SOS Please help! My betta is very sick

[Colin_T]

Remove everything from the tank except the plant, fish and filter. Something in the tank is raising the pH and it could be the gravel or something else. Plastic ornaments don't normally change the pH but gravel can. Then do a 75% water change with R/O water.

When you have removed all the gravel and ornaments, put them in separate buckets of water. Test the pH of the buckets first and again 24 hours after you have put the gravel and ornaments in. If the pH changes over the 24 hour period, then whatever is in that bucket is raising the pH.

 

[lyn Pisces]

hello, this is my first betta fish.
I bought him at petsmart about a month ago. He was not fully grown I guess.
He was very very active and happy. He runs to me whenever he sees me. Also ate really well.
This is my first fish so I did some research and did whatever that was necessary.
however, I made a huge mistake of changing 100% of water 4 days ago. I bought him potted live plants, and the white sponge melted all over the tank so I remembered the water has to be clean so I changed that water, washed the little rocks, threw away the plant as well as the sponge inside the filter.
My betta has red head and pink body, and while I was cleaning (he was in a small container) I noticed he was turning pale, specially his red head turned dark pink. I was scared and did quick cleaning, warmed up the water by adding little hot water then put the betta in the tank.
He acted normally as before, very active swimming all around. His color didn't fully return but I thought he would soon. Ate normally and all that.
The next day (yesterday) he kind of rested on the top of hammock or behind the heater more than before, and I thought he was sleeping because he ran swimming all over when I got little close.
However, last night after when I got home, he ran swimming, ate 2 pallets, but acted as he was very tired.
He swam, trembled his fins as normal then slowly stops, like he was turning off.
CURRENT CONDITION: He is mainly just floating on the surface of the water with his mouth up. Mostly on top of hammock or behind the filter. He is very pale now, his red head turned all pink. Also, he opens his gill looking like he has hard time breathing, this never happened before, also makes little clicking sound as he opens and closes his gill. He moves but all of the sudden his entire body seems to shut down. He sometimes stays at the bottom but soon swims up to the surface. His body sinks down if he is not on top of hammock or a plant so he is constantly swimming to rest on top of something.
I turned off the filter because he had no strength and even the light water current dragged him to the filter.
I went to petsmart and bought amazon sword live plant and Api quick start as they suggested.
His tank temperature is 77.5~77.9 and ph level is about 7.5
WHAT I HAVE:
5.5 rectangular tank, Aqueon quietflow 3 Internal power filter(for up to 3 gallons) which I also put carbon sponge behind the cartridge, small heater (Aqueon heater 50w)
I used to fed him Omega one betta buffet, 2 pellets twice a day. The day when I did 100% water change I gave him 2 pellets in the morning and 1 dried blood worm at night (cut & soaked in water for 5min) Maybe the blood worm made him bloated??
I use Aqueon betta bowl plus water conditioner. There is cave and 3 moss balls.
The old live plants were thrown away, and today I added amazon sword plant.
I did not do any cycling nor added good bacteria when I first brought him. (didn't know about those until I read this site)
People at pet store told me betta fish doesn't really need filter, but many forums indicate that they do need filter 24/7, which is true? I used to turn the filter off at night so that my betta can sleep in peace, was that wrong?
Today I went to Petco, Petsmart, Walmart and read and watched so many clips to save my betta. Well, everybody says different things so I'm confused, but it was my fault anyways. I really want to save him, I love him so much he is truly adorable, do you think this is swim bladder disease? or just stress? is he dying? Will the salt help?
I'm just leaving him alone because he wants to hide, and I feed him only 1 pellet this morning. Is it good idea to not to feed him for few days? How do I save him? please help.

I suggest doing a 50% water change right away... with de-chlorinated water... use prime or some other de-chlorinator. You did too much of a water change the last time getting rid of the "good" bacteria in your tank by making it too clean... when you wash the rocks and filter medium you also wash away the good bacteria so that the nitrates build up quickly in your tank. Change 50% of the water now and just wait. Next time just rinse out the filter medium in de chlorinated water to retain the good bacteria and try not to clean the rocks or anything else in your tank on which good "slimy" bacteria can reside.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I have been skimming through all of this so hope I’m not repeating anyone or stepping on anyone’s toes. Colin is correct (as usual). You lost your bacteria when you cleaned everything. Your fish has been in an uncycled tank with toxic ammonia, nitrite, nitrates. Use Seachem Prime as your dechlorinator as it temporarily binds ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates protecting the fish. It only lasts 24-32 hours though and then the ammonia, etc turn toxic again. So you will need to do water changes every couple of days using Prime until the tank cycles again. Test daily with an API Freshwater test kit. Good luck!

