Blub

Today I woke up... Went on the comp for a while, and decided to feed the fishies. I notice how I haven't seen Monaco the betta today... I reasoned he was in his coconut cave (for a change!) or in the overgrown hygrophila forest. So I feed the community tank, and go over to Betta. I open the lid... And in horror I saw 2 bad things:

A) Monaco's body was floating at the top, behind the hygro, with milky eyes, lifeless
B) There was a lot of tiny (probably smaller tan 1mm!) light brown bugs jumping around on the water surface!

I also noticed Monaco's tail appeared shredded when I examined his body in the net. And there was a tiny bit of what I assume is blood. (Reddish magenta sort of colour)

What could have happened? I'm going to strip the tank down soon (since I'm swapping my tanks around a bit to allow for easier maintainance of my 12gal) so that should get rid of the fly things... But... What on earth has happened?! I didn't see him much on Sunday night, but again I assumed he was playing at the back somewhere.

Lucy

Oh Blub, I'm so sorry.
I have no idea what could have happened to him.
The white eyes is probably a result of his dying and being in the water. His tail could have gotten caught in the filter after he was already gone.
The bugs sound creepy, but again, I don't know what they could be.

RIP Monaco

aquarist48

Oh no!!! So sorry to hear about your loss. I second everything Lucy mentioned. Are the ammonia reading, nitrites and nitrates where they should be?

Is there an intake tube that he could of gotten sucked to? I'm not familiar with the filter you have listed in the aquarium info.

Hang on for some more responses.
Ken

Blub

He could have been sucked into the filter, but if he had he would still have been there when he was dead, right?

0 Ammonia
0 nitrite
0 nitrate

So all normal... Strange.

aquarist48

hmmm very strange. Good readings though and I see the tank is planted so 0 on the nitrates is good from what I understand. He could have been sucked to the filter and freed himself before he passed. Just so hard to say for certain.
Let's see what other responses you get. Again I'm sorry for your loss.
Ken

capekate

Hi Blub
so sorry to hear about your Betta Loss. Its really a shock to loose them so suddenly. I have nothing to add to what may have been his demise but I sure hope that someone will be able to give you the answer's you are looking for.

Red1313

<hugs>
I wish I could help you. Could the bugs have been water flee's or something?

bolivianbaby

So sorry you lost Monaco

RIP betta boy.

Blub

Isn't water flea another name for Daphnia?

jclee

My guess is that, whatever the bugs were, they came after the betta died, and were not the cause of it.

rebeccmh

I'm so sorry for your loss That is such a horrible thing to find...
I don't know what the bugs could have been though....maybe google it?

pinkfloydpuffer

I found a similar situation (minus the bugs) when my Winter passed. He was floating on the top with cloudy eyes and fins missing... he was even a completely different color... I assume that maybe the fins rip and disintegrate quickly after death
I'm very sorry you lost your betta. It is so hard to lose them in any circumstance, but when it's completely unexpected it hits even harder

fateschewtoy

I actually saw a little brown bug in my 5g yesterday after I did a water change. I'd -never- seen something like that either, but it was dead, not alive. I've tried to do my own googling about it, but no luck yet :/ I'm sorry to hear about your fish, but if I come up with anything about the brown bug I'll post it.

MissMTS

Blub, I am so sorry I wish I had some insight for you.

Blub

Thanks guys. I'm thinking I might get another Betta once I have moved the tanks and rid myself of these bugs. There is less today, so it might be easy to kill them. I might also get an ADF or two in there because I've always liked them and I'm getting into amphibians as well as fish (once the tanks are moved, I'm gettign 3 fire bellied toads in the 12gal!) but I'm still debating it as I'm not sure about their food. I heard you can feed them ReptoMin, is that right?

