# Why did my betta fish die?



## caseybrett (Nov 3, 2011)

I just brought him home from the shop on Sunday, he was the biggest and most full looking one there. Its now Tuesday and I've woke up to a dead Betta floating around the tank! I cant beleive it. All my other fish are fine, so if there was anything wrong with the water, surely my tetras would have been affected? I dont know if its cos he's dead, but his face has gone from very dark to kinda whitish, as have his eyes. He seemed so happy untill this. Its only 2 days!

Does anyone have any idea what might have happened to him? Was it that pesky frog? I think its time to move him to another tank. Will I have to cycle it for a frog? I'm guessin yeah?

Very upset anyways, was very sudden.


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## earthworm88 (Jul 8, 2011)

Sorry to hear your lost your betta. It is highly possible that it was already too sick when you bought him due to the poor condition he had been in and it was just unfortunate that he died on your watch. 

If you really want us to give you insights into if there were other possibilities as to his cause of death, please fill out the form below. I know you only had him for a couple of days, so what you hadn't done, you could put in your intentions. This will also help to ensure that your next encounter will be more successful if it were husbandry issue. 

Housing 
What size is your tank?
What temperature is your tank?
Does your tank have a filter?
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?
Is your tank heated?
What tank mates does your betta fish live with?

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?
How often do you feed your betta fish?

Maintenance 
How often do you perform a water change?
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity: 

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
When did you start noticing the symptoms?
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
Does your fish have any history of being ill?
How old is your fish (approximately)?


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Poor guy..
Yup, fill it out, fill out when you do your normal water changes in that tank, conditioner, etc.

How did you acclimate him to the tank?


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## caseybrett (Nov 3, 2011)

Hi, thanks for the reply, I filled out questions, any ideas? Is it safe to ever get another one?!

Housing 
What size is your tank?
=48 liters/12 gallons[/COLOR]

What temperature is your tank?
=27 degrees C

Does your tank have a filter?
=Yes, internal power filter- carbon foam and filter foam + aeration. I have had to cover the intake with a small bit of tights (hosery) to prevent tetras getting sucked into the filter. Has worked

Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?
=Yes, part of the filter

Is your tank heated?
=Yes

What tank mates does your betta fish live with?
=3 balloon mollys, 6 cardinal tetras, albino frog, snails

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?
=Only fed him twice! flake first time and second time a mixture of flake and defrosted bloodworms. Half a portion for whole tank.

How often do you feed your betta fish?
=I feed the fish once a day


Maintenance 
How often do you perform a water change?
=Once a week, at the most, 2 week

What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
=I fill one bucket, so I'd say 20%

What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?
=I put one small capfull of 'bioactive tapsafe' and same of 'stress coat+'. When I add new fish I add 'Filter Start' which is a dose of good bacteria.

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?
=The last time I had my water tested was when I was cycling the tank and had it tested a lot, untill it was finally ready for fish. Then every time I've added fish they have been fine, so I haven't had it tested since. 

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity: 

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
=When he was living he had a very dark face. Blue almost black. This morning his face looks almost like it has a white scum on it or like its been bleached. white cloudy eyes too. He was fine last night! 

How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
=He seemed stressed at first when we were innitially resting the bag in the water, with tank lights out. But then seemed very dosile when we finally let him loose.

When did you start noticing the symptoms?
I didnt! It was very sudden.

Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
=No, I've just removed him from the water and he is floating in a lunchbox now! Dont know what to do with him!

Does your fish have any history of being ill?
=Dont know.

How old is your fish (approximately)?[/quote]
=He was the biggest one in the shop so maybe he was quite mature. He's a veil tail I think. 
Could he have been attacked by a tank mate, if so the albino frog? I thought he was an African dwarf, but turns out he's probably an African clawed frog. He's just a baby and since I found out he's a predator I planned to get another tank for before he grows too big. Maybe sooner rather than later?


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

im not expert but my guess would be there was something wrong with him when you got him.


