NEWBIE EMERGENCY

[wyndawose]

Hi, I'm a Newbie. Have been checking out your site as a guest and loving it. Have an emergency, my beautiful red Betta (Nemo - how original eh?), is just floating listlessly in his bowl. He's about 3 months old, and is normally very active, flipping around at mealtime etc. Displaying at my finger sometimes.

It's a 2 gal bowl, and I just changed the water yesterday after about 2 weeks. When I came down this a.m. couldn't even find Nemo at first. Then saw him on the bottom. Got him to swim a little, but he goes back to the bottom, or by his cave.

The water is a little cloudy, but I thought it might be from the gravel (which is new, but I rinsed it thoroughly last night.

He wasn't very happy when I netted him yesterday and kept him in his holding pen so I could clean up.

Doesn't seem to have any lesions, or isn't furry. Just doesn't look well or behave the same.

Should I run out and get some stress coat?

Sorry to meet y'all this way. I really Nemo. Can anyone advise please.

 

[goldfishattack]

I would say that you have an unhappy fish, my brothers betta loves very small inviroments and he's in a small small bowl and loves it, if i were you ( you don't have to do this ) i would transfer him to a smaller tank. you can give him "no stress" but that doesn't seem that he is stressed.......... i really don't know what to do.

 

[canis_lupus]

i really don't know!!!!!! bettas don't do that unless something is wrong and i don't think the gravel would do that 2 him.....did u dechlorinate the water(dumb question i know but it has happened) u could do a small water change to clear the water a bit......is his bowl warm enough?

 

[wyndawose]

You guys are great!

Yes, I did dechlorinate (not a dumb question at all).

When I moved him to the bigger tank, he blew a bubblenest (for the first time), but I will certainly try him in the smaller bowl.

I was wondering if the gravel was a problem because I strained it and then washed it in tap water (I am not worthy )

Thanks from Canada everyone.

 

[Jht]

well in my old coldwater tank i got new gravel it was shiny gold and the dyes leaked out and in the morning all my fish were dead :

 

[goldfishattack]

wyndawose- i hope every thing goes well for you let us know how it's going.

 

[wyndawose]

OHMYGAWD! Going to LFC.. thanks to everyone. Keep advice coming in please. Will keep you posted.

 

[BettaBoyz]

i wouldn't move him to a small bowl; some Bettas like large environments where they can meet other fish, some like smaller environments because they feel more controlled.

2 weeks is a bit long to go between changes; in anything smaller than the Betta's full body length (2.5") you need a weekly change. it could be the new gravel, since the old held good bacteria, the new gravel doesn't. meaning Nemo is probably feeling the effects of the bacteria getting to work and chewing up his ammonia.

i'd wait it out, get an Ammonia test and maybe Nitrite/Nitrate tests and watch his water. if there's a spike in Ammonia he's feeling it, then he'll feel the Nitrite before it settles down. he should get better, but perhaps mixing a bit of the old gravel in (provided it is still a bit damp and isn't in the trash) will help

 

[FishHeads]

well in my old coldwater tank i got new gravel it was shiny gold and the dyes leaked out and in the morning all my fish were dead :

Evil! I had a massive fish kill in my goldfish tank not too long ago....Turned out a metal ring inside one of my two filters came out into the filter bad and contaminated the tank. All 30 Goldfish dead the next morning.

 

[kare4u]

My betta was brought to me in the Hex and was very happy and blew a bubble nest and the gravel was a mix of browns.. i wanted to put him in bigger environment so i bought him a 1/2 gallon with purple gravel and he started starving himself. I put him back in the Hex with the brown gravel and now he's swimming around and eating.. maybe that might help?

 

[Jht]

i hope your betta gets through this

 

[wyndawose]

NEMO'S GONE

all of you gave me such good advice. I took a water sample to the LFC for analysis. It was a high PH problem. I had noticed before I left that NEMO seemed a little fuzzy. Took down all particulars to show to store staff, and got a real good fish guy.

Bought some stuff for the PH and some sea salt to help Nemo's other problem, but by the time I got home, he was gone I treated the water anyways to see if he would revive, but there's no spark left.

I'm devasted. practice "burial at sea"?

Don't know whether or not to try again. I think I'll just clean up the bowl etc. and put it away for a while.

I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to help. My kudos for the set up of this site, it works beautifully, and I apologize if I made procedural mistakes in my haste to get to you.

I wrote the above yesterday, and now I'm thinking of getting a tank in a couple of weeks and starting over;
Thanks for the help and encouragement. I will check in again.

ww

Thanks again

wyndawose in Canada