My Betta Fish Is Acting Weird

[Tomato the Betta]

Hello everybody!

I need help with my female betta Saltine. She is a little over a year old. For the last month or so… something is off. She is just laying down on the bottom of her tank, and while moving and breathing, is just sitting there most days.

it started when I noticed her fins looked like what was fin rot. I treated it, and everything was fine, but then it came back. I treated it again, same story. I came in one day and noticed she was biting and nipping her fins.

I recently moved, and now it’s a struggle to get her to eat… even if I put the food right in front of her in tweezers. She just looks bored.

I have checked the water quality twice a day for multiple days now… and everything looks perfect! PH level, carbonate, alkalinity, total hardness, chlorine, nitrate and nitrite. All at the levels they need to be! The water looks great, the quality is great… she just sits there.

she used to have red gills, which I knew was a sign of ammonia poisoning, but treated that and she is fine. This was a few months ago. I am so confused and scared and want my little betta to make it.

anybody have any ideas? Should I add something like corydoras? She has the whole 10 gallon to herself, so is she just incredibly bored?

 

[BigManAquatics]

Hiding spots and things to explore may help. Bettas are curious, may give her something to do, which may help quite a bit.

 

[Rose of Sharon]

Hi,

I love her name...pretty little betta girl!

When you moved, are you in a completely new area? Or are you on the same water system as you were before? Just wondering if there is a difference there...something not related to regular water parameters. It might be something that she has to acclimate to, is what I am thinking.

Her caudal fin looks a bit clamped in the pic, usually a sign of stress of some sort. I would start doing some small water changes every other day for a week or so, just to keep her water pristine. If you want to try a little aquarium salt for a week as a preventative measure, that might be helpful. Just remember that when you do a water change, you only replace part of a dose of aquarium salt, since it is only removed through water changes. You wouldn't want to over dose her on aquarium salt.

And you might add a floating plant to the tank and see if that gets some reaction from her. Any aquatic floating plant will do. There are a few plants that are low tech and don't require ferts or lots of lighting.

If she has been living alone all this time, I wouldn't add corys to the tank. That might stress her out.

Hope this helps!

 

[Perfect]

Just as a precaution, posting parameter readings could also help be there anything that is out of wack.