Sick Betta, Some Help?

[cuticom]

My betta have been living in thoe little 1/2 gallon bowls for a while. Frequent water changes and clean outs though. I recently bought one of those four way barracks, and a really nice heated and filtered three way Betta tank. The four way barracks started out with just one Betta using the whole barracks. Then one of the Bettas in the divided tank was having trouble with the flow, so i moved him into the barracks as well.

One of my bettas in the three way tank was bobbing at the surface yesterday, and couldn't dive down properly. I've had this before with a different betta and he got better in about a week. Well today i found the ill betta dead at the bottom of his tank.

Now one of the Bettas in the Barracks is on his side doing the bobbing thing, but he's still eating and he can still dive down.

By moving them to filtered heated tanks did I do something wrong? I don't wanna lose these guys. I can't believe I lost Yang though, he was so gorgeous. He was a present from my Mum about 6 months ago cos I did really well at the half yearlies.

Can anyone help?

Emma

 

[cuticom]

Looking at websites and it says swim bladder can be caused by overfeeding brine shrimp? I live in the middle of nowehere and the only food available at the pet store for Bettas was this stuff that ahs red flakes and dried brine shrimp. About 3 times as much brine shrimp as flakes. That's what i've been feeding them, could it have caused the swim bladder? Cos I can borrow tropical flakes of my Mum or something instead.

 

[summerdragon]

If it was just one fish I could see swim bladder issues, but two fish, rare.... But I had never read about shimp being a cause of swimblatter issues before....

hmmm.... have you tested your water, is the temp to hot, any swollen spots on your fish, does he look like he swallowed a marble, fuzz, white flecks, reddness around his gills All things I would check for.....

I have cured many a betta from unknown illness with "BettaFix" it's made with tea tree oil and it's not hard on fish/plants... There are a few similar products out that are natural but this is the only one I have tried and can say has worked for me..... Hope your poor guy gets better, good luck....

 

[cuticom]

The two fish have had no contact with each other at any point, so I doubt its some type of bacterial thing. I did look through sites and neither have had any type of fungus. Both did have fin rot, it's a long story but basically we went down to canberra for a week to see our bro and the pet sitter saw no reason to change the water in their bowls cos it was "crystal clear". Hence all four of my guys got find rot. They've been treated tho and it's all regrowing again. The temp is at 25 c which is what was suggested on all the websites. None of the other fish in the tanks are having problems, and my gouramis in the main tank are really picky about water conditions. The Betta tank was set up with filter floss from an overstocked pet store tank so There shouldnt be any ammonia in there.

Emma

 

[cuticom]

I think I'll try and fast Ying (the other betta thats ill) and see if thathelps at all, it was one of the treatments that was listed on all the swim bladder sites.

One other question, I have a young paradise fish that eats at least three times the amount of the Bettas, and if he dosn't get enough he'll flare at me constantly and hang out on the side nearest to me until I give him some. Should I give him less? i don't wanna hurt him too.

 

[Kyrielle]

Flare back at your paradise fish and tell him tough cookies. Fish will always try to get as much food out of you as possible, because they never know how long it will be until their next meal. (Regardless of any schedule you may have, they will do this. The instinct is that strong.)

 

[cuticom]

Yings sunk to the bottom of the barracks now. he still comes up now and then for air and flared at me a lot when everyone else was fed and he wasn't.

I hope he survives, poor old Ying.

Emma

 

[cuticom]

Well we lost Ying.

The other Bettas are showing no sign of illness, their finrot has almost dissappeared. Zen whos my oldest Betta is flaring at the gouramis through the sides of his barracks and Yen who I got a week after Zen is looking gorgeous but is very bored having no other Bettas to flare at.

 

[jollysue]

It is a good practice, imo, to fast Betta one day a week followed by a pea or daphnia day. Bettas will over eat and get constipated causing swim bladder problems. Of course constipation is bad enough, but if some internal infection starts, the fish is really in trouble: constipation, swim bladder, bacterial infection....

So Betta does very well with a fast day.

Also be careful to keep their water very clean for now. Infections can be transmitted by your hands, nets, anything that goes from one tank to the next. When there is sickness it is good to isolate and sterilize.

 

[cuticom]

I had been fasting them. They were fed on weekdays and on the weekends didnt get anything.

I cant really see how infection could get in? the only other fish we have besides the ones down here are in an entirely different building.

All the Bettas are in clean water now, as the tanks are all filtered.

I'm gonna acclimatise Zen back to the custom betta tank. That leaves one compartment empty. Which has a very fast flow, but the tank'll look funny with only two compartments with fish in em.

Hmm I'll go have a look around and see what fish like fast currents and can live in a 1g area. Otherwise I might get a plakat betta if I can find one for that area. Cos they wont egt blown about so much, ahving shorter fins.

Emma

 

[liz2]

Sorry about your fish...sometimes they just die for no apparent reason. I am an unkind mum I dont even feed mine every day..sort or Monday morning, Tuesday night, Thursday morning Friday night and Sunday. If I have to diet so do they