# Betta Lethargic after partial water change



## roverdisco (Apr 30, 2012)

Hi all, long time lurker and finally signed up. Had a scare last night and this morning. I did a partial water change yesterday, as I do every week to 2 weeks. I vacuumed the gravel and added back 3 gallons of water. I noticed that the last gallon I added, Riley got caught in the current and went for a spin. Since then, he has been sitting at the corner and gasping. My wife thought he was dead this morning because he was just lying on top of his perch, head down at a weird angle. I always warm the water prior to adding to the tank. I have not done a full tank water change for a while either. Below are the answers I know. What do I do next? 

Housing 
What size is your tank? 10 gal.
What temperature is your tank? 79 to 80
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? one bottom feeder

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Betta flakes
How often do you feed your betta fish? 2x per day

Maintenance 
How often do you perform a water change? Every 1 to 2 weeks, 30% water change
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 30%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? De-chlorinator, Tetra Easy Balance

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

Ammonia:Normal
Nitrite:Normal
Nitrate:Normal
pH:
Hardness:High (hard tap water treated with de-chlorinator)
Alkalinity: High

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? No
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Yes, lethargic, head down
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Last night
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? No
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No
How old is your fish (approximately)? Just under 1 year


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Welcome to the forum and sorry your Betta isn't well....

Sadly it sounds like it might be injury related......or it could be osmotic shock due to extreme chemistry changes.

What I would recommend at this point is to get him in a small QT container-if you bought him in one of those small temporary containers with a lid-this works great for a QT-shallow and bare that is easy to float in the heated tank (_attached so it doesn't sink_) to maintain temp in the 76-77F range and cover it with plastic veggie wrap to retain heat/humidity for the labyrinth organ, lights off and hold food.

Premix some treatment water in a 1gal jug of dechlorinated water-Add Epsom salt 2tsp/gal (_not aquarium salt_) and a tannin source if you have one-either IAL (_1large crushed_) or dried Oak leaf (_20 crushed_)-let this steep for 30min-shake well

Using this premixed treatment water make 25% water changes every 15min for 1 hour today-this will get him acclimated to the new chemistry-he needs to stay in the QT and treatment water for the duration of the treatment.

Tomorrow start 50% daily water changes with the premixed treatment water for 14-21 days _(If you added tannins the water should look darker every day_)

The Epsom salt can help with any edema-both the tannins and Epsom salt have antibacterial/fungal properties and can help ease stress.

Hopefully he will recover, however, sometimes no matter what you do some injuries and osmotic shock can end up being fatal-if at any point he seems to be suffering you need to do what is right by him....

Good luck and keep us posted.....


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## roverdisco (Apr 30, 2012)

Thank you for the advice. For the QT, could I use the lid that came with his original jar or do the veggie wrap? For the oak leaves, just dried oak leaves where there has been no fertilizers, etc?


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

The goal with the veggie wrap is to increase the heat and humidity over the water for the labyrinth organ-sometimes the lid will work fine.

Collect naturally dried and fallen from the tree Oak leaves that are pesticide free.


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## roverdisco (Apr 30, 2012)

Do you leave the leaves in the jug for the duration or remove them after the 30 minutes?


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## roverdisco (Apr 30, 2012)

OFL,

Thank you first of all for taking the time to answer all of my questions. When should I start back with some food after the treatment begins?


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## roverdisco (Apr 30, 2012)

I moved Riley to a QT container. Here are 2 pics of him right now. This is my first Betta so I do not know much on them. When he swims, he looks to swim fine. When he rests, it seems to be in this position. He was on top of his betta leaf when I got home with head near the surface but not active.


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## roverdisco (Apr 30, 2012)

Here are a couple more taken after the earlier ones where he looks more normal.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

I leave the oak leaves in my jug...the longer they steep the more tannins released the darker the water the more the Betta like it....

I would offer food after 24h....

How is he today....


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## roverdisco (Apr 30, 2012)

He is hanging out at the top of his QT container. He is not humped over like in the first photos. I will add the oak leaves to the jug tonight and work it in. I will keep updating on his condition. Thank you again for all the help.


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## roverdisco (Apr 30, 2012)

OLF, thanks again for all your help. I am sad to report that Riley died last night. He went very quickly.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Sorry for your loss......don't give up....stuff happens.......look forward to hearing about your new Betta real soon......


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