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## inkrealm (May 15, 2011)

yeah, I see fish and frogs residing together all the time x: as long as the frog wasn't known to be poisonous ( and those aren't as far as I know ) I'd say he may have already had something wrong with him.... though I would get the frog moved, since it's a predator. might as well get it done with. I agree you should cycle the tank first though... dunno how sensitive they are to ammonia.... never had any trouble with mine, but I didn't know about the cycle back then so it may have cycled by itself, and they were both fire belly toads ( actually frogs but the name is messed up 0.o ) which are ridiculously hardy. :3" when you say big~ do you mean just in length, or was he "fat" too?

I assume the ammonia levels were probably fine... I don't know much about big tanks or communities so I have no idea how often it'd need to be changed or how much,,
how long did you float him for? did he react to any of the fish? did he show any stress signs, etc.? I don't suppose all the new fish could have weirded him out since he'd lived alone for awhile? I'd check the parameters too.... it's always good to check every now and then, especially as you add more fish, as they produce more ammonia and eventually you may need to adjust your changes... ( particularly if the new fish happen to be messy ) mm... bettas may also not be able to handle the same parameters the others can... not sure though....

it sounds like an issue he already had or else stress... so if you can't find an obvious stress source I'd say he probably had issues already.... it happens with petstore boys :/ I'm sorry your ( first? ) try with one went that way :/ <3


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## caseybrett (Nov 3, 2011)

Thanks, yeah will get my water tested again for sure and get a new tank cycled for the little frog. I read that they grow real fast so better get on it! RIP to the coolest fish. He will be missed!
Ps, as far as i know, bettas are very hardy and can survive even in unheated tanks. Also, Tetras are far more delicate so if it were a water issue, i'd be surprized that the betta was affected and not them.
so i guess you must be right that there was something wrong with the betta before i got him. Thanks for the feedback


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Welcome to the forum and sorry about your loss.....

How did you first acclimate him to the tank......


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## ScurvyGoat (Feb 19, 2010)

Sorry your new guy passed. =[

The only albino frogs for sale are African Clawed Frogs. These guys will eat ANYTHING, even if it's bigger than them. They will get nearly as big as your hand, I should know because I have 3 lol! They need live food to really thrive, one type isn't good. I switch between feeder guppies, small superworms (crush the head so they don't bite. Ew), and medium crickets. In my early frog days my big guy, Biggie, ate a small Oranda goldfish the size of him. ATE. They are "bulletproof" as I like to call them. They don't eat flakes like some stores say and bloodworms stop being a staple as they grow. You know how T-Rex could only see movement? Same with frogs. Live food stimulates them and they are generally healthier overall. My big albino Tupac was taught to eat from my hand. Now he'll jump in my hand immediately if I stick it in the tank. They are REALLY entertaining lil goofballs. It's recommended you keep 1 in a 20 gallon and add 10 gallons for each additional frog. If you wanna chat frogs or have any questions, please feel free to message me ^^


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## caseybrett (Nov 3, 2011)

Thanks, so good to find people who have experience with these guys! So is it possible that my frog ate my betta? Had the betta 2 days and he seemed to make the frog crazy, swimming about everywhere! Then i woke up to a dead betta and the frog sat next to him at the top of the tank. Now the frog is back to hiding at the top of the tank again.


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## Moclam (Nov 11, 2011)

Sorry the little lad passed.

I've had that happen before. Did he come in blue water?


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## caseybrett (Nov 3, 2011)

blue water?


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## Moclam (Nov 11, 2011)

Yes, blue water. It's a sedative drug they use to transport betta fish to pet stores. However some pet stores leave them in the blue water, and I've found that when they do that, there fish tend to die once you bring them home.


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## caseybrett (Nov 3, 2011)

Oh my god thats awful! Well, in the shop the background is blue in the betta tanks, so couldnt tell, the water he filled the bag with was from the other tank below them, so i can say for sure that was clear. No blue i dont think.


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Me and OFL have inquired about how you acclimated him to his tank when you got him.. it may be helpful to figure it out if we knew how long did you float him, did you acclimate him to the chemistry as well as the temp? It could be he was ill when you got him, or he went into shock from how he was introduced into the tank...