 

[Chloe07]

I suggest doing a 50% water change right away... with de-chlorinated water... use prime or some other de-chlorinator. You did too much of a water change the last time getting rid of the "good" bacteria in your tank by making it too clean... when you wash the rocks and filter medium you also wash away the good bacteria so that the nitrates build up quickly in your tank. Change 50% of the water now and just wait. Next time just rinse out the filter medium in de chlorinated water to retain the good bacteria and try not to clean the rocks or anything else in your tank on which good "slimy" bacteria can reside.

Thank you for your concern. I did water change yesterday and changed my internal filter to sponge filter. Few hours after water change and filter change my better seems to get better.
I learned that I need to be extra careful for adding (like new gravel) or removing anything from the tank.
thank you

 

[Chloe07]

Remove everything from the tank except the plant, fish and filter. Something in the tank is raising the pH and it could be the gravel or something else. Plastic ornaments don't normally change the pH but gravel can. Then do a 75% water change with R/O water.

When you have removed all the gravel and ornaments, put them in separate buckets of water. Test the pH of the buckets first and again 24 hours after you have put the gravel and ornaments in. If the pH changes over the 24 hour period, then whatever is in that bucket is raising the pH.

Hello Colin, here is little update. I removed the plastic and new gravel. Did water change (added new water little by little prevent sudden ph change) and changed to sponge filter (had filter running in a bucket of RO water for a day)
I increased the water to 3 gallon to dilute the concentration.
I think the previous filter didn't do its job. Now he is so much better than few days ago, swimming peacefully and he is even playing with the bubbles.
I put different gravel in different buckets and added RO water. RO water itself had ph 6.6
Tested ph every 12 hrs, and as of today which is like 2days later, the river rock increased to 6.9, both fake gravel (marble & clear/blue one) is 7.3. The charcoal sponge that I put behind the filter cartridge increased the ph the most (7.6) This was so weird because people put this stuffs in their tank with no problem and maintain ph level balanced. Maybe because my tank was not cycled?

In the tank now there is only plants, very few gravel left and the bio sponge filter. But in somehow the ph is still going up very slowly as well as the TDS, yet so much better than when it was with gravels and charcoal filter. so I'm adding little more conditioned RO water slowly.
I'm still figuring out the reason for this.
Current tank water is ph 7.4, ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 0ppm, nitrate 5ppm, TDS 98ppm
I will keep monitoring him. thank you

 

[Chloe07]

I have been skimming through all of this so hope I’m not repeating anyone or stepping on anyone’s toes. Colin is correct (as usual). You lost your bacteria when you cleaned everything. Your fish has been in an uncycled tank with toxic ammonia, nitrite, nitrates. Use Seachem Prime as your dechlorinator as it temporarily binds ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates protecting the fish. It only lasts 24-32 hours though and then the ammonia, etc turn toxic again. So you will need to do water changes every couple of days using Prime until the tank cycles again. Test daily with an API Freshwater test kit. Good luck!

Thank you for your info. I recently bought API freshwater test kit. Water test in petsmart and Petco was incorrect, they told me water is perfect except the ph is little high(7.6) I was even told its not water problem so the best is to not to stress him by doing constant changes.
I'm glad I bought API kit because it showed ph 8.2, and ammonia 0.25ppm, tds 175ppm. He was in the water win toxin and filter that doesn't function well.
After doing the water change and everything, the tank water is so much better now. My betta improved his condition as well.
I'm using topfin water conditioner, but I will consider to change to Prime as suggested. Thank you

 

[Colin_T]

I put different gravel in different buckets and added RO water. RO water itself had ph 6.6
Tested ph every 12 hrs, and as of today which is like 2days later, the river rock increased to 6.9, both fake gravel (marble & clear/blue one) is 7.3. The charcoal sponge that I put behind the filter cartridge increased the ph the most (7.6) This was so weird because people put this stuffs in their tank with no problem and maintain ph level balanced. Maybe because my tank was not cycled?

