Betta Old Age Or Something Else?

What is the water volume of the tank? 2 I'd never put any fish in a .2 gallon, this bowl was found at a store and it's 2 gallons ( I know betta's need 2.5+ gallons but it is all I have available and he's been living in the bowl his whole life and never acted like he is now)
Does it have a filter? No, can't find any filters that fit
Does it have a heater? Yes
What is the water temperature?
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.)
One male betta

Maintenance
How often do you change the water? Not very often
How much of the water do you change? 100%
What do you use to treat your water? water conditioner idk the name of
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? Both

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? Yes
What do you use to test the water? Test strips, I have a new freshwater test kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
I just did a 100% water change and can't test it right now
Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? Every day
How much do you feed your fish? A small pinch-idk exact measurements
What brand of food do you feed your fish? Omega one, tetra/betta min
Do you feed frozen or freeze-dried foods?
Both
Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? About a year
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? A week or two ago
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? Lethargic, staying under disc heater, swimming up for air frantically,extermely weak
Have you started any treatment for the illness? I had no idea what was wrong with him, and dint want to treat him for something he doesn't have
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? No
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all?
He clamped his find, lethargic, weak, no enegy
Explain your emergency situation in detail. (Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now)

So my poor boy, Lightning was always the most enegetic fish I've ever owned. He would nearly jump out of his bowl when I fed him or just put my hand near the top of the bowl, he would dash around the tank trying to get my attention and make loud sounds when he chewed food and in the middle of the night. He was so full of pizzazz, energy and personaity. Now, he hovers underneath the disk heater and sometimes on his plants. He doesn't swim or jump and when he does swim up for air, it's short frantic bursts back to his heater and sometimes, he dashes around the bottom of the bowl as if he forgot where his heater was (the heater is black and takes up most of the bottom of the bowl so it's hard not to see it) he used to practically smack himself into my finger when I fed him but now he doesn't seem to have the energy to bite. He still eats but will chase the food as it floats down but, as soon as it gets close to the bottom, he stops, seemingly loses intrestior motivation and hides under his heater. The only way I've been able to get him to eat is if I lift his heater up and away from him, he then goes to the top sometimes and then when he goes to get air. I'm really confused and worried about him because this is not at all like him.

 

Poor guy, his tank isn't suitable for any fish so here's some ideas to give him a better home and help him recover. If you can't get him a new tank a plastic bin will work just fine temporarily. Get a sturdy 5 gallon or so food safe plastic bin to give him more space. You can find instructions to make him a sponge filter out of a water bottle, air pump, and a sponge which will give him cleaner water. Don't change all the water but instead do 50% or so water changes every day until he recovers and keep doing water changes until you can get him a better tank. Do you use Stability as a water conditioner?

 

I don't use stability anymore, I add some water conditioner I don't know the name of and I will definitely try to get him in a bigger home.

 

The first major thing I'm noticing is that your tank isn't cycled. How familiar you with the nitrogen cycle? What did you do to cycle this tank? A lot of the time, health problems come from bettas being kept in water parameters that aren't ideal (0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrite, >20 ppm nitrate, 78-80* F)

 

I know about the nitrogen cycle and I usually take one of my other bowls and let the water sit with some conditioner in it for a few days or so before I switch bowls I also let a new heater sit and adjust

 

What may have happened without Stability and with emptying all the water at once it threw threw the nitrogen cycle off and cause huge ammonia spikes which if not fixed will kill him.

 

What may have happened without Stability and with emptying all the water at once it threw threw the nitrogen cycle off and cause huge ammonia spikes which if not fixed will kill him.

Oh no, I didn't even think of that. Are there any chemicals that can help this

 

What you can do to fix it is try and get a bigger container even if it's just a plastic bin (temporarily) and you can use Prime to neutralize the ammonia and Stability to get the Cycle started and Stable again.

 

Unfortunately, that won't do much to cycle the tank. The main reason people have filters on their tanks is to house a colony of bacteria. The water moves past the bacteria, allowing it to "eat" the ammonia and convert it to nitrite, which another type of bacteria converts to nitrate. Both ammonia and nitrite are very toxic to fish, but nitrate is safe in low doses.
Emptying all of the water would kill any good bacteria you did have and shock your fish.
Prime is a type of water conditioner that locks up ammonia and nitrite for 24 hours and makes it temporarily safe for the fish. This isn't a permanent solution, but it will help for now.

 

What you can do to fix it is try and get a bigger container even if it's just a plastic bin (temporarily) and you can use Prime to neutralize the ammonia and Stability to get the Cycle started and Stable again.

Okay I will do that asap!