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## Brian10962001 (Nov 1, 2011)

This is a sad fact, but I generally wait at least a full week before I'll purchase a betta. I have to see him in the store two or three times because some of them simply can't handle the stress of shipping. They will look fine but like you experienced they don't live long.


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## ScurvyGoat (Feb 19, 2010)

If his head turned white... Could it be possible the ACF grabbed a hold of his head? They will hold on for some time and there are reports of them drowning before letting go. It wouldn't surprise me if he grabbed the betta and something clicked that it wasn't going to work or something spooked him into letting go. (Also you want a bare bottom tank or large river rocks. They will accidently eat gravel which won't pass and they'll die. They're not the smartest...)


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## caseybrett (Nov 3, 2011)

Yeah, i floated him in the bag in the tank for at least 20 minutes before slowly letting a bit of tank water into the bag, holdin it then for a few minutes before letting him out, taking about half hour in total. All with the lights off. After i let him out the bag, i waited another 10 minutes before turning the night light on for the rest of the evening till bed time. Dont know what more i could have done? All the other fish are fine, but i have ordered a water test kit now to save me having to repeatedly walk to the petshop with my bag of water!


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## caseybrett (Nov 3, 2011)

I think that sounds very possible. As a result of this sudden loss, i realized the urgency of gettin another tank for the frog, and as advised by someone on here, i also inquired about returning the frog to the shop, which the manager was happy to let me do, since i told him a few things i'd found out about these frogs that he wasnt aware of. He was very nice about it and i did accept that i was at fault for not researching allot more bout distinguishing the dwarf from the clawed before i bought him. So, i said i would think about what way to go, return him or buy tank (expensive), got off the phone and then discovered the decision had been taken away. I found the frog had passed on! It must have been the gravel. I only just found out today about the danger of them eating it, but had always noticed he had difficulty seeing the food! He has a dark patch on his belly so i wonder if thats the gravel. I feel terrible. I am sticking to my original tank plan for sure now. No impulse buying of frogs. If I hadnt done that, all would probably be well, since i spent allot of time planning around comparability and needs. Very sad. Think i should tell the small pet shop more of what i found out bout these frogs as they have gravel in their tank with other fish too. its really cloudy water too which would be explained by the messy frogs- they have bout 5 of them in there i think.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Yeah even african dwarf frogs can pose a problem with bettas... Mine, was fine with the betta and balloon mollies until the mollies were moved. then he went for my betta's tail x.x It's pretty hard to find a completely docile frog(s) for betta buddies. But hey, you didn't know and it was an honest mistake


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## Rosso1011 (Nov 13, 2011)

If you get a new betta, also keep an eye on his interaction with the tetras. I've heard of people housing bettas with tetras and I've heard others say they won't do it. It is possible to do, but keep in mind that some tetras (not sure if it's specific or all tetras) can tend to be fin nippers. 

As for the betta that just passed, as mentioned above, it's hard to tell whether he was already sick or something else got at him. 

Sorry for your loss and I hope that everything works out better with your next betta. We'll be here for you if you need any help.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

I've kept black skirt tetra with a betta.. And neon tetras. But it depends on the size of tank, group of fish (all tetras prefer groups), betta's behavior etc  if you ever need help just ask us!


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## ScurvyGoat (Feb 19, 2010)

A lot of misinformation is out there on ACFs. I'm sorry you lost both of them. I know quite a few people with African Dwarf Frogs (They are flatter, skin appears rougher, and front feet are webbed unlike ACFs) with bettas. Generally they get along as they are too small to handle most aquarium fish. They eat very small crickets, thawed bloodworms (stable), and a few other creepy crawlies. I find them a bit more delicate, but still very fun. Main issue is other fish picking on them. Down the road if you're still thinking of frogs I'd suggest a pair or trio of them unless you wanna go the seperate tank route and get ACFs. 

Here's a video of me talking about my frogs after I put feeder guppies in the tank. It shows their size (Sub adults), how much they eat, and how they mainly use movement to hunt. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHgs-d20Kf8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Again, sorry for your losses! =[ I hope everything is settled now!


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