My Fishies Died :((((((

[shockinglynaomi]

About a month ago, I got a betta fish for my birthday named Jack. He was in a 1 gallon tank, and to be honest I didn't really clean it very often. But he was doing great! Then a couple of days ago, my brother came home and convinced me I needed to get a bigger tank. We went to Walmart. and while we were there, I saw the bettas they were selling. They were obviously not being fed, and all of their water was cold and dirty. I decided I had to rescue one. So I bought a 5 gallon tank, stuff to make a divider with, and a fish that looked very healthy and young (I called him Siddhartha). Everything was great for a couple of days! They were both swimming around happily in their new tank. When I left for work this morning, they were still doing fine and it seemed like they were both perfectly happy and healthy. But I just got back and was about to feed them when I saw Siddhartha was dead! Although this was very upsetting because I had really liked my new fish,I at least still had Jack. However, when I tried to find him, he was nowhere to be seen. I eventually found him, and he had also died. Siddhartha's fins were all mangled and even transparent. They definitely didn't get through the divider- it was still in place. Siddhartha also had some kind of white stuff on him. I didn't get a good look at Jack, I was too upset. How did this happen to my fish?? They were fine this morning!!

 

[Dreamer03]

The fish you bought at Walmart could have been sick already. and even if the tank was divided, the disease might have passed into your other fish. Sorry for you loss.

 

[Mamashack]

Sorry for your loss, Naomi. It's always best to quarantine any new fish for a few weeks exactly for this reason so that if they have any problems they don't communicate them to others.

 

[techen]

Although walmart fish are not the best so long as you have a cycled tank with goof surface movement they should make a full recovery.

So am going to say that the fact you got a new tank it was more than likely a ammonia spike killed them.

 

[the_lock_man]

Thing is with fish in the wild, the fish that looks ill is the one that gets eaten by the predator. Just like when lions are chasing zebras, they single out the one that looks the weakest, the same is true for fish. So fish have evolved to not look ill until they are all-bar dead anyway.
 
You've only had the 1G tank a month ago, and not done many water changes - the ammonia will have built up and up and up in that tank, severely weakening it. Then you go move it into a bigger tank (the move will have been stressful) and it's gone from very old water to new water - that will be a shock to the system too. I'm more surprised that it survived for a month with little water changes, to be honest.
 
This new tank with 2 stressed fish (one that's ammonia poisoned, and one that's only just come home) in a tank with an immature filter, in a 5G tank with low flow rates because of the divider. Ammonia is going to build up quickly there too.
 
I hope you'll get more fish, but before you do, please read up on fishless cycling, it will save you more heartbreak.

 

[Wildbetta]

Sorry for your loss.
 
Truth be told, I am surprised that your first betta survived as long as it did with the way you kept it.  It goes to show you that bettas can take some abuse and still live.  I can guarantee he was not "happy" or doing great.  For a 1 gallon container, it must have 100% water changes no less than every 3 days for your fish to be healthy. When you got a new tank, did you just put both fish in the tank or did you acclimate them to the new water?  I suspect you just added them to the tank which would shock both fish who had been living in bad conditions for way too long.  Do you have a heater?  What was the tank water temperature?  If under 78F,(which most ambient temp is and the cup at the store would have been under that temp) then they were cold which means their immune system is lowered making them easy targets for all kinds of sickness.  Now add in the stress of being placed in a new tank with a neighbor that you don't want in your area...immune system lowers even more.(for healthy fish this stress is normally not as bad) Did you do any water changes after you set up this new tank?  If not, then in a 5 gallon with 2 bettas and an uncycled filter the ammonia would have reached bad levels in a day or so which added to the previous stress proceeded to kill both your bettas.  The one you got from Walmart was also probably sick which in a divided tank means that your other betta was exposed to that as well.  That is why it is very important to quarantine new fish before adding them to a tank with another fish.

 

[RCA]

 Siddhartha and Jack
 
Sorry for your losses.
 
Good on you for being brave, and asking about what happened so you can learn from this and hopefully get a Betta in the future that will live many happy years.  I agree with what has already been said.  If it was me, I would remove the divider, clean the tank out (do not use soap) and begin setting it up with the fish-less cycling for a future fish.  Feel free to start a journal on your tank so that others can advise you on the correct approach prior to getting any fish.