Lethargic Betta, please let me know what to do!

Hello everyone, this all started a few days ago when I did my first water change after a month or so. I had school and was unable to do one. Anyway, I performed the water change and everything looked fine. She was a bit lethargic the day after but seemed a bit better. A week passed and I did a bigger one(about 25%) and she has been lethargic since. Mostly, she has been sleeping, occasionally coming up to gulp air. Yesterday and today she has been laying motionless in the gravel and sometimes in what I call look like deep sleep. When she does wake up she seems startled and swims sort of in a darting motion and since back down to the gravel and sleeps again. She has been breathing a bit slower than usual and faster at times when she gets startled. Ammonia is 0, Nitrite is 0, and nitrates are 5. The Ph has been on the lower side lately and I am concerned about that. It is usually in the high 7s and yesterday tested in the low 7s or even high 6s. They said that my alkalinity is around 40 which I have never seen before. Also, I have never registered a ph that low before either. Could it be ph shock? Or anything else? There are these detritus worms that she has been eating off the sponge filter but I heard they are harmless. There was one on her top fin today so I'm not sure what that is about. She has been eating algae lately could she be sick from that? My ph in the tank is low 7s and the tap is high 7s, could that be what caused this? I only did about 25% though. I am going to include some pictures because I was told that she has fin rot and some pictures of bloat that she has had but has gotten to be a bit more lately. Please let me know if you have questions, I am very worried and I am willing to do anything. Sorry for the long post, I wanted to get all the information.

 

I do see some fin rot and she looks pretty bloated. That white string could have been a worm or from the fin rot- was it wiggling like a worm? What is she eating other than detritus worms and algae? How much and how often?
If it is bloat, I would recommend a couple days of fasting followed by feeding frozen (or live I guess) daphnia. What were your water parameters before your change? Is her tank heated? General rule of thumb is 20-30% water change per week. The long break might have set her up for whatever this is. Bloat can make them swim awkwardly and be lethargic.
What is your filter flow like? Sometimes too high of a flow can mess with bettas, but I assume that hasn’t changed recently?

 

Hello!
I'm sorry your betta not doing well!
how large is her tank?
And how often do you normally change her water?
I would start doing 50% water changes daily, if you can.
You may also want to start Epsom salt baths. Her fin rot is looking pretty bad.
My guess is that the month without water changes upset the cycle, so just try to get the parameters passable untill it evens out, for now.
I'm not much of a parameters expert so there's probably something I missed, but you can't go wrong with water changes!

 

Hi,

So sorry about your little girl!

That does look like fin rot and she is bloated.

A word of caution - it is very common that once bettas get to the point where they are laying on the bottom, not eating, and not moving, the outlook can be very grim.

I would start with water changes. You didn't mention her tank size. I would change at least 20 to 30% every other day for a while. Are you using a water conditioner? If not, I recommend using Prime. Keeping her water pristine is very important in helping her heal.

Are you using Indian almond leaves? If so, these can lower your ph slightly. If you aren't using them, then it is a very good botanical to add to your betta tank. The tannins that the leaves give off will help with reducing stress, and help her heal.

Weekly water changes is the very best way to help prevent disease. If you change 50% weekly, that will help a lot (when she improves).

I would add some aquarium salt to help with the fin issues, and help her breathe better (helps with osmoregulation, gas exchange, fin rot, etc). Follow the instructions on the aquarium salt package. When you change water, try to keep track of how much you are changing. Aquarium salt is only removed through water changes, so you could over dose her if you give her a full dose with every water change. The aquarium salt can also help with bloat.

Feeding daphnia will help keep your betta from getting bloated. Daphnia acts as a natural laxative. You can get daphnia in a frozen form, or live. The freeze dried is hard to work with.

You didn't mention her tank temp. She needs to be kept warm - 78 to 80 degrees or so.

If you do not have something for her to lay on at the top of the tank, I would recommend that you add a betta leaf/hammock of some sort. She will be able to breathe easier if she has a place to lay at the top of the tank. If you have to, maybe lowering the water level a bit will help, too.

 

Hi,

So sorry about your little girl!

That does look like fin rot and she is bloated.

A word of caution - it is very common that once bettas get to the point where they are laying on the bottom, not eating, and not moving, the outlook can be very grim.

I would start with water changes. You didn't mention her tank size. I would change at least 20 to 30% every other day for a while. Are you using a water conditioner? If not, I recommend using Prime. Keeping her water pristine is very important in helping her heal.

Are you using Indian almond leaves? If so, these can lower your ph slightly. If you aren't using them, then it is a very good botanical to add to your betta tank. The tannins that the leaves give off will help with reducing stress, and help her heal.

