Strange behaviour of betta

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alana7402

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Hi all, I have recently noticed that one of my female bettas like to act dead. Yesterday I came home, turned on the tank light to see my fish sat on the bottom sleeping, as usual, the betta in question looked dead in the corner. So I used my pipette to gently blow water in her direction, she was fine. Today I came home to find that the rest were doing the same, but this time she was face down attached to my filter, but I noticed her breathing. I pushed her off with the pipette thinking she was stuck. She was fine and swam to the bottom, her tail end slightly lifting as if a really slight chance of swim bladder, I dont feed them that much at all for her to get swim bladder. Any advice welcomed, thanks!
(Tank 24 litres) planted
Usually 24-26°c
 

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Hi and welcome to the forum :)

How long has the tank been set up for?
How long have you had the fish for?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the tank when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?

What sort of filter do you have?
How often and how do you clean the filter?
What is the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate of the tank water?

Have you added anything to the tank in the 2 weeks before this started?

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The fish could be asleep.

Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.

-------------------------
The fish has frayed fins (the edges are a bit rough). Try doing a 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate every day for 2 weeks. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

How long has the tank been set up for?
How long have you had the fish for?
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

How long has the tank been set up for?
How long have you had the fish for?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the tank when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?

What sort of filter do you have?
How often and how do you clean the filter?
What is the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate of the tank water?

Have you added anything to the tank in the 2 weeks before this started?

-------------------------
The fish could be asleep.

Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.

-------------------------
The fish has frayed fins (the edges are a bit rough). Try doing a 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate every day for 2 weeks. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water.


How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the tank when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?

What sort of filter do you have?
How often and how do you clean the filter?
What is the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate of the tank water?

Have you added anything to the tank in the 2 weeks before this started?

-------------------------
The fish could be asleep.

Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.

-------------------------
The fish has frayed fins (the edges are a bit rough). Try doing a 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate every day for 2 weeks. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water.
Thanks for your reply,
Tank has been set up since april, using water from a 2 year established tank, the bettas have been in there just over a month, the other ranging from may to july. Water change every week using syphon, usually about 30% ish, using the syphon to remove waste, always dechlorinated water, I have a sponge filter and I clean it every few weeks, nothing new in the tank.... I did some research about this after posting it and it said that bettas like to rest on filters.... she seems absolutely fine currently...
 
Bettas will rest on anything including plant leaves, driftwood, rocks, whatever is in the tank. One of the people that used to be on this forum had a plastic hollow log and his Betta lived in that.

As long as the fish is still eating it should be fine.

I would increase the size of the water changes to at least 50% every week and 75% each week is better again. The bigger water changes remove more nutrients and waste from the water and keep it cleaner for the fish.
 

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