# Betta suddenly died. No symptoms



## Shicocono (Mar 27, 2013)

Hello. I joined just to ask this question. I often come to the forum as a guest to look up things about bettas, but I couldn't find anything really pertaining to this?

Not just a few hours ago, our lovely betta girl died.

She had been kept in a divided ten gallon tank, but after an impulse buy at petco, we had one too many fish and not enough tanks. We decided she would look lovely in her very own tank, but since we didn't currently have one, we took her out of the ten gallon and set up a *temporary* vase to keep her in for a couple of days until we had a new tank properly set up.

Everything had been washed with hot water [except for the bamboo plants] and no soap. We had clear glass marbles at the bottom with some bamboo around the sides. The vase was almost 3/4 of a gallon and treated with nutrafin aquaplus.

We were worried about her getting cold, so we had a thermometer in there with her. The temperature seemed to be staying at a steady 71-72*F. She obviously wasn't pleased with the smaller set up, but she was acting fine. No clamped fins and paying close attention to us and constantly begging for food.

She was fine for two days, and we were about to go out and buy the new tank today and all the needed supplies. I woke up and she was fine. Behaving normally. Then, I went to check on her after an hour as she was dead- face down in the marbles. She was undamaged. No swelling or ripped fins. No clouded eyes. When we took her out she was still limp like she only just died 

What happened? I don't understand.


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## tekkguy (Jan 28, 2013)

She was only in the small container for a couple of days? Ammonia possibly, but unlikely in that short timespan. What was her tank's temp before you moved her, and how did you acclimate her to the new small tank?

Any chance of there being soap reside or residue from floral arrangements in the vase? My sister is a florist - the stuff they use in the vase water for flowers is decidedly unsafe for fish in most cases. Was this a used vase?


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## Shicocono (Mar 27, 2013)

The tank she was in before is at a 75-76*f range. The vase I bought myself and I had been housing bamboo with it. I watered the bamboo with tap water and sometimes put in some nutrafin planthelper stuff. I use to house it in 'water beads' but recently switched to marbles.

Before we put her in we rinsed everything very thoroughly with warm water and the bamboo with cool water gently.

We acclimatized her to the vase by floating her in a baggy for 15mins, adding water and floating for another 10 mins. The vase was very nearly a gallon and she showed no signs of ammonia poisoning, or anything else for that matter. [we've dealt with ammonia poisoning in the past when we first started keeping betta almost 1 1/2 years ago]

the betta in my ten gal right now are all happy and healthy, swimming and flaring. So I don't believe it's anything she carried over from the original tank either.


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## tekkguy (Jan 28, 2013)

The temperature range isn't that different (you really should try and raise your existing bettas SLOWLY to about 78*). I'm not familiar with water beads personally, so maybe something leftover from them?

How old was she?


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## Shicocono (Mar 27, 2013)

She was young. We acquired her in the beginning of this month actually. She was a very healthy fish with beautiful color for a female.

As for the temp, now that it's creeping into spring/summer the temp should be getting to 78* range soon. We don't have a heater, but the temp is always steady- and in the 'green' range. I'm more worried about overheating them, but I suppose it's something I should look into.

I'm more worried about the sudden death right now. I feel sick, knowing I probably killed her  I just don't know how


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## tekkguy (Jan 28, 2013)

I don't think that you killed her at all. Very sorry for your loss ... if she is that young, she may not have been healthy to begin with, despite her activity.

Keep an eye on her previous tankmates, you'll want to catch anything they might have as quickly as possible if it starts to show up.


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## Shicocono (Mar 27, 2013)

Thank you :'( 

I personally doubt she was sick, because she was acting opposite of sick. It seems too far-fetched of a coincidence, if she WAS sick, that she suddenly died only after we put her in the vase.

Thank you so much though, for replying to me and trying to help. It means a lot :c <3


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## tekkguy (Jan 28, 2013)

Shicocono said:


> Thank you :'(
> 
> I personally doubt she was sick, because she was acting opposite of sick. It seems too far-fetched of a coincidence, if she WAS sick, that she suddenly died only after we put her in the vase.
> 
> Thank you so much though, for replying to me and trying to help. It means a lot :c <3


Sometimes moving can be stress-inducing, and stress can cause them to succumb to some unseen parasite or sickness that hasn't peaked enough to be noticeable yet. So while moving might have triggered it, there was likely some other cause. I'd keep an eye on the others, and probably not use that vase with any other fish just in case those water beads had something to do with it.


