# Betta fish erratic and super fast swimming outbursts..... a symptom of....



## DanDaMan (Feb 13, 2012)

So i have had my Betta going on a couple months now and everything is going great. His tank is filtered and he has one part of the tank that is like a hanging jungle which he loves to stalk inbetween all the plants and one part is open water which he loves just floating around in. That is also where he gets fed and boy he loves his food lol

But there is a serious side to this thread and im hoping it will help if people dont already know about it. Before this fish i had another betta who sadly died because i was mis-informed by the pet store about how to look after him in an adequate environment.

After that fish i researched online and joined here to gain information on how to keep Betta fish in a tank that will keep them healthy and happy and it helped, to an extent.

My problem was the timescale and volume of water changes. Something i have had to learn through the experience of my poor lil guy suffering fin rot. After reading online i gathered that my tank should have a water change every 4-5 days. I went with the 50% water change option which includes 'hoovering' the gravel to suck up and remove any fecal matter and rotting food that has been missed.

I was doing this and then about 2 weeks ago i noticed my Betta acting real strange. He would have these crazy outbursts of speed around the tank in a circle and would swim into his plants and the gravel at the bottom. Then he would come to rest and be breathing real heavily.

I could see something was distressing him but i couldnt put my finger on it, then one day i woke up and noticed the edges on his fins seemed to be falling apart. Long story short my little guy had fin rot. I instantly upped his water changes to two 50% water changes a week and introduced the relevant antibiotics into the water cycle.

Within literally a day of doing this he stopped his crazy outbursts and his fins are healing very nicely.... albeit very slowly.

So the whole point of this thread is to make people aware that........ if your betta fish starts having outbursts of extremely fast and erratic swimming patterns, that look like hes trying to escape the water in the tank..... it very possibly could be a an early symptom of oncoming fin rot (which im assuming is very uncomfortable for any fish).


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

I'm not sure the crazy outbursts were necessarily related to the fin rot - many people see their fish doing that, but it doesn't necessarily result in rot. 

May I just ask - what is the volume of your tank and what antibiotics did you use? It is generally better to heal fin rot through raising the water temperature to about 82-85 and doing more frequent water changes than adding harsh chemicals.


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## Mo (Mar 15, 2012)

Bombularina, I Have to Disagree with your statemeant. 

Heating your typical aquarium when you encounter fin rot will not properly cure the disease. Using this common method will only work and inly should be used when fungal diseases and ich are present, when taking into consideration warmer water will help fins grow back, once the disease isn't present but once it is present the most. Almost guaranteed to work way to sure this disease is to provide clean water, as this is usually keeping the disease from progressing. Also, dirty water is usually the main cause


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

Fin rot isn't a disease in itself, it's more a symptom. I'm not suggesting that it will "cure" it - raising the temperature, however, speeds up a betta's metabolism and will encourage faster regrowth. You'll notice that I also advocated more frequent water changes, thus cleaner water.  I would never suggest that heat alone does the job - heating dirty water obviously won't do a thing. 

I brought my boy Apollo from having no tail to having a lovely long veil again through simply keeping the water clean and raising the temperature to 82.  It was a long process, but easier on him than adding medications.


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## Sheldon31 (Mar 21, 2012)

I think you should only ever use chemicals in tank water when it's 100% nessesary. If there is a way of curing something without the use of chemical then I think it's worth a try, even if it does take some hard work. I don't think erratic behaviour is a symptom of fin rot, more a side effect of the stress perhaps. Kyon gets erratic when I'm doing water changes, he doesn't like the jug at all and he will bolt around the tank until he's sure the jug has gone. Probably from being netted in the fish store.


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## Wolfboy51 (Oct 12, 2011)

My plakat sometimes has outbursts, but u reckon they just get a shock when i bump the table.


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