My Halfmoon Betta Has To Be Dying! <Please Help>

[betta_shaq]

MY BETTA, SHAQ, HAS TRAVELED WITH ME OVER BREAK BY BUS AND HE HAS BEEN IN LITTLE JUGS ON THE WAY, BUT IS TRANSFERRED INTO SPACIOUS TANKS WHEN I GET HOME AND WHEN I GET BACK TO SCHOOL. WE JUST GOT BACK YESTERDAY AND HE HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED TO HIS TANK IN MY ROOM AT SCHOOL AND HAS BEEN STAYING AT THE BOTTOM OF IT SINCE LAST NIGHT. HE WILLL SWIM TO THE TOP TO TRY AND GET FOOD BUT IT LOOKS AS IF HE DOES NOT HAVE THE STAMINA TO STAY UP AT THE TOP. HIS FINS ALSO STOP MOVING AND ONLY HIS GILLS MOVE. I FIGURED MAYBE THE WATER THAT I MADE FOR HIM IS BAD LIKE THE TEMPERATURE IS BAD OR THE WATER CONDITIONER MISSED SOMETHING! I AM SO SCARED, AND I AM LOOKING FOR THE BEST TIPS. PLEASE HELP ME RIGHT AWAY, HE LOOKS REALLY BAD.[/b]

 

[RustedKnight]

First tips;

Turn off bold.

Second tip;

Turn off caps lock.

Third tip; Stop carrying your Betta in a jug. I'm unable to help any more than that, good luck with the fish.

 

[the biffster]

hi why is the fish on the move
so much do you know the stats
on the tank that he is in now
and how old is the Betta

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

Was the tank cycled?

Does it have a filter and a heater? Did it get really cold when you were transporting him?

First suggestion would be to do waterchanges; if the tank isn't cycled then there will be a build up of ammonia in the water and it'll help dilute the ammonia for your fish

 

[walkers101]

not much help but stop moving the poor thing!

 

[betta_shaq]

First tips;

Turn off bold.

Second tip;

Turn off caps lock.

Third tip; Stop carrying your Betta in a jug. I'm unable to help any more than that, good luck with the fish.

First of all, I AM REALLY FREAKING OUT!! So sorry if my bold CAPPED lettering offends you. What I will take from that is that I need to calm down. As far as the travelling, this was our first trip together and I didn't have time to get him a proper traveling case. The petsmart that I went to doesn't even carry the tanks with handles anymore. But, being beside the point, I want to know if I am gone for weeks because of our stupid school schedule and our wierd breaks, then should I leave him..with no food, no care of water, and no one to look after him! I live in a single and no one in our home stays. I would love if someone could look after himm while i'm gone, but no one I know stays for the breaks. So what do u suggest a better carrying tank?

 

[betta_shaq]

Was the tank cycled?

Does it have a filter and a heater? Did it get really cold when you were transporting him?

First suggestion would be to do waterchanges; if the tank isn't cycled then there will be a build up of ammonia in the water and it'll help dilute the ammonia for your fish

The water was very cold in the jug and getting oxygen was the only thing that I could do on the bus. I figured the temperature of the water changed on the bus, since I mostly make the temperature mildly warm. Would me changing the water of his tank in my room be considered, cycling? He is now warmer water...ugh!!! he could have ammonia!! what to do...

 

[RustedKnight]

Was the tank cycled?

Does it have a filter and a heater? Did it get really cold when you were transporting him?

First suggestion would be to do waterchanges; if the tank isn't cycled then there will be a build up of ammonia in the water and it'll help dilute the ammonia for your fish

The water was very cold in the jug and getting oxygen was the only thing that I could do on the bus. I figured the temperature of the water changed on the bus, since I mostly make the temperature mildly warm. Would me changing the water of his tank in my room be considered, cycling? He is now warmer water...ugh!!! he could have ammonia!! what to do...

Sorry for my late reply.

To transport your fish really you should bag him up, preferably double bag him. (you can purchase fish bags online from places like ebay quite cheap) then keep his fish bag wrapped in a newspaper or something else to keep it nice and dark.
Then you can look after him on your journey.

I would also suggest you take a look into travel heat packs for fish, I believe it's a chemical reaction and you place the heat pack outside of the surrounding newspaper/whatever else you use and it helps keep the temperature stable for up to 30 hours. They shouldn't be too expensive if you're only using them periodically, and it would be good for the fish.

And I agree with you, he certainly cannot stay at home in those conditions.

If your filter is left without running water or ammonia to feed the bacteria then your "friendly" bacteria colony will die off, so when you go to put your Betta in there your tank is effectively uncycled.
Though I don't know if you keep 2 tanks, one at home, one at campus, or move the same tank around. Either way you might be killing your bacteria colony.

What you could do is when travelling with your fish, take a seperate bag of tank water and keep your filter sponges and other media inside it. This should help guarantee you a decent colony of bacteria when you refill the tank.

To sort out the ammonia problems you're going to need to do large water changes every day until things get better. This could take a while also. So 40-50% water change for the next 3 days, and we'll see how things progress.

 

[Carlovel1]

 

[loraxchick]

Was the tank cycled?

Does it have a filter and a heater? Did it get really cold when you were transporting him?

First suggestion would be to do waterchanges; if the tank isn't cycled then there will be a build up of ammonia in the water and it'll help dilute the ammonia for your fish

The water was very cold in the jug and getting oxygen was the only thing that I could do on the bus. I figured the temperature of the water changed on the bus, since I mostly make the temperature mildly warm. Would me changing the water of his tank in my room be considered, cycling? He is now warmer water...ugh!!! he could have ammonia!! what to do...

Sorry for my late reply.

To transport your fish really you should bag him up, preferably double bag him. (you can purchase fish bags online from places like ebay quite cheap) then keep his fish bag wrapped in a newspaper or something else to keep it nice and dark.
Then you can look after him on your journey.

I would also suggest you take a look into travel heat packs for fish, I believe it's a chemical reaction and you place the heat pack outside of the surrounding newspaper/whatever else you use and it helps keep the temperature stable for up to 30 hours. They shouldn't be too expensive if you're only using them periodically, and it would be good for the fish.

And I agree with you, he certainly cannot stay at home in those conditions.

If your filter is left without running water or ammonia to feed the bacteria then your "friendly" bacteria colony will die off, so when you go to put your Betta in there your tank is effectively uncycled.
Though I don't know if you keep 2 tanks, one at home, one at campus, or move the same tank around. Either way you might be killing your bacteria colony.

What you could do is when travelling with your fish, take a seperate bag of tank water and keep your filter sponges and other media inside it. This should help guarantee you a decent colony of bacteria when you refill the tank.

To sort out the ammonia problems you're going to need to do large water changes every day until things get better. This could take a while also. So 40-50% water change for the next 3 days, and we'll see how things progress.

excellent advice!