Weekly water changes is the very best way to help prevent disease. If you change 50% weekly, that will help a lot (when she improves).

I would add some aquarium salt to help with the fin issues, and help her breathe better (helps with osmoregulation, gas exchange, fin rot, etc). Follow the instructions on the aquarium salt package. When you change water, try to keep track of how much you are changing. Aquarium salt is only removed through water changes, so you could over dose her if you give her a full dose with every water change. The aquarium salt can also help with bloat.

Feeding daphnia will help keep your betta from getting bloated. Daphnia acts as a natural laxative. You can get daphnia in a frozen form, or live. The freeze dried is hard to work with.

You didn't mention her tank temp. She needs to be kept warm - 78 to 80 degrees or so.

If you do not have something for her to lay on at the top of the tank, I would recommend that you add a betta leaf/hammock of some sort. She will be able to breathe easier if she has a place to lay at the top of the tank. If you have to, maybe lowering the water level a bit will help, too.

The tank stays at 79 degrees,

Hi,

So sorry about your little girl!

That does look like fin rot and she is bloated.

A word of caution - it is very common that once bettas get to the point where they are laying on the bottom, not eating, and not moving, the outlook can be very grim.

I would start with water changes. You didn't mention her tank size. I would change at least 20 to 30% every other day for a while. Are you using a water conditioner? If not, I recommend using Prime. Keeping her water pristine is very important in helping her heal.

Are you using Indian almond leaves? If so, these can lower your ph slightly. If you aren't using them, then it is a very good botanical to add to your betta tank. The tannins that the leaves give off will help with reducing stress, and help her heal.

Weekly water changes is the very best way to help prevent disease. If you change 50% weekly, that will help a lot (when she improves).

I would add some aquarium salt to help with the fin issues, and help her breathe better (helps with osmoregulation, gas exchange, fin rot, etc). Follow the instructions on the aquarium salt package. When you change water, try to keep track of how much you are changing. Aquarium salt is only removed through water changes, so you could over dose her if you give her a full dose with every water change. The aquarium salt can also help with bloat.

Feeding daphnia will help keep your betta from getting bloated. Daphnia acts as a natural laxative. You can get daphnia in a frozen form, or live. The freeze dried is hard to work with.

You didn't mention her tank temp. She needs to be kept warm - 78 to 80 degrees or so.

If you do not have something for her to lay on at the top of the tank, I would recommend that you add a betta leaf/hammock of some sort. She will be able to breathe easier if she has a place to lay at the top of the tank. If you have to, maybe lowering the water level a bit will help, too.

The temperature is at 79, I added some aquarium salt last night. Also, she has a plant she rests on top of the tank. I just fed her and she attached the food pretty strongly. My water is already alkaline as it is I don't want to mess with it by lowering the ph putting more almond leaves. I have fasted her and have given her daphnia. It is a 10 gallon, and I use Prime. Should I medicate?

 

Hi, your PH change between your tap and tank is concerning. I’d get some crushed coral or oyster shells to add to your tank to help maintain alkalinity and PH.

I agree on the salt, use aquarium salt or you can also use sea salt, canning and pickling salt, just any non-anodized salt. Dissolve 1 tsp per actual gallon of water (not the gallon size of the tank) in a small amount of tank water then slowly add it to your tank over about ten minutes. This will help both her fins and her breathing.

Her bloating and it almost looks like she’s starting to pinecone is not a good sign. Once they pinecone it’s very hard to save them. I agree on an epsom salt bath once daily. Just take a small bowl, take some tank water out, like a quart or so, dissolve about 1/8-1/4 tsp epsom salt in the bowl and put her in it for 15 minutes. I usually just float the bowl in the tank to maintain the warmth. Afterwards gently put her back in the tank and toss the epsom salt mixture.
Good luck!

 

Can you please fill out the emergency template?

 

Tank
What is the water volume of the tank? 10 gallons
How long has the tank been running? A year and a half
Does it have a filter? Yes
Does it have a heater? Yes
What is the water temperature? 79 F
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.) 1 Betta

Maintenance
How often do you change the water? About once a week but I went a while changing the water because of school
How much of the water do you change? Usually 10-20%
What do you use to treat your water? Prime
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? About 10% of substrate occasionally

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? I did a fish-in cycle
What do you use to test the water? API Master test kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5
pH: 7.0

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? Once a day but I had been fasting her because she is bloated. On the 4th day I gave her daphnia
How much do you feed your fish? A couple of pieces of daphnia or a couple pieces of pellet
What brand of food do you feed your fish? Hikari for Daphnia and Newlife Balance for pellets
Do you feed frozen? No
Do you feed freeze-dried foods? Blood worms very rarely

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? About 2 years
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? The bloat has been there for a while and the lethargy, a few days.
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? Ever since I did a water change she has been very lethargic, she was darting yesterday but not today. She is extremely bloated and it looks as if she has fin rot. She lays motionless at the bottom of the tank.
Have you started any treatment for the illness? I added aquarium salt and was wondering if I should start treatment.
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? I don't believe so.
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? The fins look very frayed and she is very bloated.

