Weird Betta Behavior...

[ArielC]

I saw my betta this morning, buried at the bottom of the tank under a whole bunch of plants. I assumed she was dead. So I got my net, and went to go grab her, but she started wiggling! She was like, burying herself in the gravel , I kept trying to pull her up, but she keeps going back down! so i just left her there and came to ask you guys what i should do. This is the third betta ive had this happen with. The first one buried himself in his 1 gallon and i thought he had jumped out or something, and only found him after i was cleaning the tank out ( he was alive!). The second one was one of my favorite girls, but crammed herself under a big rock, and to her death. Now that ive witnessed one of my bettas burying itself, what are they doing! and how do i make them stop?!

The tank inhabitants are in my sig, and my water quality is as follows.
Nitrate- 10
Nitrite-0
ammonia-0
ph-6.8
hardness- neutral, borderline between soft and hard.
temp- 80 F

Thanks

 

[lisie]

Some kind of parasite perhaps? When fish have parasites, it's itchy and so they rub against things and burrow into the gravel.