Okay, so I’ve got this great little red beta name C.B. Xanax, and lately, I’ve been getting the impression he’s not doing too well. I just cleaned his bowl recently, but before that, it’d been about two weeks. Not too long, and the water was still rather clear, but he was looking a little…dusty. So, I changed it out, cleaned off his stones and skull and weed, and put him back after letting the water sit for 1.5 hrs with the clorine stuff in it…and yet, he’s still a little dusty, and now, he won’t eat. It used to be when I fed him, he’d attack his beta pellets immediately like a little shark attacking seal chunks. Now, he just looks at them, watches them sink to the bottom, and occassionally nabs one, only to immediately spit it out. He’s still rather active when you get near the bowl and talk to him and wave your hand infront of him, but he won’t eat and he still looks a little dingy. Is there a way of bathing one’s fish that I don’t know about, or is this a sign that there’s something seriously wrong with him? And if so, what can I do about it?
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What are you using to remove the chlorine? AmQuel, or something else?
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How long have you had this fish/how old is he?
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What’s the temperature of the water in the bowl?
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Have you moved the bowl to a new location or changed the environment in any way, such as opening a nearby window?
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Can he get to the surface? (Bettas have to breath air; they can’t get all the oxygen they need from their gills.)
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It’s called "Splendid Betta Complete Water Conditioner.
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Not very long…a little over two and a half months, maybe?
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I use a mix of cold and warm water, then let it sit for about an hour and a half to get to room temperature. We keep the apartment around 80 or so.
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I recently moved the bowl out to the dining room, close to the balcony window so he can get a bit more light and be around people more. I had been keeping him in the bedroom by my window, but after two days of not eating, I decided to move him.
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Yeup! There’s about an inch and a half or so between the top of the water and the top of the bowl, and the bowl has no lid.
Thanks for the response, hopefully this will help with a better diagnosis.
If the “dusty” spots are whitish, it could be caused by a very common fish parasite, Ichthyophthirius multifiliis AKA “Ick” or “Ich”.
Every pet/aquarium supply store stocks the cure, something like Malachite green. In a larger tank setup, a small “hospital tank” is usually used, but since your tank is so small, it may be advisable to treat the entire tank.
Man, I hope it’s not that. Thanks, though Stan. It is kinda whitish, so it could be that. Just out of curiosity, though, if he’s the only fish in the tank (only fish ever in the tank), where the hell did this parasite come from?
That parasite is usually present in small amounts in most water supplies; it’s quite common. It’s usually in the form of little cysts that settle out and hang around in the gravel or tank bottom. Sort like bacteria always being present on your skin no matter what you do to it. It only becomes a problem when the fish gets stressed - which can be from numerous causes.
Ich usually gains a foot hold in/on aquarium fish when water temperature fluctuates up and down (like during a big water change or especially when moving a fish to a different temperature tank). Different fish are more susceptible to it as well. Also I’ve noticed that the majority of threads here about sick fish invariably start with “my betta…”. These little buggers (at least here) seem to give people more trouble than any other pet fish.
Fish carry parasites in them all the time; they become active when they get stressed. Ick’s pretty visible, though. I mean they are more like distinct white spots than an overall dimness. If your fish seems to have lost color on his whole body, he’s probably just stressed. (Is there any fuzzy stuff growing on him anywhere, like on a wound? That could be fungus.)
Anyway, here’s the lowdown on bettas.
They generally live a few years in captivity, but can live a few more in good conditions. They can be kept in a bowl, but it’s really not a great idea to keep them in those neat bowls with plants, because they need to have access to the surface at all times. Keeping them in a small tank with heating and filtration is even better.
Speaking of heating, they like it about 80 degrees. If your house is 80 degrees, then the water will probably be about 77 degrees, which is fine. Unless you have him in direct sunlight, that is, which can make the water way too hot (Possible, since you say he’s near a window.) If it’s much cooler than, oh, 75 or so, his color will get bad and he will become sluggish.
I did a search on Splendid Betta Complete Water Conditioner, and it seems to do the important stuff (removing chlorine, chloramines and ammonia). Most of that type of chemical works instantly (unless it says differently on the back of the bottle), so you probably don’t have to wait to put him back in.
I’d recommend cleaning his bowl every week. DON’T clean it with anything except your hand and maybe a little salt or vinegar. Especially if you overfeed the little guy, his water can get a buildup of ammonia in it pretty quickly.
If you want him to stay looking really nice, feed him a little frozen food, like frozen bloodworms, every few days. They love it, and it really helps their color.
Hope this helps. Bettas are great fish, and they’re really pretty hardy.
Also, if you live in an older house (or even a newer one that uses uncoated copper pipes), using warm water could be leaching minerals from the pipes. Fish can be sensitive to that sort of thing. Copper in particular can be deadly to fish.
It’s also possible that your fish has velvet. Velvet is less distinct than ick and looks like a fine gold dust over the surface of the fish. If your fish is just a bit darker than normal, though, it’s very possible that he’s just not in prime conditions. (How’s the PH where you live? How soft/hard is your water?)
Bettas evolved in hot, stagnant water, which holds very little oxygen; that’s why they developed the ability to breathe atmospheric air. Unfortunately, this also means they evolved a preference for high temperatures. This is a problem with most Betta keepers, because most people who buy Bettas buy them because they don’t want to invest in such expensive equipment as aquarium heaters.
