# Bored betta?



## BarefootPixie (Jun 8, 2012)

I think Bentley is bored. I've had him for about a month now, and he was acting normal the first couple weeks- eating like a little pig, flaring occasionally, and exploring his tank. But lately he's gotten really lethargic, and just sits on the gravel or hangs out pressed to the front of the tank. I got him a new cave for a change of scenery and now he just sits in there all the time. He's still eating normally and wiggles around asking to be fed when he sees I'm awake in the morning, but the rest of the day he just sits there looking sad. He's losing color too. I tried giving him a ping pong ball to play with but he's scared of it. (he always was skittish.) His tank is heated to a constant 79 degrees so it can't be that he's too cold. I took away the filter because the flow was too strong, should I put it back? And if so does anyone have advice on how to cut the flow? It's a small Whisper filter.
He currently lives in a 1.5 gallon until I get the money for a bigger tank, and I use a filter pitcher and Betta Bowl for his water changes. I feed him freeze-dried bloodworms, mysis shrimp and daphnia. I started culturing some live daphnia for him, so maybe that will make him happier. Any other ideas on how to entertain him? I can't stand to see him so sad.


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## Bladezero (May 14, 2012)

Can you please fill out this, and add a picture?
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)? 

The reason I'm asking is to rule out anything but boredom.. 
Is it live plants or decor? Try changing things around the tank, something new to look at.
Open the filter and clog it with http://www.jbl.de/en/aquatics-freshwater-products/detail/2403/jbl-symec, Worked great for me on 2 filters that were to strong  (in addition to the sponge)

Update us


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## Hallyx (Jun 11, 2011)

Welcome to the forum, Pixie.

Betta don't think like you and me. They don't really get "bored." A change of behavior is suspect and should be taken seriously. That said, every individual is different, with different behavior that changes as they age, just like you and me.

As a first step, you might try upgrading his diet. Freeze-dried food has less nutritional value that frozen. A high-quality pellet (New Life Spectrum, Omega-One, Hikari Gold) would make a good staple. A little brine shrimp or frozen daphnia a couple times a week (for digestion) and frozen bloodworms for an occasional treat.

79* is not too warm. Some fish perk up when it gets above 80*. Not saying this will do anything for you fish.

1.5 gal is fine if you're changing most of his water every 3 days or so with a quality conditioner. 

Answering that questionaire is boring, but will help us help you.


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## BarefootPixie (Jun 8, 2012)

Housing 
What size is your tank? 1.5 gallons
What temperature is your tank? 79
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? freeze-dried bloodworms, mysis shrimp, daphnia, occasional frozen bloodworms
How often do you feed your betta fish? Once a day

Maintenance 
How often do you perform a water change? every 2-3 days
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 30-45%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Betta Bowl Plus water conditioner

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

Ammonia:safe
Nitrite: safe
Nitrate: safe
pH: 7.5
Hardness: moderate
Alkalinity: low

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? slight loss of color 
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? yes- has become lethargic
When did you start noticing the symptoms? 1 week ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? replaced filter, changed scenery, did a 50% water change
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no
How old is your fish (approximately)? A few months maybe? I've only had him a little over a month. 

I replaced the filter and he seems to have perked up a little, he has 2 silk plants and a cave. I'll be going to Petsmart to get some of that filter wool you mentioned, and as I mentioned before I'm culturing some live daphnia so when they're big enough maybe that'll make him happy.  I'll keep you posted!
Here's Bentley and his current setup:
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x139/Akira_Mizuki/IMAG0142.jpg


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## Bladezero (May 14, 2012)

Sounds like you are taking great care of him 

I would add aquarium salt just because it can help treat most common stuff at their early stages, he doesn't have visual symptoms yet so I think that might help as a start. 

I just don't see anything wrong with him and as hallix said it might be a underline symptom the boredom.


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

Hey there  

Personally, I think you need better food ( look into omega one betta buffet pellets! They're wonderful), and a better water change schedule. One 50% and one 100% ware change A week would improve the water quality, which would help... If that doesn't work, and he is still lethargic after a few days of clear water and better food, try adding one teaspoon of aquarium salt per gallon. When you do water changes, add the proper amount of salt back in. After about a week from starting, you'll have yo do a 100% water change to remove the salt.


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## lelei (Apr 30, 2012)

He sure is a pretty fishy Yea I agree, change the food..I use the Haikari Gold micro pellets, and I see our Sammy always has quite the bit of energy..and always looks his best..


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## BarefootPixie (Jun 8, 2012)

Thanks for all the advice!  I'll be going to get some new foods for him soon, so we'll see how that works out. My heater isn't adjustable though, so the tank's gonna have to stay at 79. :/ I'll have to do something about the flow of the filter, too.


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

79 is perfectly fine. You can baffle the tank by using a rubber and to attach a filter media sponge to the inlet and or outlet.


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## Thomasdog (Jan 26, 2012)

Hope he's feeling better. I feed New Life Spectrum Betta Formula, and there is tons of it in one jar. My bettas LOVE it.


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## lelei (Apr 30, 2012)

If your tank is 1 1/2 gal u may not need filter..just reg water changes..2-3x a week that is kinda small for a filter..unless a spongey one..I have a 3 gal and do not have a (real) filter, came with an undergravel filter..but I clean weekly with gravel vaccumming, up to 85 % water changes..