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## Shicocono (Mar 27, 2013)

I'm starting to think that perhaps there was some sort of toxic residue leftover on the roots of the bamboo. It's the only thing I can think of. The waterbeads say 'nontoxic' but that probably doesn't count for fish.

it's the only thing I can think of [sigh] unless anyone else has heard of SFDS [sudden fish death syndrome] without any visual or behavioral tips before death? If not then....I'll just have to assume it was waterbeads :c


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## Shicocono (Mar 27, 2013)

tekkguy said:


> I'd keep an eye on the others, and probably not use that vase with any other fish just in case those water beads had something to do with it.


Oh yeah, never doing that again ever. I'm keeping watch on the others too. A fish death makes me incredibly paranoid for every betta I own, whether in contact with the dead betta or not.


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## AyalaCookiejar (Nov 20, 2012)

Did you make sure she could easily get to the surface with that bamboo? Vases have poor surface area for a Betta, anyways.


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## Shicocono (Mar 27, 2013)

yes. It was a cylindrical vase and the bamboo was sparse around the outside. The inner was completely open.


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## Artemis (Mar 9, 2013)

I think it was the water beads. They leave nice residue on plants sadly.


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## LeoTheLakerBetta (Oct 12, 2012)

I'm really sorry for your loss. 

I think it could have been the temperature. If it gets lower than 75 problems can occur. When I got my first betta I had him in a small bowl with no heater. He seemed normal at first but then he was really lethargic and hanging vertically. After getting him a bigger tank with a heater, he was the mightiest betta.


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## AyalaCookiejar (Nov 20, 2012)

It was a thought, though I figured you already knew they need surface area to breathe.

It was likely leftover residue or temp, then. Its hard to say which, although I think its probably more likely that it was something leftover that poisoned her in some way. Generally, a drop in temperature doesn't kill them - it lowers their immune system and causes sickness which can kill them. Since she had no signs of sickness, I don't think it was the temp (though it was possible).

I had a female pass away from dropsy after a temp swing caused by a power outage. I know that the temp swing is what caused it because she was totally fine before the outage, but that temp swing alone didn't kill her. It was opportunistic disease that grabbed hold of her after the power outage. I also believe that she didn't have the strongest genetics because none of my other four bettas got sick. Some bettas just have very bad genetics. Often, pet store bettas have worse genetics than bettas from private breeders.

There could have been other things here we didn't catch, but it was 99% likely that it had something to do with the vase she was moved to. Just in case it was some type of disease, I would disinfect any equipment you used with her that you are planning on keeping and using for your other fish.

I'm sorry for your loss. Don't blame yourself. Even the most experienced keepers deal with loss and sometimes our best just isn't enough.


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## quietlythundering (Jan 29, 2013)

Perchance, are there air fresheners in the room you kept your girl in? I've heard of bettas dying from being exposed to too many air fresheners(from cans) but I don't like to take my chances with candles either.


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## AyalaCookiejar (Nov 20, 2012)

I burn inscence in my room, lol, and one of my fish used to be exposed to cigarette smoke all the time. Candles shouldn't hurt at all. But yes, air fresheners sprayed around the tanks would be bad.


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## Shicocono (Mar 27, 2013)

We've come to the conclusion that it must have been the waterbead residue that poisoned her. I do use incense in my room [where the fish are] but all of the tanks are covered, and when I ever do use air freshener I actually spray it at the floor! Can't take any chances.

What happened to Our little girl [Anima] was a harsh lesson we won't ever forget. From now on I don't think we will be putting any plants with our betta's we don't know are 100% safe.

I actually had another betta die a couple months back who was my favorite baby boy. A green MHPK named Malik. He showed no symptoms either, but he was also genetically defective- AND he had a close call with dropsy earlier in his life, so I thought the two things combined led up to eventual organ failure I don't think I could have prevented.

He hadn't been showing signs of ill health however. We just found him dead in near pristine condition. He was nearing maybe over a year old?

I'm feeling paranoid now.....


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## SharkyTheBetta (Dec 29, 2012)

I don't know what happened either, but please don't become paranoid... And you are a good person who care about bettas, you were planning to buy her a new tank, so it is not your fault. Unfortunately sometimes we don't understand what exactly happened, we only have some clues about what it could be, but we have to accept this the way it is and be good betta parents from now on too. It happened to me also...


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## Shicocono (Mar 27, 2013)

Thank you all for your help and support. It's nice to get advice and condolences from follow betta lovers- and though I'm still saddened by the loss, this has helped me. <3


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