Did you have a separate sample of R/O water with nothing in, and monitored the pH on that too?
This separate sample is used to compare the other containers of water to. By having a control unit, you can see how much the pH of just the water changes by itself, with nothing in it.

Tap water (including R/O water) is under pressure and the dissolved gasses in the water can come out and change the pH. After the water has been exposed to air at normal air and water pressure, the gasses can stabilize and the pH can go up or down, depending on what gasses were forced out while the water was in the pipes. Normally the pH of tap water will go up a bit after it has been left out for 24 hours.

It might be the rocks and gravel were actually reducing the pH and the carbon did not affect it at all, or it could be they all raised the pH. By having a control unit you can see what the pH of the water is when it has not been exposed to anything but the air. You can still do a control unit, just fill a bucket of R/O water and put it near the other containers and monitor the pH over a few days. See what the pH changes to in just a bucket of R/O water with nothing else in it.

--------------------------

In the tank now there is only plants, very few gravel left and the bio sponge filter. But in somehow the ph is still going up very slowly as well as the TDS, yet so much better than when it was with gravels and charcoal filter. so I'm adding little more conditioned RO water slowly.
I'm still figuring out the reason for this.
Current tank water is ph 7.4, ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 0ppm, nitrate 5ppm, TDS 98ppm

TDS is total dissolved solids and includes anything and everything that is dissolved in the water. TDS is not really worth bothering with for most situations. If the R/O water gets a high TDS then it probably needs a clean, but apart from that, most aquariums will get higher TDS readings over time, and they get reduced with the water changes.

If your pH is hanging around 7.4-7.6 then leave it there. It is better for the fish if the pH is stabile and doesn't fluctuate.

A nitrate reading of 5ppm is nothing to worry about and is pretty good compared to most tanks so just try to keep it as low as possible. 5ppm will probably be as low as you can get the tank water to because of the nitrates in the water supply.

Everything else sounds like it is improving so that is good. Monitor the fish over the next few weeks and continue with regular water changes using the R/O water.

 

[Chloe07]

Did you have a separate sample of R/O water with nothing in, and monitored the pH on that too?
This separate sample is used to compare the other containers of water to. By having a control unit, you can see how much the pH of just the water changes by itself, with nothing in it.

You are right! I have R/O water from 2days ago which was pH 6.6. I just tested now and it is 6.8
I will still do pH test for couple more days to make sure which gravel to put in. My betta is swimming all day, very peacefully.
The plants are floating because there is no gravel but I wanted to show how happy he is. Many thanks to you

 

[Guppylover3x]

You are right! I have R/O water from 2days ago which was pH 6.6. I just tested now and it is 6.8
I will still do pH test for couple more days to make sure which gravel to put in. My betta is swimming all day, very peacefully.
The plants are floating because there is no gravel but I wanted to show how happy he is. Many thanks to you

Looking much better and happier I agree! I’m so pleased he pulled through.

You should consider entering the next tank of the month contest held in June. Your tank looks very lovely and clean!

Best of luck.

 

[Fishmanic]

Great looking betta... in the second half of June, I will be starting a Fish of the Month contest.. you should really consider entering that beauty in that contest!

The tank of the month contest resumes around June 1st.

If you have a pet besides fish, right now we are running the Pet of the Month contest.

 

[Chloe07]

Looking much better and happier I agree! I’m so pleased he pulled through.

You should consider entering the next tank of the month contest held in June. Your tank looks very lovely and clean!

Best of luck.

Thank you, actually I'm watching lots of videos about bigger planted tanks since my betta is swimming around all day. Bigger tanks are easier to maintain I heard.
For the new tank, I need to study more about cycling patiently. I appreciate your compliment, thank you

 

[Guppylover3x]

Thank you, actually I'm watching lots of videos about bigger planted tanks since my betta is swimming around all day. Bigger tanks are easier to maintain I heard.
For the new tank, I need to study more about cycling patiently. I appreciate your compliment, thank you

You are correct, bigger tanks are much easier to maintain!

Your Betta would probably love a bigger home, especially with lots of plants

The nitrogen cycle isn’t too complicated once you get the hang of it. Best of luck!