# Betta help!!!!



## Smashy2019 (Jul 15, 2011)

HELP!!! My betta Nugget is acting strange, I'm new to owning fish, and he was my first fish, i've had him for roughly 4 months and he was always healthy, I bought him at pets unlimited and he was in a 0.5g tank for the longest time... here comes the interesting part where it totally shows i'm a fish noob... I decided that it might be good to get him a new tank the tank I bought was 10g and had a filter and a light, Nugget was quite happy in there until I decided maybe I could get some other fish to put in with him, I bought 5 neon tetras and 2 of them seemed weaker than the other 3 Nugget picked up on this and killed one so I removed him from the big tank for the night and had him in the little tank again the second neon tetra died that night, i'm wondering if them being sick is what caused Nugget to now be sick BUT when I first put him in his little tank he seemed fine, then last night I noticed that he was bloated and he couldnt keep straight in the bowl so I did some research and some people said it could be swim bladder disorder today I went back into the petstore and they gave me bettafix in case it was bacterial and said that this should help him as advised I put it in the tank and when I got home from work he looked even worse, his eye looks glazed over and hes now gasping, he can keep straight in the bowl now to some extent, but I'm so worried about him, when I got home and saw him gasping I did a 50% tank change with water from the bigger tank as it was already a good temperature and it was cleaned 2 days ago I figured maybe I put too much bettafix in the water he also has a little bit of fin rot and the betta fix seems to be making it come off it looks like theres little spores on the ends of his fins.... I know this is a long message but please any advise I don't want to lose him!!!


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## Smashy2019 (Jul 15, 2011)

*Pictures*

These are pictures of Nugget now, I took them at different angles so you really get a look at him.


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## fightergirl2710 (Jun 9, 2011)

Is it me or does he look a bit bloated? I don't know how he looked before but I think the cloudy eyes and grey belly could be a bacterial infection. He may have contracted it due to the stress of being with the new fish or from them.. I've heard bettafix can be quite harmful to bettas so I wouldn't use it. For now I suggest keeping him in the smaller bowl at a stable temperature between 78-85 F. Do a 100% water change. Add 1 tsp of epsom salt to a bit of the water, dissolve completely and add to the half gallon bowl. Try to add some tannins to the water, make it really dark. You can use Indian Almond leaves but they're hard to find. Dry oak leaves, crushed and added to the water or decaf green tea with no additives will also help. Don't forget to acclimate him to the new water. I'm not confident enough to tell you what medication you should give him, I would suggest PMing Darkmoon17 to take a look. What I told you will keep him comfortable for a while and the epsom salt will help his eyes..


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## Smashy2019 (Jul 15, 2011)

*Video*

This is a video of him, yes he is bloated and he seems to be having difficulty breathing this video is a better quality look at him and shows u how hes acting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpaKTzByffY


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## youlovegnats (Feb 23, 2011)

For the bloat, feed him daphnia, and for the fin rot (which is from the bad water quality), add some Aquarium salt (1tsp/ gal). Keep his water at 78-80 F. 
As fightergirl said, Epsom salt will help with the bloating as well. Don't feed him for a couple of days. 

What size tank is he in now? Is it heated?


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## Smashy2019 (Jul 15, 2011)

*This is him before*

These are pictures of Nugget when he was first put in his big tank, he was happy and healthy and fluttered all around his tank, I just want my happy healthy fishy back


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## Smashy2019 (Jul 15, 2011)

Right now he is in a 0.5g tank its just a marina betta kit tank, it isnt heated, but I put my lamp on the top of the tank to help him I thought about putting him in the bigger tank so he could keep warm while he was ill, but I have smaller fish that I would have to transfer out to do that at the moment theres 18 fish in my bigger tank 5 guppies, 5 neon tetras and 8 forktailed rainbows I don't have epsom salt or aquariam salt and am 40 minutes away from a petstore would a vet have it?


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## youlovegnats (Feb 23, 2011)

woah wait. 18 fish in your 10 gal!? O__O That's a bit much... 
Ummm ok, can you float his .5 tank in the 10 gal? or better yet- do you have a tupperware thing you can float in there? That way his water will be warm.  
I dunno if a vet would have it.. :/ I've never been to a vet for fish before xD 
You don't wanna put direct light on him- it may stress him more.


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## fightergirl2710 (Jun 9, 2011)

Epsom salt you can find at a pharmacy. Get one with no fragrance. And rock salt or kosher salt can be used for aquarium salt as a substitution. I don't recommend giving him any treatment with aq salt right now because it will just make him more bloated... Try covering the top of the bowl with clingfilm/ veggie wrap, punch a few holes in it. it will help him breathe and keep the humidity in his bowl up.
I think your 10 gallon maybe overstocked, overcrowding can also cause stress and disease in your fish. I would get a bigger tank for some of the fish or give some away... How is he doing now?


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## fightergirl2710 (Jun 9, 2011)

Lol! I'm slow!
Btw this is what happened to one of my girls, she wasn't lethargic but her symptoms were very similar. See if you can get some help from my experience with bacterial infection.. Darkmoon17 had given me suggestions about meds over there. It might give you some idea. Sadly, I had to put her down because she had gotten very bad but I hope your guy will survive.
http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=73113

Edit: Ok I can see fuzzy cotton like stuff in the video on the fins. Is this actually there or trick of the light? Because then it might be some kind of fungus.


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Okay, first of all, despite what they said at the pet store, Bettafix actually isn't good for bettas. It contains tea tree oil which can harm a betta's labyrinth organ, which they use to breathe from the surface.

