betta problem...what to do?

[Buzz]

I am not sure what is causing this....last night, I noticed that our female betta 'Red' was swimming with sort of short, jerky movements...her apetite has also decreased and she just keeps hiding at the bottom of her tank under some plants. She is usually very active and craves attention - whenever Rich and I pass her she comes close to the glass and would follow our fingers playfully like a little puppy. If we snapped our fingers, she would do a flip. Now she's just so listless.

We had done her water change about 4 days earlier as usual and everything was fine then. Also, Saturday was her fast day, where we don't feed her for that day, but that night, when I noticed her behaviour, well I fed her a little, but she was barely interested...We did a partial water chage today, but she has not improved (she has her own tank)

Please, what should we do to save her?

Buzz :'(

 

[Gwenz]

Could she be constipated? Try feeding her some pea.

I'm not sure what else to suggest. :-\ What are your Ammonia, NitrAte, NitrIte and PH levels?

Sorry to hear you are having problems. :-\

Gwenz

 

[chickadee]

Constipated bettas swim with a "shimmy" sometimes when it is starting to affect the swimbladder. She will also hide in the back corner of the bottom of the tank often when constipated and will not want to swim at all as it is uncomfortable to move. She may have her fins clamped or not depending on how much of a tummy ache she has. The very best cure is a veggie fast. Nothing but very small pieces of frozen pea (no more than what would equal half the size of her eye in about 3 chunks two times a day) and if she refuses that then she may have to have a Magnesium Sulfate (epsom salts) bath. The dosage of the epsom salts bath is 1 level teaspoon per 4 gallons of water. [2.5 grams per 18 liters] Dissolve the epsom salts completely in a small amount of water before adding to the bath and raise the temperature slightly ( a couple of degrees more than she is used to ) slowly over a couple of hours. This should help to raise her metabolism and get her going again. She can be in the bath for a few hours to overnight with no problem as this is not really a salt. It is a magnesium compound and will not hurt her. The peas are the best and could and should become a part of her regular routine as I am not a firm believer in the workings of the fasting method. If they gobble their food on a day or find something contraband to eat that you are unaware of the fast is not going to keep the blockage from happening. Peas or other veggies (peas are the best and frozen peas that are nuked for about 30 seconds and then skinned are the easiest to deal with and I find the best accepted) work the best to keep their little inards regular. If she is being kept below 28C or 82F, she may have to have the temperature permanently raised because her metabolism is obviously slowed down.

These are what have worked for me. Use what you think will work for you and what she will accept, but this needs to be dealt with quickly as constipation in a betta is a very bad problem.

Hope she is okay, please keep us informed.

Rose

 

[Buzz]

Thanks Rose ad Gwenz!!!

We tried the pea but she never touches the stuff. We did the bath yesterday and noticed that she has developed ick so we are treating her for that. I think that she seems to be moving around a little better although Richard does not agree. When we get home, we'll see what's what...pray for us. We really don't want to lose her...

Thanks,
Buzz

 

[0morrokh]

I hope she gets better!
Little off the subject...how'd you get her to do a flip when you snap?

 

[chickadee]

Do let us know how she is doing. I always pray for our little sick ones and especially for the ones you all tell me about. They are such darlings and it hurts to think of them being sick.

I will think of you all often. Let me know if there is anything I can do.

Rose

 

[Richard]

I'm happy to report that Red seems to be getting back to her frisky self..turns out that it was the onset of a fungus infection, which hopefully we caught in time..we treated her with AZOO Fungus Treater (a product we had our doubts about as per an earlier post about AZOO treatments and vitamin additives!) and it seems to have done a great job..now we're not out of the woods yet, since a good bit of her tail is missing and she still has one more treatment to go, and I can only imagine how strong the stuff is(the treatment is three applications without a water-change)..our fingers are still very much crossed for good 'ole Red who over the last couple of days started wagging her imaginary tail again much like a puppy when we got home from the 'salt-mines'..a positive sign she's getting back to good.

 

[Buzz]

Strangely enough Omorrokh,

She is not the first to flip...As a teen,  I remember a fighter that we had and when changing water, we would put the container with clean water next to the water we were changing him from and if we snapped our fingers over the clean water, he would jump from the old watr into the container with clean water...it was truly amazing!!! - You'd have to see it to believe it ...lol

We have been snapping our fingers over the fighters when they are young, just before we feed them...I  don't know if that's the reason, but Rich and I have been blessed with fighters that have the world of personality 

Special thanks to everyone (and ROSE  ) for all the help/advce and prayers!!! That was a close call and we thought she was a goner for sure :-*

Buzz

 

[0morrokh]

Wow, that's pretty sweet! I've gotta try that when I get my Bettas. ;D It's pretty wild, but I can totally believe it. Hehe I'm gonna see what tricks I can teach my fishies. ;D
I'm glad to hear your Betta is doing better. I hope she makes a good recovery.

 

[chickadee]

Oh I am so glad to hear that she is doing better! I worry something fierce when there is a sick one in our community. It is kind of selfish of me to want to see them well so I can quit worrying but it is a load off my mind.

Azoo products are not bad. I just cannot understand the directions on the box as they are written in Japanese a lot of the time. My sponge filters are all Azoo and I love them. I used the Azoo Palm Filter for my little tank until I accidently broke it and the lighting for the small tanks that I used were all Azoo small tank lights and they are still good lights for my quarantine tanks. They were the only ones I could find that had replaceable bulbs and were reasonable priced too.

I am glad to hear that you are deciding to use a vitamin supplement for her. I use them all the time for my bettas and find they help with regeneration of tissue and general impovement of the immune systems.

Rose

 

[Richard]

After three days of, what can only be described as, intense medication, all signs of fungus have vanished from Red.. cynic that I am, I always hesitate in endorsing any particular product, but I'd have to say Azoo Fungus Treater in that little red bottle with the Chinese writing all over it and Metric measurements (that I'm not the least bit comfortable with), is the most effective fungus treatment I've ever used..Red is recovering nicely, and we're on our way out to the one LFS that stocks Azoo disease treatments, to snag several of everything they have..thank you all for your support over the last several days, when Red's survival was very much touch and go.

 

[chickadee]

The easiest way to handle metric measurements is to see if you have any friends who are diabetic who may share some insulin syringes with you. They are calibrated in units which are 1/100th of a cc. There are 5cc in a teaspoon. When my little ones need small amounts of medication and I am not sure of the exact dosage and want to be absolutley sure, I go for the syringes. They clean up pretty well if you are not using them on anything that is very toxic. I just clean them good with a good hot water - no dechlor added as it will clog the needle. The chlorine will be gone by the time you need it again and besides the dechlor in the tank should be enough to take care of the small amount you could possibly get into the tank from the syringe from the cleaning even if you used it right away.

I hope this is helpful. I know that syringes are hard to come by unless you know someone who uses them and PLEASE do not allow them to give you used ones as the danger is too great of disease. You could even pay them to get you a box if they want to be really nice to you but to be really sure they are not going to lose the needle in the tank, I would use the cap and break the needle off before using it. Some fish come swimming to the tank surface automatically when the lid is raised and they could get a scratch.

Rose

 

[Buzz]

Thanks and what a great idea...

Well try to get some of those and it will definitely help with the measurements
Buzz