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## BarefootPixie (Jun 8, 2012)

Update! Bentley is feeling much better now- I couldn't find any of the foods mentioned at Petsmart (shocker) so I'll probably get them online. My daphnia are big now though, so I've been feeding them to him a couple times a week. He's more active and his color's back! Here's a video I took of him hunting his daphnia.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hyNlxHePNI&feature=youtu.be


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## BarefootPixie (Jun 8, 2012)

Ok... Bentley seemed to be getting better, but now he's even worse than before. Water parameters and everything are still the same as on the questionnaire. I started feeding him the live daphnia in addition to the bloodworms. I haven't gotten the new pellets yet, but I will soon. Now he has absolutely no interest in any of his food (even the live food), mirrors, toys, me, or anything else. He just sits and doesn't move, and the only way I know he's alive is that he swims away when I touch him. His color's starting to fade again too. Someone please help me, I don't know what to do and I don't want to lose Bentley!


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## Bladezero (May 14, 2012)

Where is the live daphnia from?

Can you add a picture?

I don't think it's boredom. I subscribed to this thread so I'll replay asap when you add more info


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## BarefootPixie (Jun 8, 2012)

I grew the daphnia myself, from eggs I mail-ordered. They eat yeast and green water that I also grew myself, in a vase that I sterilized with peroxide and non-chlorinated water. a picture of Bentley is below, the light is a little bad because I took it with my phone. (the water's not green, that's just the light reflecting off my green wall. ^^


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## lelei (Apr 30, 2012)

Does he come to the top, (surface) for air?? if not lower the water level, or get him in a hospital tank, with low water so he can breath..then Update us ok


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## BarefootPixie (Jun 8, 2012)

He does come up for air, or he hangs out on one of the leaves closer to the top of the tank. He was hanging out near the surface behind the filter for a while before I took the photo, but I couldn't get a pic from there so I touched him to make him move. Unfortunately the main water pipeline to my house is broken, so unless I can find a jug of drinking water somewhere a hospital tank can't really happen until tomorrow at the earliest as I have no water. D:


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## BarefootPixie (Jun 8, 2012)

I found some water bottles in the garage. Letting them cool, because it's like 100 degrees in there. >_<


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## BarefootPixie (Jun 8, 2012)

Bladezero- Please please please tell me you don't think it's TB. D: I heard fish can get it from unclean live food.


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## Bladezero (May 14, 2012)

I'm 99.9% sure its not TB  It's uncommon and usually there are more symptoms and it advances very fast once hit.

I'm actually thinking maybe internal parasites, He looks really thin.. For how long he wasn't eating? He looks like 1.5 weeks without food.
What is the patch on his head? Try using a flash light on him if its not his natural coloration might be velvet.


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## BarefootPixie (Jun 8, 2012)

That actually might be it... it's only been 2 days since he's eaten so he shouldn't be that thin. The patch on his head was a reflection from the yellow on his cave. he moved back behind the filter and it's not there anymore.


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## Bladezero (May 14, 2012)

Velvet is hard to spot without strong light try just incase.. 
If it is internal parasites you'll need to get him meds
(from the sticky)
*Internal Parasites*
•Symptoms: Betta is losing weight but eating normally and acting lethargic. 
He/she might dart or rub against decor.
•Treatment: These can be hard to fight and can get confused with the fatal disease Tuberculosis. Perform daily 100% water changes (if possible, for larger aquariums change 3/4). Make sure you carefully clean the gravel to remove eggs/larva. Aq.Salt does not seem to be affective against internal parasites. I find combining ES with an anti-parasite med is best. Treat with 1-2tsp/gal Epsom Salt combined with either Jungle’s Anti-Parasite Pellets, Jungle’s Parasite Clear Fizz tabs or API General Cure. PP is also effective against internal parasites.


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## BarefootPixie (Jun 8, 2012)

I'm not sure about the medicated food, since he's not eating... Can those fizz tabs be used in a smaller tank? it looks like they're mainly for ponds.


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## Bladezero (May 14, 2012)

API General cure is easiest to administer imo
http://www.petguys.com/-317163160150.html


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## BarefootPixie (Jun 8, 2012)

If he's still alive tomorrow I'll go get some... I don't think he'll make it through the night though... he's not responding to anything now, not even being touched. He's just hanging at the surface. He's breathing a little but it's really slow. D: I don't want my baby to die... D':


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## BarefootPixie (Jun 8, 2012)

Bentley passed a couple hours ago. I can't believe this happened when I thought he was just depressed! D'8 I'm sorry, buddy. I should have paid better attention to the signs. I can't believe I didn't even know he was sick... Thanks for all your help anyway, guys.


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## Bladezero (May 14, 2012)

Sorry for your loss.. =\


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## Hallyx (Jun 11, 2011)

Sometimes it's hard for even relatively experienced keepers to perform early diagnoses, especially with no external symptoms. 

There are knowledgeable keepers here who have lost multiple fish from obscure causes.

In know this won't cheer you up, but you did the best you could. Next time you'll do better.


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## BarefootPixie (Jun 8, 2012)

Do you think it was the daphnia? Can they have parasites straight from the egg? Or do you think he got them in the store? I only had him for a month. D: I just really hope I didn't kill him with those daphnia.


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## Hallyx (Jun 11, 2011)

That's not likely. Although he might have had an adverse reaction to a radical change of diet. I had a fish bloat up and die just because I changed his feeding schedule. He did have a sensitive constitution, however.

Yeah, the first thing we do when a fish dies is to try to find a way to blame ourselves. <sigh>


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