Lucy

ADF's are a lot of fun. They're so silly.
You could put a couple in a 7.5. I feed mine frozen blood worms and HBH Frog and Tadpole pellets.
Here's our Care Sheet For African Dwarf Frogs

Blub

Thanks. I knew you had some ADF's! What are tadpole pellets? I'm assuming they are either A: tadpole food or B: animal food made of tadpoles
If I do get them, they're going in before a Betta gets a look in and I will try get a Betta who acts sorta submissive, but it is difficult to tell at the shop. But, if it doesn't work I don't know what I'd do which is one of the reasons I'm hesitant to get ADF's. I would have thought they could go in the 12gal Fire Belly Toad tank but I am kinda worried about the Toxins in the Fire Belly's skin which might harm the ADF's - I have heard stories of FBT's with other amphibians (such as green tree frogs) and even adult guppys with no negative impact on the other creatures so I'm not sure if that could be a plan or not. I certinately wouldn't want to put an ADF hating Betta in with Fire Bellied Toads as s/he would no doubt hate the toads as well as the frogs, and those toads would sure miss their toes. I guess I do have my 3gal that I used to have for Malachai the Betta (R.I.P. May 2008) but that would only house a single frog, or I guess a Betta. Malachai was a very happy Betta when he lived in there so I don't see why another Betta wouldn't like it!

And of course... I could get 2 frogs and a small group of Ottos... Say if I go againt the betta or Betta gets a 3gal to himself. But the 3 gal isn't empty for at least a month because it's housing crickets for Bannana the Leopard gecko I'm looking after for school over the summer holidays. Lol isn't it hard having 2 empty tanks!

Also, regarding ADFs... Does anybody know if Albino ADF's exist, or are they mislabeled Albino ACF's? I've seen some albino what-looked-to-be-ADF's at my new LFS (only been running a month or two - good fish/reptile area, albeit a bit on the pricey side with Dwarf neon rainbows running at around £5 apiece!) that I like the look of.

I think I might need a thread for this...

Lucy

I wouldn't think Fire Belly Toads are compatable with ADF's. ADF's are fully aqautic where FBT's need some land, I think. Also, the toxins would a concern.

Here's what I feed HBH Frog and Tadpole Bites
But mostly frozen blood worms.

I've never seen an Albino ADF. Most likely an ACF. The best way to tell is the ADF has 4webbed feet. The ACF has 2 webbed feet on the back and 2 clawed feet on front.
They grow huge!

Blub

Yes, that's my concern with FBT's as well. I did think that since the ADFs are fully aquatic, they would be inclined to stay in the water but I don't think it would be a good idea even so. The water area isn't going to be giant anyway - about 60% of the tank surface area and I haven't decided how high yet.

Yes, I've heard of that method but I wasn't exactly paying extremely close attention to them because I was chatting to my friend lol. I have a feeling they where ACF's. I think ACF's get to about 5", right? Not huge (there are plenty of larger frogs), but large for a frog.

That food looks cool - do you know if it's available in the UK? If not, I bet Exo Terra or Tetra does an alternative.

Just out of interest: how do you get frozen bloodworms to sink? I have some and they always float when I give them to my community fish.

Lucy

I've seen ACF's bigger than 5" Yikes, they're pretty freaky. lol
Look in the reptile section of the pet store, I'm sure they have something comparable.
If you want the ingredients to the HBH stuff, let me know.
Most of my blood worms sink. Occasionally I'll have a couple that try to float away so I just poke it down. lol

Blub

Cool. If they don't sink, then I'm sure they can be kept in place somehow. I think I'll get round to moving the tanks today....

Red1313

My frozen blood worms float if it feed them in frozen chunks. Once they're thawed they sink really well.

Blub

Thanks. My fish eat them so fast I don't think they get chance to thaw much!

I moved the tanks around today. I can see it is going to be so much easier maintaining the 12gal now - where it was I had about 4" of space above it because it was on a shelf under a cupboard.

Red1313

lol I have to thaw my cubes out so that I divide the worms up between bettas. that's the only reason.