Betta acting funny

I have a female sorority I had order a few fish and quarantined them and when introduced everything was fine. I however, now see one if the females is acting weird she’s barely eating. She also seemed to be breathing weirdly however all the other females are acting normally. I did a 50% water change as i suspect it might be ammonia poisoning based on the symptoms and what I read online, I’ve never experienced this before. Yesterday she was barely active and kept laying in the bottom. Today she’s moving a lot more however she only had like 3 tiny bloodworms. Her appetite has not returned completely. I was just wondering if any one experienced this and what would they suggest is there any medication I should be using to help her or are the water changes enough? Thank you for any response

 

Do you use water conditioner? Or any other products? What are your water parameters? Do you have a water testing kit? The water change I am assuming perked your fish up, I would continue with at least 30% water changes each day, until the issue is determined.

 

So yesterday I was nervous because she was laying on her side and just would try to swim and lay on the ground. I did the water change I added a prime and stress coat to the water to dechlorinate it and I left her overnight today she’s more active but not 100% herself and she’s breathing heavy her Gils puff up a lot more than usual so I have her with an air stone. The parameters I haven’t checked I was so stressed I just did the water change and I have the master kit. Is there anything else I should be doing besides the water changes and testing the water ? I’ll check it and post the results in a few

 

Hi,

Is your tank fully cycled?

Is it possible that she is being bullied by the other females? Besides a water parameter problem, this could be a fish stress issue. When a fish is stressed, then other things can start to happen as their immune systems take a big hit.

Frequent water changes will help if you have an ammonia issue. If you do, then it would be good to figure out why you are having it if you have a cycled tank.

How big is your tank, and is it heavily planted, and/or do you have enough hides for her to escape to if she is being bullied?

A picture might help.

 

I place close attention since it is a sorority and she hasn’t been bullied until yesterday because she kept just laying on the gravel. So I removed all the other females so she could properly rest and she’s been getting alittle more active and swimming . My tank is cycled and it’s a 20 gallon long . It has 2 big ornaments and silk plants abd 2 Betta longs however they all love staying on half the tank where I feed them.

 

I am glad that she is moving around more, and looking better!

Once you find out about the ammonia levels, you can then maybe try to add a few more places to hide. Female bettas may seem sweet, but they are bettas, and they are agressive, just like the males. From what you are saying, they maybe turned on her because of her condition.

In a 20 long, you could probably easily add some more hides and maybe some live plants. Live plants work wonders, and actually help keep the aquarium clean and adds oxygen. They can provide great places for the fish to hide.

If she is acting better after one water change, then chances are it did have something to do with your water paramters.

I hope this helps, and I hope that she recovers fully!!!!

 

The fact that she improved slightly after you removed all other fish means she is probably being bullied and is very stressed. Stress is a killer in fish because it compromises their immune systems and leaves them vulnerable to disease. I would suggest that you remove her and put her into her own 5-10 gallon tank.

 

I wish there were a way to upload videos on the forum. swimming a lot more but is still puffing her gills to breathe. Normally she was the one bullying the others as she’s a slightly bigger female but then she calmed down. And then yesterday I started to notice that she was a lot slower and breathing hard and laying at the bottom all the other females were ignoring her except one that would hover around but wouldn’t attack her. But I could tell she felt stressed because she was around so I removed all of them especially since it was nighttime and I was going to bed. Right now she’s swimming all over the tank back and forth and since I have the other females in breeders she swims up to them. However she’s still breathing heavy will this alíviate on its own or should I administer something. I really appreciate everyone’s help and input
This is her

 

It's hard to say what is wrong if the only symptom is breathing trouble. If you can remove her from the big tank, you could take the other girls out of the breeders, and keep her in a hospital tank. You can use almost anything for a hosptial tank, if you don't have a smaller tank available. I recommend at least putting in a heater, if you don't have an extra filter hanging around.

People use plastic totes, or 1 gallon fish bowls. I have a 2 gallon glass cookie jar that I use. If you have something else that you can put her in, you could dose her with some aquarium salt. That may help her breathe better. I'm really not seeing anything wrong with her body as far as I can see from your pictures.

You could add some Indinan almond leaves to the hospital tank to help her de-stress.

I would also do daily water changes on the HT.

 

Today she seemed totally fine apart for her weird movement of her jaw area. She was active and ate everything I provided and was showing her dominance over the other females. It might have been ammonia poisoning so I’ve been feeding her blood worms and pellets mixed with vitachem to get her immunity up. And will preform more water changes and keep everyone updated.

 

So glad she is improving! Shes so pretty!!!!

 

Thank you so much for the advice and for her compliment lol. I’m obsessed with my sorority I’ll post pictures of the rest in a bit. But most importantly I’m happy they’re all healthy atm