

[Fishboy_Max]

Does look like it has some fin rot.. the white patches, particularly around the edges of the fins.
Do you know all your water parameters; nitrogen (Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate), PH, general hardness?

Have a look into providing some tannins with catappa leaves (indian almond leaves).. have a read up on their benefits

I agree, does look like fin rot, how many times a month do you do water changes?

 

[Bettta]

Does look like it has some fin rot.. the white patches, particularly around the edges of the fins.
Do you know all your water parameters; nitrogen (Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate), PH, general hardness?

Have a look into providing some tannins with catappa leaves (indian almond leaves).. have a read up on their benefits

I was worried about the white spots for while, but he's hade them for around nine months, and they never went away, so I figured they were part of his coloring.
Ammonia: 0, Nitrate: 5, Nitrite: 0, pH 6.7
Thanks!

 

[Bettta]

I agree, does look like fin rot, how many times a month do you do water changes?

three to four (I do them once a week to once every week and a half, depending on the water tests)

 

[Fishboy_Max]

three to four (I do them once a week to once every week and a half, depending on the water tests)

You seem to be doing everything fine, The main cause of fin rot is either stress or bad water quality, If I may ask, can he see his reflection, as in is he flaring at himself, because this can cause stress if prolonged.

 

[Colin_T]

What do you feed the fish?
How often do you feed the fish?

If you only feed dry food, perhaps add some frozen or live foods to his diet. There are a number of frozen fish foods available from most pet shops and they include things like brineshrimp, daphnia, bloodworms, Mysis shrimp, marine mix (prawn, fish & squid mixed up).

You can also get live brineshrimp and daphnia from most pet shops. And if you have roses in the garden, look for aphids and tap them into a bucket and feed to the fish. He only needs a few and extras can be frozen in a plastic bag or container for use later on.

Mosquito larvae are a good food if you can get them. They can be found in containers of water sitting outside under trees and plants.

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The fish might be getting old.

You could try putting a picture on the back of the tank and add some floating plants like Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta).

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Clean the filter once a month. 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.

-------------------
You can put a mirror against the side, back or front of the tank for a couple of minutes once a week, or once every couple of weeks. The male will think it's an intruder and get all angry with it and show off. After a minute or two you remove the mirror and the fish thinks he has driven off his competitor and will usually strut around the tank feeling good about chasing away the intruder. Don't do it too often but once a week for a few minutes can break up the usual routine.

 

[Bettta]

You seem to be doing everything fine, The main cause of fin rot is either stress or bad water quality, If I may ask, can he see his reflection, as in is he flaring at himself, because this can cause stress if prolonged.

No, I’ve only ever seen him flare a couple of times. I moved a little over a month ago, so I’m sure that was stressful on him, but he had these symptoms before the move also, and nothing was different.

 

[Bettta]

What do you feed the fish?
How often do you feed the fish?

If you only feed dry food, perhaps add some frozen or live foods to his diet. There are a number of frozen fish foods available from most pet shops and they include things like brineshrimp, daphnia, bloodworms, Mysis shrimp, marine mix (prawn, fish & squid mixed up).

You can also get live brineshrimp and daphnia from most pet shops. And if you have roses in the garden, look for aphids and tap them into a bucket and feed to the fish. He only needs a few and extras can be frozen in a plastic bag or container for use later on.

Mosquito larvae are a good food if you can get them. They can be found in containers of water sitting outside under trees and plants.

-------------------
The fish might be getting old.

You could try putting a picture on the back of the tank and add some floating plants like Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta).

-------------------
Clean the filter once a month. 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.

-------------------
You can put a mirror against the side, back or front of the tank for a couple of minutes once a week, or once every couple of weeks. The male will think it's an intruder and get all angry with it and show off. After a minute or two you remove the mirror and the fish thinks he has driven off his competitor and will usually strut around the tank feeling good about chasing away the intruder. Don't do it too often but once a week for a few minutes can break up the usual routine.

I feed him 6 days a week, Bug Bites dry food most days, and freeze dried variety of foods every two days. I give him a very small amount twice a day, and fast him once a week.
I clean the floss in the filter once a week, but not the hard sponge or carbon bag because my dad says it’s best to leave them alone because of the good bacteria growth.
He’s pretty young- I’ve only had him around a year, so I’m guessing he’s around a year and a half.
Thank you for all those tips! I’ll have to try them

 

[Colin_T]

I clean the floss in the filter once a week, but not the hard sponge or carbon bag because my dad says it’s best to leave them alone because of the good bacteria growth.

Dirty filters lead to an increase in harmful disease organisms in the water so they need to be cleaned regularly. It's like having a dirty air-conditioner. You have clean air being put through a dirty air-conditioner and the air is now contaminated with whatever is living in the air-con unit.

With fish, they live in the water. The water is filtered through the filter media. If the media is full of fish poop and disease organisms, the water will be full of disease organisms, which can weaken or even kill the fish.

All the filter media and the filter case needs to be cleaned at least once a month to reduce disease organisms building up in the filter and water. Just wash the filter sponges in a bucket of tank water every month and re-use the sponges. Tip the dirty water on the lawn.

The filter case can be washed under tap water.