As pointed out above, it’s the fluctuation of temperatures that often pushes a Betta’s stress level over the line to the point where his immune system is slightly compromised, and the opportunistic Ick–which is indeed everpresent–will move in for the kill.
So, to do the math, ideally you need to increase the temperature and reduce the stress. Stability of temperature is even more important than the warmth factor, so keep him away from drafts or ovens or lightbulbs or fireplaces, etc. (If you do want to invest in a tank big enough to accomodate a heater, don’t bother with filtration: Bettas prefer calm water and the agitation of a bubble filter can add to their stress level. Remember, they evolved in hot stagnant water; they’ve been known to breed in Water Buffalo footprints.)
I also recommend removing all decoration from the bowl. Every stone, every leaf, provides surface area for bacteria to grow on. The cleanest bowl is the barest bowl, so find a compromise between pretty and healthy.
When you do a water change, never change more than a quarter of it at a time, and make sure the temperature is the same as the bowl’s water. Doing a partial water change is like opening up a window and letting in some fresh air. You can change a quarter of the water as many times as you want; you could do it every 15 minutes if you had the time or inclination (I had a drip system once that replaced the entire volume in the tank every hour; I’ve never had healthier fish). But never change more than 25% at a time. It’s also best, when changing water, to take the old water from the bottom of the bowl, with a siphon, rather than pouring it off the top. That way you get some of the gunk that’s settled, which will just support bacteria populations until you remove it.
Bettas also stay healthier, in my experience, when they’re lean and mean: Don’t feed him every day. Remember, his stomach is about the size of his eyeball, so never feed him more than that at any one time. And feed him every other day, or every third day; I had a Betta live for five years being fed only on Saturdays. They’re cold blooded; we burn most of our calories keeping our body temperature up, and fish don’t require the same amount of fuel.
And the less you feed him, the cleaner the bowl will remain.
How big is the tank he’s in?
From your OP, it sounds like you drained all the water and cleaned everything. This isn’t a good idea. You only need to do maybe a 1/3 water change coinciding with a gravel vacuuming. Again though, this depends on tank size. If your betta is in one of those little bowls, well, it shouldn’t really be in one of those little bowls. In a larger tank though, your cleaning procedure will destroy the bacterial ecosystem that helps to maintain proper water conditions.
DAMN! There’s a whole lot of information there I did not know. It’s my first real fish for a pet experience (all others were goldfish from carnivals and such that often died before they even got in the tank), so I didn’t know all that about changing out the water and feeding so infrequently. Basically, I tend to change out all the water about once every two weeks, and feed him about once a day…at first, he always ate everything I put in front of him right away, so I figured every day was a good way to go…now he may just be full.
Thanks for all the information gang, I really appreciate it.
Maybe throwing a cute lady fish with big, er, scales in the tank would do the trick!
Or another male, in case you have a gay fish.
I googled “betta” to see what one looked like and I came across this site (Bettatalk.com … yeah, that was my reaction too;)) It pretty much has everything you need to know about them: betta care, health, breeding, art and anatomy to name a few categories. Hope it helps.
Actually, on the main page of the site I mentioned above, there’s like a Q&A thing and it seems that some other people’s bettas are having similar problems as yours (losing appetite etc).
I had my betta in one of those bowls with the plant growing out of it a couple of years back. After about a week, the betta got fuzzy. It had fungus growing on it (not ick). I called the local fish store and the guy said to try to clean off the fuzz with a Q-tip very gently. He also said to try a medicine, but his store was officially closed and the fish died overnight.
Anyway, try cleaning the dust with a Q-tip, and call your local store. BTW, the man also said that the medicine will only work about half the time - the rest of the time it would actually kill the fish, so it should be a last resort.
One more thing: Fish are opportunistic eaters. Generally, if the food is there, they will eat it, unless they are stressed/sick. It won’t hurt your fish at all to go without food for a few days. In fact, if you go on a short vacation, it’s usually much better not to feed than to have someone come over and do it for you.
Overfeeding is a common mistake, especially for new fish owners, and it ends up killing a lot of newly-purchased fish, but it can generally be avoided by feeding once a day only what the fish can eat in five minutes. It is also a good idea to let them go without eating, say, one day a week. The main reason that overfeeding is bad is that it quickly results in water pollution, especially in a bowl that probably doesn’t contain all the beneficial bacteria needed to break down waste. (That’s a whole 'nother topic.)
BTW, has your fish made a bubble nest since you’ve had him?
I’d be wary of trying to brush fungus off a fish with even a Q-tip… you’d almost certainly do more damage to his skin than good; besides which the stuff doesn’t all brush off like dust - it’s actually attached. Not to mention the stress caused by imobilizing the fish (unless you know how to use fish anesthetics… which are a stressor themselves).
Oh yeah, don’t give your betta any betta “friends” unless you want to see certain death. He’ll eventually kill the female in such a small tank as yours, and even if he is gay he’ll fight to the death with his new homo buddy.
I want to thank all of you for the great input, but I have some terrible news…
On Friday, September 19, 2003, C.B. Xanax, my beautiful red beta, died.
I went to a music festival, left him around 10 in the morning, and when I arrived at 11:30 in the evening, he was no more. But with all your insight and instruction, hopefully my next beta will live an equally happy, yet longer life.
Thanks again for all the info and help.
The Betta is also known as the Siamese Fighting Fish. If you put two males together, you will shortly have at least one dead fish, possibly two.
El Elvis Rojo, I’m sorry that you lost him. Sometimes you just can’t treat a fish very effectively.