# He keeps sticking his head out of the water to breath?



## Oishii03 (Jun 12, 2014)

I went to petsmart and bought a Betta. He was definitely a new shipment-I pulled him out of a box of Bettas and there was a piece of plasting bag in there, like it had been cut and drained and fallen in.

He seems to be very healthy, with no physical problems. Right now he's swimming around casually in his cup, flaring at his reflection, etc. I tried measuring the ammonia in the water (which looks kind of disgusting) and got an impossible number of 5. So I'm assuming that the methylene blue messes with that number.

Ammonia: Unknown, but definitely high. 

The thing is, when he breaths he pops his whole head out of the water. He doesn't sit there gasping, he just pops out to take a breath then comes back down and goes on with swimming around or laying there or whatever he feels like doing. He's still in the cup and I'm acclimating him to my water.

Is there something wrong with him, or is this a behavioral quirk?


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

That ammonia count was probably accurate, sadly. I saw someone else's post where the ammonia read as 8 from one of those filthy cups.

_Box _of bettas? 0_o

Don't have any insight on the breathing thing. Mine just take little sips like they are kissing the surface.


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## VivianKJean (Aug 20, 2013)

I agree that the number would be correct. Think about it this way, with a 1 gallon tank you have to do a 100% water change every single day and those cups are MUCH smaller than a gallon. 

You need to make sure that little to none of the cup water makes it into the tank. If you have a net, I would use a net to get him to the new tank when he done acclimating. If you do not have a net, you are going to dump/pour as much as the cup water out as you possibly can and then add the fish to the tank. If you add all of the cup water into the tank, it could cause an ammonia spike.


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## Oishii03 (Jun 12, 2014)

It's horrible that the ammonia's so high in their water :-(

I did use a net and put him in the tank a couple hours ago. Interestingly, he's not popping his head out to breath anymore. Perhaps this was caused by the ammonia in the water? 

Right now, nothing seems off and he's acting perfectly healthy. I hope that that was the only problem.


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

I think some betta are just more intense breathers. I'm pretty sure I had one that did that!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## VivianKJean (Aug 20, 2013)

I think that ammonia in the cup was a problem. As long as you keep up with water changes and take good care of him he will be fine.


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