Secondly, how long ago were the tetras and other fish introduced? It's always a good idea to quarantine new fish for at least a week to wait and see if they develop any illnesses. 

Okay, treatment. Looks like Nuggest has some fin rot all right and he's a bit bloated (did he just kill the tetras or did he eat a bit of them too? I know, very gross question, sorry about that). I'm worried he has a bacterial infection going on but I don't think he caught it from the tetras. He looks a little bloated in the "before" pics too. How long was he in his betta cube and how often did you change the water while he was in there? I am concerned that he caught his bacterial infection from poor water quality while in the betta cube. :/ 

I would suggest floating him in a small container in the 10g to keep him warm (I assume the 10g is heated). In the meanwhile, if it's possible, you may want to run to the pet store and see if they have these two things: Jungle Labs Anti-Bacterial Medicated Pellets and API General Cure. If Nugget will eat, start him on the pellets. If he won't, start him on the General Cure. 

For his breathing, you may want to lower the water level in his container to just about an inch so he can easily reach the surface to breathe. Make sure the water he is in is kept as clean as possible. Do you use water conditioner when you do water changes? If so, what kind? Does it detoxify heavy metals? If not, use API Stress Coat as your water conditioner. 

I'm sorry I can't offer much more advice. I just hope we're not too late.  Hang in there, Nugget!


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## Tisia (Mar 15, 2011)

how long was he in the 10 gallon before you added the tetras? did you cycle the tank beforehand? if it wasn't cycled the extra bioload of the tetras could have caused an ammonia spike


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

The 18 fish in there are small and can probably all live in the 10g just fine *IF* you do extra water changes. Since they are all schooling fish they won't mind closer quarters. But having all those schooling fish PLUS Nugget isn't a good idea. You may want to get him his own 5g.


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## fightergirl2710 (Jun 9, 2011)

Sakura8 said:


> The 18 fish in there are small and can probably all live in the 10g just fine *IF* you do extra water changes. Since they are all schooling fish they won't mind closer quarters. But having all those schooling fish PLUS Nugget isn't a good idea. You may want to get him his own 5g.


Totally agree, even though people keep bettas with community fish, it can be very stressful for them. That weakens their immune system to a great extent ..


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## Smashy2019 (Jul 15, 2011)

youlovegnats said:


> woah wait. 18 fish in your 10 gal!? O__O That's a bit much...
> Ummm ok, can you float his .5 tank in the 10 gal? or better yet- do you have a tupperware thing you can float in there? That way his water will be warm.
> I dunno if a vet would have it.. :/ I've never been to a vet for fish before xD
> You don't wanna put direct light on him- it may stress him more.


 
I didnt intentionally have 18 fish in the 10 gal when 2 of my neons died it was only 1 day so I took them back and they gave me 2 new ones.. i was upset they died but got replacements (not meaning to sound bad) when they gave them to me there was a forktale rainbow in the bag i told them but they told me to take it anyway so i had 5 neons and 5 guppies which was my intention, but there was also one lonely little fish and so i went to get more so he didnt isolate himself and die.. im not heartless and again when i got fish there were 2 more in the bag that they couldnt be bothered to take out so i ended up taking home 7 that day rather than 5 so i ended up with 5 guppies 5 neons and 8 forktails they all seem happy in the tank together 

as for nugget I did a 100% water change rinsed out all the bettafix and took the water from the big tank so he would have water that was already clean and at the right tempurature, I'll look into getting those salts to see if I can help him he doesnt tilt sideways anymore and I tried feeding him a pea to see if I can get him to have a bowel movement he didnt seem very interested in it but he is moving alot more than he was hes still gasping a bit but he has drastically improved since I took him out of the bettafix water last night with 50% change then a 100% change today


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## Smashy2019 (Jul 15, 2011)

Nugget was in the 10g about a week before i got the tetras in the betta cube i changed the water 1-2 times a week depending on how the water looked and how he was acting


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## fightergirl2710 (Jun 9, 2011)

Ok, changing water one or two times a week is too less for a tank that size. You need to do atleast a complete water change every other day or even better would be everyday for .5gal. This could be the cause of your betta getting sick..
The other thing is, even the ten guppies and neons are too much for a ten gallon... Neons grow to atleast an inch and guppies reproduce like crazy so you definitely need a bigger tank for them or give some fish away regardless of Nugget being in there. I still think Nuggets should get his own 2.5-5 g tank though...


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## Smashy2019 (Jul 15, 2011)

*Hes gone *

Thanks for your help everyone but hes gone :'( I came home on my lunch break at lunch and he was already gone  i'm so sad I feel like I failed him turns out i'm really not ok when I lose a fish


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

I'm so sorry to hear you lost him, Smashy.  Don't give up on fish, though. You didn't fail him, you did everything you could and I'm sure he was very happy with you. Bad things sometimes happen to good fish owners. We all go through it at some point.


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## fightergirl2710 (Jun 9, 2011)

Sorry Smashy, it was too late I guess... Sometimes it's fate, you can't change it no matter what you do, so don't be too hard on yourself, ok?


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## Smashy2019 (Jul 15, 2011)

thanks for all your help i really appreciate it  it was just hard because he was my first fish i still have popo who is the betta i bought for my little sister and my 18 little fish ill do my best to keep them all happy and healthy R.I.P Nugget <3


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## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Best of luck with Popo and your other fishies! :-D


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