Female Betta not eating?

My female betta did not eat today at all. Usually (I call her the princess) is a healthy eater. But all of a sudden she is not eating. She do not show any signs of being ill. She is not herself though, she seems to be very quiet.
What do I do?

 

What are the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate amounts in the tank? What's the temp? (My betta got really lazy when the heater went into overdrive).

Constipation is another possibility. Try feeding her a little tiny bit of a thawed, skinned pea or some freeze dried daphnia.

 

My female betta did not eat today at all. Usually (I call her the princess) is a healthy eater. But all of a sudden she is not eating. She do not show any signs of being ill. She is not herself though, she seems to be very quiet.
What do I do?

What are you feeding her? I learned the hard way that Betta can get constipated..Frozen baby peas thawed out and cut up into 1/4's works great..Only give her 1/4 of the pea...

 

The ammonia is 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 10 Temp. 80
I tried to give her peas today and she did not eat.

 

Hmmmm...
Anything else odd about the tank? Is there a dark blue-green algae growing on anything in the tank?

 

There is nothing in the tank.
I am thinking of moving her to another tank, but I would have to put in a divider in with the male betta. Not sure if that is a good idea or not.
I have a apple snail in the tank with "Princess" and it is not eating! Weird! put that is why I am thinking of moving her to another tank.

 

She looks a little bloated, or is she normally like that? She might be constipated.

If she won't eat the pea, I think CO-BettaCouple recommends daphnia (spelling?)

 

She has looked like that for about a week or so.
I will head and try to find daphnia
Hope it works!
Thanks for all your help!

 

Your welcome, I hope it helps.

But, don't thank me, thank CO-BettaCouple and the rest of the betta maniacs on Fish Lore.

 

Here is another stupid question!
I have never heard of it, daphnia, is it available at most pet stores?

 

I got it off of DFS. I haven't seen it in stores, but that doesn't mean some don't have it available.

 

It's not a stupid question.

Try calling around and asking your LFS or the larger chains.
I know they sell it on line:


Maybe try to soak a bit of pea (no bigger than her eye) in garlic juice. I've read here that they like that.

I hope your baby feels better soon

 

Do you have any Parasite Clear tablets in your fish cabinet? There is a chance that she has internal parasites, although I'm not 100% sure. It would be good to have some stocked since Bettas do have that problem at times.

 

Yes I do have Parasite Clear tablets. I keep them on hand, just in case I need them. Yes I do have my share of problems. My neighbor says that he cannot believe all the problems that I have, with how well I take care of the fish.

 

Even with the best care possible, they can have problems unfortunately.

 

Do you think I should treat her with Parasite Clear?

 

I think I would, after doing a 50% water change. Hopefully she'll eat daphnia or garlic-soaked tiny pea pieces soon.

 

It haven't been 48 hours yet, but my betta is still not eating, just sitting at the bottle of the tank. I was wondering if I should keep treating her with Parasite clear or try something else.
What would you guys recommend?
Thanks

 

My neighbor says that he cannot believe all the problems that I have, with how well I take care of the fish.

This seems to be upside down, but not rare! A colleague has a female cambodian in a 3/4g vase; no substrate, no decor, no heater, no filter, no nothing. The last time I saw her, she was startlingly bloated, I even thought I saw some pine-coning. But that was about 3 weeks ago, and untreated, she's still with us! I just don't get it.

 

I have to do something soon, this fish is not going to make it if I wait to much longer.

 

I'm sorry Heidi, I don't know what to recommend to you.
Did you try a little peice of pea (the size of her eye)soaked in garlic jiuce?
I hope she feels better soon.

 

Yes I did try some pea soaked in garlic juice, she seems afraid of the food I am trying to feed her.
Blood worms, her favorite, won't eat anything.

 

Usually, I'll do 3 doses of Parasite Clear. It's not uncommon to not see results after the 1st dose. Hopefully, she'll respond soon as the meds work inside her.

It haven't been 48 hours yet, but my betta is still not eating, just sitting at the bottle of the tank. I was wondering if I should keep treating her with Parasite clear or try something else.
What would you guys recommend?
Thanks

 

What are your readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in that tank? My snails and betta died one year due to high nitrates at about this time of year because of the tap water starting to contain high nitrates due to the farmers starting to use fertilizers in the fields around here. If you can do it, test the tap water for the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels and then do your tank water. This may not be the problem but it could be. She is acting and looks like my fish did.

Rose

 

WOW she is eating!! at least she is trying to eat!

My Baby is eating!!!! I THANK ALL OF YOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP! Please don't stop helping!!

 

Woohoo!!
to you and your little girl!

 

That's great! ;D What is she eating? Looks like it most likely was internal parasites and the meds are working now. So glad that she's eating! ;D

 

I would suggest giving her only a little bit of pea (preferably soaked in garlic and vitachem, if you can do so) for awhile. It's possible that this was a constipation thing and that her self-enforced fast allowed her to pass it. If that's the case, you'll want to help her clear her system before going back to a more normal diet. I would probably do so for a few days to a week, if it were Sun Ce.

 

I'm so glad she's eating!

 

If it is constipation, she is going to be totally prone to have this happen again. So please do be super careful not to overfeed her and do please keep sirdarksol's advice and keep her on the pea only diet for a while to get her digestive system good and cleaned out and back in some semblance of order before resuming regular betta foods. She is going to have a sore tummy for a while and needs to have a while to work back into regular foods and then in very small amounts given even 3 times a day instead of regular sized meals twice a day. Better smaller amounts more often for this type of fish once they have had tummy problems or they will have the problem all over again. I have even had a fish that got 1 bloodworm 4 times a day he was so prone to get constipated. He never got that way again though. He also got freeze dried daphnia two times a week at least. You cannot overfeed the daphnia with them as it is like giving them prunes but it is also a good protein food for them. Mine get it two times a week instead of their regular food and they get peas one or two times a week as a treat (not in place of a meal). I have not had a betta with constipation since I started this.

Rose

 

Thanks Rose
I will keep that in mind.

She stopped eating again. She only ate once, so I dosed her with parasite clear again, it has been 3 doses so far.
She is not eating. Is there something else I should try?

 

What did she eat? Is she looking bloated now? Is she active in swimming around?

 

She seems interested in food, I tried garlic soaked pea, she will not have anything to do with those.
The only thing she is interested in is bloodworms, but she does not eat them.
She is usually on the bottom of the tank, but sometimes at the top. She does seem to be a bit bloated, but not as much as before.
Not sure what to do anymore, if I should try different meds or what?
I'm not giving up yet.

 

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?

 

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

 

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.

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"

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.

 

Does she have aeration? Is she darting any?

 

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?

 

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.

 

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.