Sick Betta

[ksource]

Ok so my girl friend has been worried about our little fellow (Malibu we call him) and I'm not sure what to do. I've taken him to an aquarium but they didn't come out with much..not totally surprised as the lighting in there was pretty bad.

We feed him three pellets a day and change his water about once a week or once every five days. Had him for about 4 or so months.

Anyways at the current state he looks like :

Kind of looks sad really

We haven't been able to really keep his tank at an optimal temperature and this is what I think the cause of the problems are.

One of the problems seem to be a cotton-y looking substance (sort of like what it does when it's dirty, but alot more extreme)

Along with that it seems it might be coming from right under is head around the belly:

My girl friend also noticed that he seems to act kind of weird...floating around the top most of the time and sometimes digging his head into the rocks.

She also tried feeding him recently at his normal feeding time and he doesn't even go for the food (not his chipper self)

Ive read up on a few things, but not really sure what to make of it...I did buy some betta thing to help with the bacteria and such, but don't want to jump the gun and use it if nothing is wrong.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

what size tank is he in? is it filtered and does it have a heater?

 

[ksource]

It's actually quite small it fits about the amound of two 16.9 fl oz (500mL) bottles of water in it. Since it's rather small we never got a filter as we were told when we got it that it was ok to keep in a smaller bowl/tank as long as we change the water on a weekly basis.

We also have no heater, though I most definately want to get one now as I don't think it's warm enough with a lamp over it.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

It's actually quite small it fits about the amound of two 16.9 fl oz (500mL) bottles of water in it. Since it's rather small we never got a filter as we were told when we got it that it was ok to keep in a smaller bowl/tank as long as we change the water on a weekly basis.

We also have no heater, though I most definately want to get one now as I don't think it's warm enough with a lamp over it.

OK there's your problem then, a tank that small needs water changes every single day to keep on top of it. Such a small body of water is very unstable and will fluctuate a lot, this can cause lots of diseases and problems.

get a 5g tank with a heater and filter, you'll need to read up about cycling the filter and make sure you do that properly. You'll then need to treat the tank with something like pimafix to clear up any outstanding problems. But I can virtually guarantee you a decent size tank with proper equipment will make all the difference and he'll stop getting poorly.

 

[ksource]

Thanks so much for the feedback as she was very worried.

I did read that it needed to be changed daily on a few websites, but she stated that one a few she found herself that you were not supposed to. So I just listened to her and the person that sold us the fish. I can definately tell that the smaller tank does leave alot of room for stuff to go bad seeing as how it is small.

I'll definately look into a bigger tank with filter and heater =)

Sad to say I'm very new the to fish scene and got it for her as a gift. She did very well doing alot of research on him and keeping an eye on him, so hopefully I can set her up with some more equipment to keep our little fellow nice and healthy

thanks for all the help, if anyone can suggest any other info, I'll gladly take it.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

it's tricky you will find a lot on contrasting info all over the net.

i can only speak from my own experiences. we have 2 betta's, one has a 5g tank, one an 8g, both filtered and heated.

and we've never had an out break of any disease in either, water stats are consistently perfect even if we forget water changes for a week or so.

yes i see topics on here all the time with people's betta's getting sick and the tanks are unfiltered and unheated.

all the people I've spoken to who are real betta enthusiasts and breed them have filters and heaters in they're own tanks.

to my mind that's enough evidence, but i know other people will say otherwise.

you just have to make a judgment call on the advice you get.

 

[Ravenwing]

I aggree with what everyone has said so far =) However the fungus has me worried. I would also recommened getting a bottle of fungus cure just in case it gets worse. Definatly upgrade the tank and his living space though. 2.5 gallons would be awesome but 1 gallon is bare minimum (and 1 gallon tanks can't be heated very well)

Good Luck!!!

 

[ksource]

Well seems he has taken the turn for the worse. She tried to put a lamp over him tonight as it was rather cold and has been for awhile.

In the morning she said he looked pretty good and healthier, but soon after she got home in the afternoon he has passed away. He flipped over down near the rocks and his eyes are white and glossed over. Looking at it now infront of me it's quite worse than I had originally though and it's really a shame. I've heard some miracle stories with fishes and revivals, but it looks rather grim. I tried changing the water to a nice a warm temp, I also added some Betta Revive for the fungus and such, but he looks dead and dead =(

My gf seems to be broken and cried...I guess all I can do is say R.I.P. little fellow. Hopefully I can give him some type of mini-burial.

 

[InaneCathode]

Ten gallon setups are SOOOO cheap. I'd get her one and a new betta.
It's a piece of cake to keep a betta in a 10g. Just frequent water changes till the filter cycles.
Bettas are so intelligent, active, and curious. All they can hardly do in those tiny bowls is breath and swim in circles. If you get a 10g, you can put some wood, caves, plants, possibly some frogs or shrimp in with him!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

awwww i'm so sorry to hear that, but you just have to learn a lesson from this.

give it a few weeks then get her a proper little heatedfiltered tank and get it cycled correctly then get her another betta she can take care of properly.