# Can Bettas Die From Cold Water?



## ABMomma

*Swim Bladder, Clamped Fins, Blackened Color.. From Cold Water?*

I apologize in advance for making a post about a recently deceased fish but please help. (Sticky answers below)

This morning, my daughter's second betta developed swim bladder, yesterday he hid all day but swam around fine. Today he couldn't swim well and progressively got worse until tonight he died. His fins seemed warped and eventually completely clamped like they were hard and his color looked blacked, I will add a picture. He is a half moon betta but you can't tell now because of his fins.

Is is possible this happened because his water was too cold? Yesterday I had the windows open all day because someone was using a paint thinner type solvent on our couches to get sharpie out of them and it was quite cold in here. I KNOW I need to get a heater if we get another fish but what else did I do wrong? I really want to have a happy healthy pet and don't ever want to see one suffer.

Background: Daughter got a fish for her birthday, it was sick when given to us, developed white stuff on its clamped fins and body, didn't eat the entire time we had it, and died before the week was done. Link to last post: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=116305

How do I sterilize the tank, rocks, plant and decoration without using bleach? Is it possible this one got sick with different symptoms from whatever the last fish had?

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This fish:
Housing 
What size is your tank? 1 Gallon
What temperature is your tank? Room temp is too cold, 22Degrees Celsius
Does your tank have a filter? No
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? No, will be buying heater if we get a new fish.
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Pellets and freeze dried bloodworms
How often do you feed your betta fish? Once a day, 2 pellets and sometimes a bloodworm.

Maintenance 
How often do you perform a water change? Every 2 days
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 100%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? API Betta Water Conditioner

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? No. I will be buying all testing supplies if we get another fish.

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Blackened color, less vibrant, extremely clamped fins, swam sideways until it no longer could swim.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Hid all day long yesterday, used to swim around all happy.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Yesterday with the hiding.
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? I've been changing his water every 2 days since getting him, didn't know what to do today, just planned on fasting him for a couple days.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No
How old is your fish (approximately)?  Had him 1 week.


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## crowntaillove

Yes bettas can die from cold water. When I was a lot younger, I had my first betta in a vase, and our fire went out over night during the winter and he froze to death. However, I don't think your betta died from cold water. If your house was heated to 71F/22C then his tank will have been 5 degrees cooler (roughly) He would have been very lethargic, but I don't believe that's what caused his death. I may be wrong though.


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## sainthogan

Cold water can definitely lead to illness, so essentially, yes, it could kill your fish. If it is too cold, it can send your fish into shock and kill it. 
For your future fish, people here usually treat swim bladder with epsom salts and warm water.


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## ABMomma

sainthogan said:


> Cold water can definitely lead to illness, so essentially, yes, it could kill your fish. If it is too cold, it can send your fish into shock and kill it.
> For your future fish, people here usually treat swim bladder with epsom salts and warm water.


 
Could the cold water cause the tightly clamped fins? Or would it be an illness that he caught yesterday that did him in today from being too cold?


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## crowntaillove

Cold water could definately cause clamped fins. I'm really curious as to what caused your red betta to turn black. Did that happen before or after he died? I hope someone here has an answer.


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## ABMomma

I hope so. The red betta Spiderman seemed a little darker when he died and Louis (this fish) has a lot of dark color on him, he was very light when we got him.


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## crowntaillove

Wait. I'm confused. This fish isn't the same one that you linked in this post?


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## ABMomma

crowntaillove said:


> Wait. I'm confused. This fish isn't the same one that you linked in this post?


No, the first fish (red one in the link) died with different symptoms: white stuff on him, lethargic, wouldn't eat, clamped fins, slight discoloration that I noticed after you said that, I looked at pictres from the day we got him, labored breathing. Sick when he was given to us.

This fish (in the picture on this post) died after swim bladder, extremely clamped fins, lots of discoloration, the day after it was really cold in here. Healthy when we got him.

We had the first for a week, after he did we got the second and he lasted a week as well. I'm not sure if their deaths could be connected in some way even though they had different symptoms.

ETA: Should I re-word the original post?


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## crowntaillove

ABMomma said:


> No, the first fish (red one in the link) died with different symptoms: white stuff on him, lethargic, wouldn't eat, clamped fins, slight discoloration that I noticed after you said that, I looked at pictres from the day we got him, labored breathing. Sick when he was given to us.
> 
> This fish (in the picture on this post) died after swim bladder, extremely clamped fins, lots of discoloration, the day after it was really cold in here. Healthy when we got him.
> 
> We had the first for a week, after he did we got the second and he lasted a week as well. I'm not sure if their deaths could be connected in some way even though they had different symptoms.
> 
> ETA: Should I re-word the original post?


Yeah, because I'm not sure which fish it is that you're asking about. Maybe just take out the link and focus on one fish at a time. :]

I'm not very experienced with diagnosing bettas, I'm still unsure what exactly killed mine, but I hope someone will be along to help you. I'm curious to know as well!


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## ao

pet store fish are usually kept around 70C. you can often see the effects. so yes. it could cause a big mess of health issues... long term.


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