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)
I didn't have much time to do a water change so I finished school and did one after a month. Shortly after, she began to act very lethargic and was sleeping a lot more. A couple days after she was doing somewhat better. About a week passed and I changed the rest of gravel(I had been changing it but stopped because of school, I changed it because I thought that it was turning white and possibly leaching paint. I went to Petsmart and they stated that my ph and alkalinity is low which is weird because it stays around high 7s. The bloat has been there for a while but has become a bit bigger the last couple of weeks so I have tried fasting her and feeding less. She is staying toward the top on occasion but mostly has been on the gravel just appearing to sleep.

Hello!
I'm sorry your betta not doing well!
how large is her tank?
And how often do you normally change her water?
I would start doing 50% water changes daily, if you can.
You may also want to start Epsom salt baths. Her fin rot is looking pretty bad.
My guess is that the month without water changes upset the cycle, so just try to get the parameters passable untill it evens out, for now.
I'm not much of a parameters expert so there's probably something I missed, but you can't go wrong with water changes!

I filled out the emergency template with many of the answers below if you would like to check it out. Thank you for the response!

I do see some fin rot and she looks pretty bloated. That white string could have been a worm or from the fin rot- was it wiggling like a worm? What is she eating other than detritus worms and algae? How much and how often?
If it is bloat, I would recommend a couple days of fasting followed by feeding frozen (or live I guess) daphnia. What were your water parameters before your change? Is her tank heated? General rule of thumb is 20-30% water change per week. The long break might have set her up for whatever this is. Bloat can make them swim awkwardly and be lethargic.
What is your filter flow like? Sometimes too high of a flow can mess with bettas, but I assume that hasn’t changed recently?

The white string was a detritus worm, it was wiggling like a worm. I have fasted her a couple of times and not much of a change. I feed her mostly daphnia these days since she is bloated but yesterday I gave her the new life balance betta pellets. I lowered the water so the HOB is providing a current but this was just done today. I read that when ph shock happens(just in case it is) it can mess with their oxygen and we must increase oxygen.

Hi, your PH change between your tap and tank is concerning. I’d get some crushed coral or oyster shells to add to your tank to help maintain alkalinity and PH.

I agree on the salt, use aquarium salt or you can also use sea salt, canning and pickling salt, just any non-anodized salt. Dissolve 1 tsp per actual gallon of water (not the gallon size of the tank) in a small amount of tank water then slowly add it to your tank over about ten minutes. This will help both her fins and her breathing.

Her bloating and it almost looks like she’s starting to pinecone is not a good sign. Once they pinecone it’s very hard to save them. I agree on an epsom salt bath once daily. Just take a small bowl, take some tank water out, like a quart or so, dissolve about 1/8-1/4 tsp epsom salt in the bowl and put her in it for 15 minutes. I usually just float the bowl in the tank to maintain the warmth. Afterwards gently put her back in the tank and toss the epsom salt mixture.
Good luck!

I will be looking for some crushed coral as soon as the store opens. I have done epsom salt baths in the past and she seems very stressed from them. Thank you for the response

 

The aquarium salt should help, along with the frequent water changes to keep her water very clean.

If you have fasted, and fed daphnia, and you see no change, then you could try dosing her with some antibiotics. It may be a bacterial infection, and not really related to eating/constipation. Bloat can be is sign of an organ problem - especially the kidneys not working properly.

I always recommend an antibiotic that treats gram negative bacteria - Maracyn 2 (minocycline), Kanaplex (kanamycin), or Neoplex (neomycin) all treat gram negative infections. Dosing with antibiotics may end up killing your beneficial bacteria, so it is often recommended to dose in a hospital tank with a heater and an air stone. Some people use plastic totes. I have used a big cookie jar. You can use anything that is clean and holds enough water as long as you can add a heater and maybe an air stone.

The aquarium salt is vital. It will sometimes help a lot more than epsom salt baths.

You can also try feeding her some pellets soaked in garlic juice if she will eat. Garlic juice will give her immune system a boost, and if she does have an internal infection, she needs to keep her immune system functioning at as high a level as you can get it.

Please keep us posted!!!! I hope that she gets better!!