COBettaCouple

It sounds so much like parasites, I'm surprised the parasite clear didn't have an effect. She never ate the daphnia?

How do her gills and breathing look?

chickadee

It has been a week and she did eat one time. They can go for longer without eating and it will not kill them. There is some reason that she is not eating but it does not sound like she is uninterested. What brand of foods are you feeding her? There are some brands that my fish will not eat as they are too big for their mouth or they just do not like them. I realize that this is not the best reason but bettas are not reasonable fish. I nearly went bankrupt trying to find food that my first bettas would eat. They eventually settled on the Hikari Betta Bio-gold pellets, Hikari Freeze-dried Bloodworms, Atison's Betta Pro Pellets, Atison's Betta Formula Pellets and Hikari Freeze-dried Daphnia as the foods they would eat. This would be the only foods I ever had luck with. Other owners have had good luck with other brands but my guys would only eat those. I tried Nutrafin, OmegaOne, Tetra, Aquarian, Wardley and several other brands but ended up giving them to a friend who did not have bettas and who told me her fish would eat anything. The OmegaOne foods are great but the pieces were so big they choked on them and could not swallow them so I was forced to give them away. I really wanted them to eat them but they just could not get them down. If your betta girl is very small the food may be too big for her. You may need to try to make it smaller for her and see if she will eat it then. Also if you know where she was purchased, you may want to contact them and see what they fed her to see if she will perhaps need to have the type of food changed to what she is used to eating. Sometimes they just will NOT change to another food no matter what we want for them. They may have been feeding her flake food and while it is not a food that is easy for bettas to eat if this is what she is used to eating, she may not be used to seeing anything else as food.
Extremely small betta girls and boys may have also come directly off of baby betta food and are not at all sure of what to do with adult food so you may be having to teach her to eat. This takes a lot of patience and time. And experimentation. The Atison't Betta Pro is the best to try for bettas that small since they are the absolute tiniest foods. She would not have a problem eating them.

Rose

Heidi125

Hi Rose and CoBettaCouple,
I feed my other betta Hikari Betta Bio-Gold. I was feeding the female that, until she stopped eating. I have been looking for Atison's Betta Pro, but cannot find it anywhere. I can order it on line, but I would get charged a lot for shipping.
I tried the girl with a pellet this morning, she went after it, but as soon as she got close, she swam away from the food.
I cannot see anything wrong with her gills, I do keep looking for other signs of illness.

Heidi125

She ate!!
I did a 25% water change and put the carbon back in.
I gave her 1 pellet and she ate it, I don't want to over do it since she has not been eating.
She will only eat something that is floating on the water, if I give her something that sinks, like garlic soaked pea or bloodworm, she will not go near it.
I will try her again later with a pellet.
Wish us luck! and if you have anymore suggests, please let me know.
I would like to thank EVERYONE that helped me and my betta "Princess"

Heidi125

Wait a minute here!
I just watched her swim around the tank and scrape against objects in the tank and I am not sure, but her gills seem to be pumping fast.

COBettaCouple

Does she have aeration? Is she darting any?

Heidi125

No she does not have aeration, just a filter and a heater. Should I have aeration in the tank? I don't have any in my male's tank either.
She just darted a little bit when she was scraping on stuff in the tank, but she stopped now.
She is just looking for food, when I go to the tank.
What do I do?

pamd

The darting, again, sounds like parasites, as Dave diagnosed. It sounds so classic that it's hard to believe that's not the problem, although we all have our confounding problems. She definitely shouldn't be darting (or "flashing") against objects in the aquarium, and that plus her gills flaring fast really suggests parasites, probably external ones.

Did you specifically try the brand Parasite Clear by Jungle Labs or just some generic brand that the supposedly expert fish guy says are "just all the same"?

Thinking healthy thoughts for and your sweet little girl.

LuvaBetta

It might help to try a medicine with a different active ingredient, also. She might have been dosed with that one before and had the parasites become resistant.

Heidi125

Hello all,
She is eating normal again and swimming around like normal again.
Thank you all for all your help!

Lucy

That's great news! I'm sure you're relieved.

COBettaCouple

Yea.. that's a tough one to figure out but as long as she's good now, then all's well. Glad to hear that she's gotten better.

Heidi125

She is really picky about what she eats. She will only eat garlic soaked blood worms.
I was having a tough time finding Atison's Betta Pro in stores her in Canada. So I ordered some from the states.
When I get it I will try her on that. If she doesn't eat that, my other betta will eat anything, he is a little piggy.

COBettaCouple

Maybe sneak a garlic soaked pellet or 2 in with a couple bloodworms.