Heavy Breathing, Hiding in Ceramic Log

HI all, I've lurked around the forums for a while now, but need help.

My Betta girl MeI has been acting strange for about a few days now. She used to be very active and was constantly swimming around her tank. But now she hides in her ceramic sinking log and breathes heavily.

I moved her into a smaller, shallow Tupperware because she sometimes swims to the top to get air and seems to be struggling. I got some T.C. Tetracycline thinking it might be gill disease. She had been getting better, but this morning she seems worse.

She's been in a 1.5 gallon tank with a filter and heater (on a timer so it keeps the temperature around 78). I use a turkey baster to suck out waste every other day or so. Partial water change weekly. Treated with aquarium salts and stress coat.
I feed her Aqueon betta food (a couple pellets twice a day) and dehydrated blood worm treats (every few days).
Nitrate levels are 0
pH is about 6.5
KH 80
GH 180
According to the API 5 in 1 test strips.

 

What are the nitrites on your test strip? Do you have an ammonia test? Do you know about the nitrogen cycle?

Why is your heater on a timer? I would skip the Stress Coat unless that's what you use as a dechlorinator and probably stop using the aquarium salt as well unless you have nitrites. How much water do you change weekly?

 

MeI is at my work (I'm here every day except weekends and have read lots of people who suggest fasting bettas for one day a week and assumed two wouldn't hurt. I feed her and extra pellet on Friday evening and also give her a treat or two).
I have a betta at home too (Finn). The test strips I have here don't have ammonia on them, but I had grabbed a test strip from home when MeI first started acting strange and the ammonia levels were normal.
The strips I have here test for NO2 and NO3 (along with pH, KH, and GH). I do know about the nitrogen cycle, but am not sure I understand it 100%. My boyfriend is the one who treats all the water at home, so he treated a few gallons for me to take into work, and I bring them home as needed. I've had MeI since August and she's been fine until a few days ago. :/

The heater is on a timer because it doesn't have a thermostat and is on constantly. . I had read a bunch of reviews before purchasing and a few people had suggested a timer, on for a few hours, off the next. And that regulated the temperature really well.
The Stress Coat is what we use for a dechlorinator, but I do have the betta drops that I can switch to, if you'd recommend. We started using the salts because Finn had started getting fin rot (he was our first betta and we have learned SO much with him, he's a trooper )
. I'd read some reviews that the current of the filter was too strong for bettas, so I switched out the filter media for a sponge filter material instead and stuff it in there to lessen the current. But MeI seemed to enjoy swimming in the current that was there.

Each time I suction out waste, I refill the amount of water that I had sucked out. Usually on Fridays when I suction before the weekend, I will also suck out extra and replace about 1/3 of the water.

I had gotten her after a trip to the local pet store where they had a discounted shelf for "ugly bettas" that had been there for too long.

 

Anything higher than zero for ammonia is potentially dangerous. In a cycled tank you should have zero ammonia, zero nitrites and some amount of nitrates. In some tanks nitrates might be zero as well but under special circumstances, like heavy plantings or nitrate-absorbing media.

Basically, you have bacteria that eat the ammonia that your fish produces and turn it into nitrites. More bacteria eat the nitrites and turn them into nitrates. That's the end of the nitrogen cycle and you remove the nitrates with water changes

 

Anything higher than zero for ammonia is potentially dangerous. In a cycled tank you should have zero ammonia, zero nitrites and some amount of nitrates. In some tanks nitrates might be zero as well but under special circumstances, like heavy plantings or nitrate-absorbing media.

Basically, you have bacteria that eat the ammonia that your fish produces and turn it into nitrites. More bacteria eat the nitrites and turn them into nitrates. That's the end of the nitrogen cycle and you remove the nitrates with water changes

Thank you! That is so much easier to understand.
I’m one of those people who zones out while the board game instructions are read and I learn as we play instead.

I do usually water my plants at work with the water I’ve taken out from Mei’s tank (after realizing that the fish water contains the same things that fertalizer does) and they are thriving!

MeI seems to be a bit better, swimming around a bit more after this morning’s dose of T.C. Tetracycline, but she’s still not eaten anything this morning. I think I’ll take her home tonight and try soaking some food in garlic guard?

 

Me too! I had the hardest time taking in all that information but after I bought myself the test kit and cycled a couple of tanks it suddenly made sense

You can try the Garlic Guard but don't be too concerned. Fish can go a long time without eating. If she's not feeling well then eating might not be the best thing for her. You can try to tempt her with thawed frozen foods like bloodworms and brine shrimp, too

 

Thanks so much for your responses and for breaking down the nitrogen cycle for me. Hopefully MeI perks up throughout the week.

I'll try to quit worrying so much.

 

Bettas are good at making us worry