BettaVishVish Posted January 2, 2011 Report Share Posted January 2, 2011 My betta doesn;t seem to have any appetite to eat. It's been 3 days...I'm a bit worry now. Any ideas how to make my betta start eating again? Should I change the food? I've been using Nutrafin Max. Any suggestion what other brand I should try? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaSlave Posted January 2, 2011 Report Share Posted January 2, 2011 My boys love Hikari Betta Bio-Gold. New Life Spectrum is also one of their favourites. I've never had a betta turn down Hikari though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishclubgirl Posted January 2, 2011 Report Share Posted January 2, 2011 You could try Bettapro by Ocean Nutrition, a community formula by NLS or even you really want to spoil him, blackworms. My finned buddies slurp them up like spaghetti!! Riverfront usually has them for around 4 dollars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaFishMommy Posted January 2, 2011 Report Share Posted January 2, 2011 frozen bloodworms have been gulped down with great enthusiasm by all the bettas i've owned. but we should figure out first why he isn't eating and resolve that problem. does he look bloated at all? if so, he might be constipated and mighty uncomfortable. how old is he? if over 2 years it might just be 'that time'. any changes lately to his tank? what are your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate readings? do you have a heater in there? if not, has the house temperature changed lately? those questions may help us figure out why your betta isn't being the proverbial pig they usually are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaVishVish Posted January 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2011 thank you for the suggestion. I will keep that in mind when I need to change the food. yes, I'm curious why this is happening. I've been using the same food for approx. 1 year and he always ate it happily. Lately there seems problem with him. Few days before Christmas, he didn't swim as usual, he was just sitting at the bottom. I suspected that had something to do with the temperature. I noticed the temp was 24C while usually between 26 - 28 C. My friend suggested to do a water change and increase the temp. Since I don't have the adjustable heater, I then added another heater which increased the temperature to 26C. I also did a water change. He seemed better and swimming normal. Now, it's the 4th day he refused to eat. I got him a year ago from a store, so he could be 1.5 - 2 years 0ld now. I would do anything to make him eat again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaVishVish Posted January 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2011 He still doesn't want to eat . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted January 3, 2011 Report Share Posted January 3, 2011 Have you tried anything live? Is he at all active, or is he pretty lethargic? Soaking food in garlic might get him eating, again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridethespiral Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 Is that a flake food? Are you sure he is not eating? Once I fed a betta each day for over a week without seeing him eat. Even watching for an hour.. Turns out he would scavenge for food when no one is around LOL. Live/frozen food is appetizing even for a sick betta, or some peas and garlic to cross off constipation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaVishVish Posted January 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 yes it's flake foods and I tried the pellet too. I haven't tried the live/frozen foods yet especially now I suspect that he might have an ich. I had moved him to another tank on Monday and bought a new adjustable heater. I just thought my old heater doesn;t function properly and made him uncomfortable. In this other tank, I was able to maintain the temp to 28 C. I saw him eating a little bit after I moved him out...but he still doesn;t look active (looks like he just floating not swimming) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaFishMommy Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 could you please post a photo of the betta so that we can confirm if it is ich or some other problem? ich will show up like grains of salt attached to the fish. if this is what he has you want to slowly (over a couple days) bump your temperature up to 86F and add salt over a couple of days as well. the heat speeds up the life cycle of the ich and the salt kills the free swimming ich organism. i'm sorry i don't know the exact amount of salt for ich treatment, but hopefully somebody with that knowledge will chime in soon. i've thankfully only had to treat for ich once (knock on wood!) and that was with a betta in an unheated bowl a couple years ago. i used one of the ich medications, but the salt and heat method is much better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cgy_Betta_Guy Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 I believe the amount of salt used is per the instructions on the side of the package. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaFishMommy Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 you don't need to use aquarium salt. i belong to another fish forum and there are many experienced people on there that use table salt when treating for ich. last i looked, a box of table salt didn't have instructions for ich treatment on it, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cgy_Betta_Guy Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 I think it would need to be the non iodized salt not plain table salt and also with no additives such as anti clumping agents. Kosher salt is probably the best choice as it should be straight sodium chloride. If I remember right its like 1/2 tsp per 5 gallons or something like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaVishVish Posted January 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2011 could you please post a photo of the betta so that we can confirm if it is ich or some other problem? ich will show up like grains of salt attached to the fish. if this is what he has you want to slowly (over a couple days) bump your temperature up to 86F and add salt over a couple of days as well. the heat speeds up the life cycle of the ich and the salt kills the free swimming ich organism. i'm sorry i don't know the exact amount of salt for ich treatment, but hopefully somebody with that knowledge will chime in soon. i've thankfully only had to treat for ich once (knock on wood!) and that was with a betta in an unheated bowl a couple years ago. i used one of the ich medications, but the salt and heat method is much better. I took a snap using my phone. It's probably not really clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaVishVish Posted January 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2011 I think it would need to be the non iodized salt not plain table salt and also with no additives such as anti clumping agents. Kosher salt is probably the best choice as it should be straight sodium chloride. If I remember right its like 1/2 tsp per 5 gallons or something like that. I bought the aquarium salt but didn't put it right away since I'm not too sure if this would do any good. After reading and talking to couple people, I decided just to try it. I added 1 tbl spoon as per instruction in the package. Before I added the salt,betta just lied down at the bottom ..curled up. I hope it's not too late. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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