# HELP! New bettas keep dying!



## Ghostmoon (Dec 13, 2017)

Help! 

From 3rd grade up through college I owned betta fish in everything from a small bowl to a filtered, heated 10 gallon tank. All of my fish were incredibly hardy and active and did well in any environment I put them in. 

It's been a few years since I've had fish but I was in Petco last week and saw all the fish and wanted to have a betta again.

I bought a 2 gallon tank, some live plants (moss balls, anubias, java fern) sand substrate, and a beautiful white and turquoise male betta. 

I rinsed everything off but did not use any chemicals, soaps, disinfectants. I filled up the tank with warm tap water and added 2 ml of API stress coat and 1 ml of API quick start. I floated the fish in his cup for a little over an hour so he could get used to the temperature. The fish (I had named him Bentley) was active and curious and explored his tank. He seemed fine when I went to bed about 6 hours later.

When I woke up, he was barely alive. Floating at the top covered in white fuzzy stuff... fungus? His gills were still moving but he died shortly after. I removed him from the tank.

Fast forward a week later, to today. I exchanged him for another fish, this time a blue and red dragonscale female. I drained the tank, rinsed the sand and tank again. I then refilled it and added the same amount of stress coat and quick start. I didn't use any disinfectant because I knew it could be dangerous to the fish and plants. 

Within 30 minutes of being released into the tank, the female lost all of the color in her fins and her eyes started slightly bulging, and then she died after about an hour. 

I am pretty sad about this and I'm wondering what could be going on. They were both Petco fish purchased a week apart- maybe it was a bad batch? When I went in today many of the fish there looked sick and lethargic. I chose the brightest, most energetic one- she actually looked pretty healthy at the store. Or maybe there's something wrong with the water or something in the tank? The fish had different symptoms and behaviors prior to death- could it be the same disease that killed them? Am I doing something wrong, should I use a different chemical? Are the germs that killed the first fish still in the tank?

I really want another betta- I've NEVER had them die on me like this before, after years of owning them! Most of my fish lived for years and seemed pretty healthy. I even brought one "back from the dead." He was literally rotting and I gave him a clean tank and healthy food and he lived for a few more years. I just don't know what's going wrong.

Please help!


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## WillL (Dec 6, 2017)

Might ned to start a new tank (as in buy a new one) and buy all new equipment. This happened to me before after I released a couple algae eaters into my tank and everything died after that. I just bought all new stuff and bought new fish and everything was normal. Hope this helps. BTW return the stuff if you can so you don't lose money


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## Bettalovinmomma (May 28, 2014)

What's your water source and what type water conditioner are you using?


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

It could well be they had a sick batch of Betta so I would ask the pet store when they got their new Betta and go that day or the next to pick out a new one. 

First, do you have a filter? Does the tank have a heater and thermometer?

That aside, I would disinfect the tank and nets with vinegar water and rinse until there was no smell and, if you have one, rinse the filter media in dechlorinated water. I would set the tank back up and run it until I got a new Betta. Do weekly 25% water changes. I don't see a need for a new set up.

I've don't use API products because I prefer Seachem so I need to ask: Does the Quick Start instructions caution against using any sort of water conditioner with it?

Here's this site's cycling tutorial to help you out:
http://www.bettafish.com/30-betta-fish-care/507585-cycling-two-sentence-tutorial.html


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## Tree (Sep 29, 2013)

My first guess would be the quick start and/or the conditioner. Just to be on the safe side I would get Prime conditioner and do a fish in cycle and just change the water 20% every day to every other day until it's cycled. I'm not sure if they can make an error in making the products but maybe something is wrong with the quick start or conditioner. 

I hope things get better for you =(


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## blackbirds (Oct 4, 2017)

Just a thought, but have you moved to a different area? You mentioned it's been a few years since you had bettas, and if you live someplace else the tap water could well be different. Even if you haven't, the tap water could have changed over the course of a few years (especially if your town has opened new treatment plants or started treating the water differently.)