Unfortunately, that won't do much to cycle the tank. The main reason people have filters on their tanks is to house a colony of bacteria. The water moves past the bacteria, allowing it to "eat" the ammonia and convert it to nitrite, which another type of bacteria converts to nitrate. Both ammonia and nitrite are very toxic to fish, but nitrate is safe in low doses.
Emptying all of the water would kill any good bacteria you did have and shock your fish.
Prime is a type of water conditioner that locks up ammonia and nitrite for 24 hours and makes it temporarily safe for the fish. This isn't a permanent solution, but it will help for now.

Okay

 

Yes, of course, I overlooked that. That's why I recommended the sponge filter. To house bacteria. Thank you aced it.

 

Hey everyone, I added some stability to his bowl this morning and will start to try and get a tank or container with a sponge filter and a heater ready for him. I also added some Indian almond leaves to his bowl a while ago so I'll put those in too once I find a hospital container and get everything established. Anything else I could do to help him feel better?

 

All of that sounds great! Like DaFishNerd said, food-safe plastic bins are a great temporary home/quarantine tank if you're on a budget, and PetCo has a dollar per gallon sale every few months. A lot of members use that to get cheap tanks. Also, make sure you get an air pump for your sponge filter, not a water pump! This may sound really obvious, but I accidentally got a water pump for my first sponge filter, and it didn't work at all.

 

If you are willing to do the work you can get and keep your Betta healthy in the bowl he is living in even if you never get a true cycle in the bowl. Most folks do recommend no less than 2.5 gallons but in my humble opinion 2 gallons is doable as long as the water is kept fresh and clean.

Get a bottle of Prime. It may seem expensive at first but it takes so very little of it a bottle of it will last a very long time. You will need to do 50% water changes no less than every other day. That adds up to just a few drops of Prime with each water change.

Use a small gravel vacuum to remove 50% of the water in the bowl. 100% water changes are not necessary and can cause unnecessary stress on your fish. Try to siphon up any waste on the bottom of the bowl while siphoning out the water.

Put the prime in the temp matched water you are replacing before pouring it in his bowl. You don't have to wait more than a minute or so after adding Prime to the water before it is ready to pour into the bowl. Prime works instantly to make the water safe.

You don't have to remove him from the bowl while doing these water changes. Removing him each time just adds more stress and can lead to him getting sick.

If you will take these actions I feel sure your little guy will start feeling better but you have to commit to keeping his water fresh and clean no matter what else is happening to take up your time. Take care of him and he should live a long healthy life.

If you go back to doing 100% water change every now and then he will suffer and sooner rather than later....he will die. Harsh but true.

 

Not a betta keeper, so forgive my ignorance, but isn't a 100% water change kind of harsh on fish anyway? It's like you're taking away all the water they're used to (pH wise and such) and replacing it with fresh, wouldn't it shock them? Or is that if you're doing it constantly?

I hope Lightning gets better soon!

 

If you are willing to do the work you can get and keep your Betta healthy in the bowl he is living in even if you never get a true cycle in the bowl. Most folks do recommend no less than 2.5 gallons but in my humble opinion 2 gallons is doable as long as the water is kept fresh and clean.

I agree completely that it is doable but if you can do better and get a bin then why not? Even bettas will appreciate the space. Plus lightning sounds VERY energetic which is a minority for a Betta fish so he especially will need as much space as "Rin betta" Can give him. I have a very calm betta that lived healthy for a long time in 2 gallons and he was very content but I fed him very little amounts of high quality food and changed his water routinely to keep his water clean as possible until I could give him a better home.

 

I agree completely that it is doable but if you can do better and get a bin then why not? Even bettas will appreciate the space. Plus lightning sounds VERY energetic which is a minority for a Betta fish so he especially will need as much space as "Rin betta" Can give him. I have a very calm betta that lived healthy for a long time in 2 gallons and he was very content but I fed him very little amounts of high quality food and changed his water routinely to keep his water clean as possible until I could give him a better home.

I agree but I was giving options in case an upgrade can't be done at this point. If possible I would love to see this little guy in bigger better home but sometimes we have to work with what we have.

 

I agree but I was giving options in case an upgrade can't be done at this point. If possible I would love to see this little guy in bigger better home but sometimes we have to work with what we have.

Yes, I completely understand, i've had to make do with what I had and think your suggestion is a good one for someone with a limited budget.

 

How's lightning? Did you ever get a chance to upgrade his tank?

 

How's lightning? Did you ever get a chance to upgrade his tank?

I am working on the tank upgrade, I've been feeding him a pea every day and he's getting better and acting more like himself. Thanks for checking in

 

I am working on the tank upgrade, I've been feeding him a pea every day and he's getting better and acting more like himself. Thanks for checking in

Awesome!! hope he makes a full recovery