balikiss Posted April 13, 2009 Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 Hey yall. Well I was in peace river on Saturday and had to go to to the LPS and since they had just gotten a shipment of fish i decided to get one of the only female bettas they had in stock. She wasn't swimming around very heartily when i saw her in the tank, but i kinda figured it was due to the elephant mouse in there with her...I got her home okay, and she went into my new 5 gal. I used water from my two established tanks, and put a small elite mini from my 10 gal in there with her (along with a big of java fern). She swam freely around for a little while, but then sank to the bottom and stays there for hours at a time..occasionally coming up to the surface. She readily eats NLS pellets, but not very enthusiastically. I checked m y water and the nitrites were showing a little on my test strips, so i put her in the breeding net in my 10 gal. She was swimmin for awhile, but now just sticks to the top corner not moving at all...are betta's usually this listless?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishclubgirl Posted April 13, 2009 Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 Bettas have their own personalities and they can be listless. I have one who's been pretending to be dead for over a year(and no, he's not dead). He's also over 3 years old too. Unfortunately, fish sometimes fail to thrive as much as we would like otherwise. I'm sure you'll get much advice as to how to help this fish. IMHO, I would keep the temp in the low 80s and also give her a mirror to look at(I'm not joking). Bettas are more active in a warmer environment and also are a social fish. Hope this helps!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMumba Posted April 13, 2009 Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 Betta's are never listless ever!! sorry Fishclubgirl your fish had an illness and never did recover properly.. prob due to internal infection to a vital organ. The mirror trick works because they are territoral does not mean they are enjoying it, only do this when a fish is healthy. You put a mirror in front of a already ill betta will only stress them more and possibly make the betta more ill. Also, NEVER decrease the temp of the water, if anything increase in case it is a parasite infection, add a little salt to her water... get a all around fish medicine, Paraguard works.. it will help with anything just in case you don't know what it is, her behavior is indicative of stress born illness. You mentioned they just received this shipment, there is obviously something wrong with this poor girl. My recommendations: Raise temp slightly - to max 82 degrees Add some epson salt - this helps the gills move oxygen through easier, as well has helps the body heal Paraguard - treats all sorts of bacterial infections to parasite infections. It's mild enough to use daily.. follow the instructions Change her water daily, clean fresh water perferred, make sure the water is fairly the same as her current temp. it might take a few days to see an improvement, if it's not too late for her. Sinking and surface breathing is a sign of a unhealthy betta... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishclubgirl Posted April 13, 2009 Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 Yes, the low 80's should be an increase in temp which is as I suggested. I'm not one to medicate a fish when sometimes Mother Nature is taking it's course and am notoriously low-tech. Should I have a sick fish, I do not "card" it hence my mirror suggestion. We all have different ways of taking care of our fish and I am open to new ideas. So again, I'm over and out on this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seastar Posted April 13, 2009 Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 A couple of weeks ago I bought a female betta that was doing the same thing. She just stayed at the bottom of her tank. I had her in a hospital tank. I used a drop of Life Bearer in the water, and a little pinch of aquarium salt. Life Bearer is a Parasite killer. Within two days she was swimming a little bit more. Then the third day I noticed she was doing much better. And sometime that afternoon she jumped out of the hospital tank and landed on the floor, I did not find her until it was too late. She was in a 3/4 gallon hospital tank hanging inside a 20 gallon tank. There were other female bettas in the 20 gallon. She could see them and wanted to get in with them. She looked so weak I did not think I needed to put the lid on her tank. A hard lesson to learn. But I think she had some sort of parasite. I am finding that it is sooooo very important to quarantine all my newly purchased bettas for a week or two before putting them into the spawning tank. I almost lost one of my favorite half moon males on the weekend. He picked up a strange parasite - must have been from one of the females I put in with him. (He is the agressive male.) All of a sudden his dorsal fin got all stuck together. I used Life Bearer in his tank for two days and yesterday I did a complete water change and added Parasite Guard. Today I noticed some improvement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balikiss Posted April 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 thnx for the advidce. i figured that she must be pretty stressed with all the moving around. but i will up the heat a little and add some epsom salt and see how she does. i did also put in part of a tank buddy parasite clear tab when i first put her in the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balikiss Posted April 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 Happy to report that after a week she is swimming around heartily! She loves to wiggle at the glass whenever someone walks by and even flares out a little. Her colour is waaay nicer than when she was in the pet store. She's now a nice pale creamy colour on her body with red fins and a greenish sheen in the light. Shes even trained herself to suck glass worms out of an eye dropper lol. The epsomsalts definatly made her feel better. Thnx for everyones advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMumba Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 :thumbs: That is so awesome!! Glad it worked well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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