Please help - Betta needs urgent attention

[Neonlights]

My betta has been unwell for almost a week and now looks very malnourished and is just hanging around the top corners of the tank. I've done everything I can think of (water changes, air stones, different foods) but nothing. Yesterday he had no interest in food and I thought he was going to die over night. I did another water change but then this morning when I went to the tank and lifted the lid he swam fairly strongly and when I put in the pellets he gulped aggressively at them but missed them, almost like he couldn't see them. He obviously wants to fight and if I could just get some food inside him he might turn it around! What can I do? I've put in defrosted cyclopes and betta gold pellets but he's not eaten them. Next I'll try some blood worms but is there a liquid food or something to help give him nourishment?

 

[wayfareranima]

Pics of fish and water parameters are needed, this not enough information here for anyone to make educated recommendations.
Also if it’s been a week of declining, it’s unlikely he’ll turn around, unfortunately. Gotta act the day you first notice something is up, and it has to be the right course of treatment.

 

[Lcc86]

Do you know the age of your betta? It may be that he's reaching the end of his natural lifespan. Also you mention that it's like he can't see his food, you could try using a pipette to drop the food right in front of his mouth to see if he can get it.

 

[Neonlights]

Do you know the age of your betta? It may be that he's reaching the end of his natural lifespan. Also you mention that it's like he can't see his food, you could try using a pipette to drop the food right in front of his mouth to see if he can get it.

He’s less than a year old. I tried holding bloodworms in front of him but he didn’t go for them. He did however chase after all the frozen bloodworms I put into the tank but then either just sniffed or once he took some in and spat them out.

 

[Neonlights]

pH - 7.5
NH - 0
Nitrate & Nitrite - 0
KH - 11
GH - 17

I’ve done a water change again to try and lower the KH and I’ve made an adjustment to the timing of my CO2 system and lighting but I’ve been recommended to add some bacteria to the tank.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Is your water hardness measured in dGH or ppm? Is the tank cycled?

 

[Neonlights]

Is your water hardness measured in dGH or ppm? Is the tank cycled?

The water’s in dGH (it’s hard water where we live) and the tank’s been running about 8 months.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Unfortunately for you, bettas need soft water to thrive...the minerals in hard water can't be processed by a soft water fish's organs. I also live in a very hard water area and sadly we're quite limited where fish are concerned.

We could try to buffer the water to suit the needs of the fish but this is very difficult to get right and stable so I usually recommend keeping fish that live comfortably in the local water. For us in hard water areas, we'd be looking at most livebearers like guppys and platys and rainbow fish if you've got a nice big tank.

 

[Neonlights]

Unfortunately for you, bettas need soft water to thrive...the minerals in hard water can't be processed by a soft water fish's organs. I also live in a very hard water area and sadly we're quite limited where fish are concerned.

We could try to buffer the water to suit the needs of the fish but this is very difficult to get right and stable so I usually recommend keeping fish that live comfortably in the local water. For us in hard water areas, we'd be looking at most livebearers like guppys and platys and rainbow fish if you've got a nice big tank.

Thanks for your advice! I’ll do more research before choosing the next fish, I only got back into fishkeeping the last 2 years after a break of around 15 years from when I kept cichlids.

 

[Neonlights]

It’s now the 5th day that he’s been pretty lifeless. He won’t eat and on the rare occasion he goes after frozen bloodworm he spits it straight out (he used to devour the stuff!). Is he suffering? I hate the thought of him being in pain but I’ve been hoping he’d pull through. Is it more humane to euthenize him at this stage?

 

[MaloK]

Yes, He is suffering and yes I would euthanize him, If his internal organs are shutting down because of calcification, There is nothing you can do. He wants to eat but cant. Even if you could fix the water hardness, I doubt that he could bounce back at this point.

 

[Neonlights]

Yes, He is suffering and yes I would euthanize him, If his internal organs are shutting down because of calcification, There is nothing you can do. He wants to eat but cant. Even if you could fix the water hardness, I doubt that he could bounce back at this point.

I hate this part of the hobby - I've only had to do it once before. I don't understand how he was thriving for 10 months and suddenly this happened. The water parameters haven't changed much in that time. The only thing I can think was the treatment of NTLabs anti-fungus that I put in the aquarium affected him, even though he survived through a couple cycles of it a few months ago when I had a sick Cory. None of the other fish were bothered by that though so it could just be a coincidence.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Your water is too hard for bettas. It has too many minerals in it for the fish to process so they just stick around in the bettas organs and eventually causes them to fail. Unfortunately that's what's happening with your betta now. I would rather euthanise him than leave him to starve to death

 

[Neonlights]

I euthanised my fish but I noticed the day of he had something white protruding from his side, which I think may have been a parasite. It wasn't whitespot or fungus but I'm unsure what it was. Perhaps this is what made him ill.

 

[MaloK]

As the fish health degrades, it becomes more susceptible to infections. At some point everything that can happen, happens.

Was he alone in that tank ?

Excess of Co2 is very dangerous in aquariums.