Otherwise yes, it could very well be a sick batch of fish, Petco's fish seem to vary a lot from store to store. I've seen some that looked pretty healthy and others that looked half dead.

If you have any independently owned pet stores in your area they may have healthier fish that come from local breeders. I got mine from a small family owned chain whose bettas all looked shockingly healthy, despite being in small cups. They also only ever seem to have about twenty bettas in stock so I'm guessing they don't do the whole 'weekly fish order' thing.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I wonder if perhaps the first fish died from columnaris. The lesions can develop a sort of fungus-like appearance, and some of the fast-moving strains seem capable of killing fish within hours. 

Fish that are stressed or kept in poor conditions are particularly susceptible to condition, which describes most pet store bettas. 

Otherwise, I agree that your next step should be looking at your tap water. Is it financially within your means to purchase test kits? You should purchase test kits for at least ammonia and nitrite, although nitrate and pH are also useful. Liquid test kits have a much better reputation for accuracy in the hobby than test strips. This is assuming you don't already have test kits on hand. 

Tap water in some parts of the world, is of absolutely shocking quality. This is why I prefer and use Seachem Prime. Not all water conditioners are made equal. Prime has the benefit of temporarily detoxifying ammonia, as well as nitrite and nitrate according to their site. It's also a very cost effective water conditioner. 

I will say I've had appalling luck with fancy bettas. I could never get any of mine to live past two years, no matter what I did.


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## Ghostmoon (Dec 13, 2017)

The quick start has instructions specifically for use with stress coat. The stress coat is a water conditioner, but I'll buy some prime too and see if that works any better.

For cleaning the tank with vinegar, does it matter what type of vinegar I use? Will it be okay for the plants?

Really hope I don't have to buy all new things. I don't think I can return the tank and stuff because I bought it at the same time as the first fish, and when I went to exchange for a new fish they took the receipt so I don't have it anymore.


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## blackbirds (Oct 4, 2017)

I would push back on them since they took your receipt, maybe try to see if you can talk to the same person. If they try to get out of it I would emphasize, especially if that first fish was indeed sick (and the fuzzy stuff definitely sounds like a symptom of existing illness) that they sold you a fish that was sick and contaminated your entire setup, and took your receipt away for the other items but that that is not your fault.

For the vinegar, I would just make sure it doesn't have anything else added to it. I've never done a vinegar dip with plants though I've done a bleach dip with Anubias and Taiwan moss when I got a portion that was full of snails. The Taiwan moss had some die off but seemed to do surprisingly well.


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## ThatFishThough (Jan 15, 2016)

I agree with @LittleBettaFish; it sounds like Columnaris took out your first fish. The second might've had internal parasites or bloating which caused popeye/dropsy. 

I had Columnaris in my tanks once; within an hour one of my fish had white, fuzzy, cotton in her mouth and she died not even 15 minutes later. It took less than 4 hours for it to kill 11 fish; I was only able to save one, that was able to survive until the meds arrived. Only thing that cured it was a double dose of Furan-2 and Kanaplex. I would definitely disinfect everything (1:4 water/vinegar ratio or 1:9 water:bleach ratio and hot water until you can't smell it anymore) including nets, gravel, filter, etc. and get new filter media. Sometimes the fish we buy just. aren't. healthy. and there's really nothing we can do; I have a baby from PetCo that is permanently half-blind and struggles to eat. He seems happy and active, though, so we do the best we can.

Don't let this discourage you; it might take months or years, but eventually you'll get everything right.


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## Ghostmoon (Dec 13, 2017)

So I cleaned the tank out with vinegar and left it set up and I noticed the white fungus or whatever it was started forming around the plants too. So I threw out all of the live plants, bleached the tank, and then bought fabric plants so that there would be nothing living in the tank that could rot or harbor disease.

Bought a new fish last week from a different pet store and she has survived for a week now. It's time to think about naming her! Thanks for all of your help guys, I'll post pictures of my *healthy* fish in a new post!


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