Spieglein Is Still Too Shy

[MadCatter]

I have a new little better girl, who finally seems to be warming up to her new 10 gallon. She's no longer as shy as before, and I'm sure she'll do better once I get my plants in at the end of the week, but I have yet to see her eat one bite of food. So far I've tried betta pellets, cichlid floating pellets, flakes, freeze dried bloodworms (can't go near the frozen stuff b/c of allergy). I'm going to try Frozen krill, beefheart, and this frozen feggie stuff I have, but what else could I possibly try? It seems as though the most common things are already out the window.

She'd rather come up the the glass and just sort of stare at me instead of eat her food. She stil goes around and does the little "betta inspection" of the tank, but all in all she seems more "quiet" than any of the other bettas I have had(does that make sense?). I'm hoping adding the plants will add more security and allow her to feel comfortable eating.

Other info:
Water temp is 78 degrees. Unsure of pH or nitrites, but I've never had a problem with this water for any of my other bettas or fish.
She's currently in with a Chinese Algae Eater, 2 cories, and a small handful of tiny feeder guppies (hah... she hasn't even tried taking the babies).
I've been keeping an eye on the CAE, because he frightened my other betta into a crevice once before, but he's yet to show any signs of bothering her.. and she still follows the thing around, probably out of curiosity.


Thanks for the help guys


P.S. Spieglein - little mirror, in German, because she's a glossy white and seems to reflect all the colors as she drifts by

 

[HODDY]

how long have you actualy had her for?and is there anyhting in the tank yet (plants,ornaments).Mines do better with plants in the tank.

 

[faithless1294]

have you actual tried flake food??? cause some bettas dont have much of an appetite im sure you have but just asking ye depends on what size tank but some bettas do better with ornaments but thats not always the case.

 

[Jaded12]

How long have you had her? Some bettas just take longer to adjust to new surroundings and new foods. I had one male once who didn't eat for 2 weeks after I got him, then one day he just decided he was going to start liking the food, lol, good luck

 

[MadCatter]

I've had her for 3 days now. Mostly concerned because Any other betta I've had has perked up immediately. There are a few things in the tank, but I'm expecting a shipment of about 10 plants at the end of the week, which I hope will make her feel more at home.

 

[MadCatter]

EEK! So.. I think I've discovered the culprit. It appears as though she has Raised Scale. All of my other fish look and act perfectly fine, so I believe she may have been developing this from the start (about 4 days ago when I got her). I moved her to a vase, with 100% water change. I don't have any antibiotics for her, but I am trying some aquarium salt with frequent water changes. She looks slightly discolored (not the shiny whitish/blue she was before, but I assume that's because I can see under her scales, and that they are damaged.


I also did a water change (I noticed that some food on the bottom had started to grow something on it... could also be the culprit), cleaned the filter with hot water, and added some salt to avoid any other problems in the main tank.


I hope she gets better soon! She's already so much more active in the vase with new water.

 

[Jaded12]

If you look down on her from the top does she appear to look a bit like a pinecone? if so then she has something called dropsy. If that's the case it's often fatal since its cause by kidney failure. Here are a few facts about dropsy taken from bettatalk.com good luck



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uGENERAL INFO:

This is a most common and most fatal betta disease. oftentimes linked to the feeding of live foods, especially black worms. Very little is know about it, but what causes the raised scales is fluid building up under the skin, inside the betta's tissue. Usually what causes fluid to build up is simple kidney failure. And as you know, once the kidneys fail, the body dies. I think that is why we have had so little luck (mmmmm... Let me rephrase, NO LUCK AT ALL) in treating successfully bettas with dropsy. Although dropsy (the symptom) itself is not contagious, BACTERIA THAT CAUSE THE KIDNEY FAILURE in the first place usually are very very contagious. Since I stopped feeding live worms to my bettas I have not seen one single case of dropsy in my fishroom . Thank God!
uSYMPTOMS:

It is easy to diagnose a betta with Dropsy: Look for two signs: an abnormally big (bloated) belly and if you look at betta from the top, raised scales. Scales will look like an open pine cone. If you see this, you are out of luck, and so is Betta. He will soon go to betta heaven (…
uTREATMENT:

No known cure. Keep water clean, keep him AWAY from any other bettas etc… On occasion, in the case of a very mild raised scales, I have seen bettas recover on their own. But I suspect that this is because those cases are NOT real dropsy. Real dropsy always kill. So I guess you have to wait and see what happens. Treating is pretty useless. It may take up to 15 days for betta to die, though usually about 5 days. Any betta with dropsy should be immediately ISOLATED!!!! Prayer may not hurt.