New Tank Syndrome And Betta

[JasonU]

My betta is not in a good way and I would really appreciate and any advice or help that people could I give.

He appears to be losing colour, has not eaten for several days and except for coming up for air is now sitting at a weird angle on the bottom of the tank.

It is a new tank - 35 litres, heated to 26 degrees, water filter working.

I have been doing partial changes every 2 days.

The ammonia level when I tested it was close to 0.25mg / L when I tested it.

I put him in the tank on saturday, six days ago. Tank was set up about a week before he went in.

Advice or help greatly appreciated.

 

[ReMz]

yikes. you seem to be doing everything right.

bettas are usually pretty hardy to new tank syndrome.

I take it as he was acting fine when you first put him in the tank? There is a possibility that he had some sort of illness when you bought him from the fish store. Any sign of finrot or other external evidence of a problem?

It sounds very much like an internal infection... especially considering that you have done everything right. The other explanation could be that he is constipated. Does he appear to have a bulge in his stomach? A lot of the time constipation will cause them to float or sit oddly in the tank and they will not eat. Fix for this is to stop feeding (which you have done, not by choice) and try to feed him a cooked pea. Squish the pea so the insides come out and drop it in the tank.

Answer those questions and I can try to help you better as far as to if he has an internal infection or not

edit: I'm going to guess he has clamped fins as well?