Help with my betta

[Elshubi]

Hey everyone,

Got my first Betta yesterday afternoon. Has air pump plant and heater (24 degrees) in the tank. He is just floating near the top, spat out some of his food. How do I now if he is sick and what should I do from here.

Pet store gave me water from their tank so don't it's the water but worried about it.

Happy to WhatsApp pics not sure how to upload here but any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

 

[BlueCrayon]

Hey everyone,

Got my first Betta yesterday afternoon. Has air pump plant and heater (24 degrees) in the tank. He is just floating near the top, spat out some of his food. How do I now if he is sick and what should I do from here.

Pet store gave me water from their tank so don't it's the water but worried about it.

Happy to WhatsApp pics not sure how to upload here but any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

They breathe with their lungs. So they will be at the top from time to time.

Make sure you don't have the pump blowing too strong because they get blown around with their large fins, and he might be there to avoid the stream

Also, they tend to stay near the top when they are building a " Bubble nest " when it's breeding time. Does your fish look sick or just staying near the top?

 

[EKD Online (Pty) Ltd]

Mmmm lot that goes in with this.

The tank you have it in how big is it in liters ?

Water that is in there has it been quarantined?

There are a few ways to check if he is not doing okay.

If you added new water did you add some aquasafe to it ?

What food are you giving him ?

If he is sick you will notice spots on him, usually this happens when they are stressed.

I would suggest reading up your fishes needs, there should be a lot of articles you can read to see what type of environment they like.

I just did a 40L tank over the past 2 weeks. Had to quarantine the tank for a week first, making sure the PH is right as well as the plants and food they like.

Betta are usually chilled fish but fight with others if you have them in the tank.

 

[Elshubi]

He was laying on the bottom earlier now he is motionless at the top of the tank but wiggles fins alittle from time to time. Staying there for the last hour or more.

They gave hikari Betta bio gold for food at the pet shop said I should give him 3 pellets a day.

Tank is small its a akwaria 250mm but it's bigger than the tank at the pet store and bigger than the initial Betta tank they offered me. Trying to see online what's it in litres.

The air pump just making bubble butdoesnt lool like he is being pushed around. He did look very stressed on the drive home yesterday but he ate after I set up the tank

Fins look fine when he swims but not so great when he is stopped

 

[Elshubi]

https://imgur.com/a/YxlUvIv

 

[Elshubi]

https://imgur.com/a/HVUOqZx

 

[Elshubi]

https://imgur.com/a/9xOpA9m

 

[Elshubi]

Used Imgur to add some pics and a vid of what's going on and the setup I have

 

[BlueCrayon]

Hmmm definitely looks sick.

I would monitor him for a few days and give him some blood worms.

I won't recommend making any drastic water changes now. Make sure the temperature is around 25-27 Degrees Celsius

 

[pɐlΛ‾pɐq‾ƃᴉq]

what temperature is your water? Might be that it's too cold at the bottom.

 

[larch]

Hey everyone,

Got my first Betta yesterday afternoon. Has air pump plant and heater (24 degrees) in the tank. He is just floating near the top, spat out some of his food. How do I now if he is sick and what should I do from here.

Pet store gave me water from their tank so don't it's the water but worried about it.

Happy to WhatsApp pics not sure how to upload here but any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Hi, your betta needs a filter.

Unfortunately, the airstone is not a filter.

Also, did you cycle your aquarium before you added him?

And are you doing weekly water changes?

Cycling means you wait for the beneficial bacteria to colonize your filter and aquarium before adding the fish. Otherwise, you cause an Ammonia spike that could kill or make your fish sick. Here is something I wrote about it that you can read.

Nitrogen Cycle/New Tank Syndrome Explained

 

[Elshubi]

Could he have got sick from something I did?

Tank is 25cm by 17cm and water is 18cm high so looking at about 7.7ltrs and it's just him in the tank

 

[Elshubi]

Temp is set to 24 degrees,

Bought everything yesterday and they gave water from the pet store from the tank he was in. So didn't do any cycling etc

 

[larch]

I run a Facebook group where we help out people in the fishkeeping hobby you can join here:

Aquarium Advice South Africa | Facebook

Aquarium Advice South Africa is a group dedicated to helping each other in the fishkeeping hobby and sharing of knowledge between everyone. Where no question is too stupid to ask and where everyone...

www.facebook.com

We also have two WhatsApp groups current one is filled to capacity so I started another one you can join to ask for help and advice. You can join by following the link here. Aquarium Advice SA ²



We also have a website for beginners with resources and articles written by me to help you in the hobby.

Aquarium Advice South Africa

Helping out our local fishkeeping community!

aquariumadvicesa.wordpress.com

 

[Elshubi]

Joined the group's thank you so much hope I can get him some help. He is my bday gift supposed to help me relax while I work but more stressed about him now than my 120 unread emails

 

[larch]

Temp is set to 24 degrees,

Bought everything yesterday and they gave water from the pet store from the tank he was in. So didn't do any cycling etc

Yes unfortunately the shop gave you all the wrong advice which pisses me off as they should know better when helping new people in the hobby.

Ideally

Joined the group's thank you so much hope I can get him some help. He is my bday gift supposed to help me relax while I work but more stressed about him now than my 120 unread emails

So here is what you need to do:

1. You need to do weekly water changes each week no more than 30% of the aquarium's total volume. Make sure to add de-chlorinator too the tap water before adding it and try and make the water the same temprature as the tank water. Adding cold water will shock him.

2. Add two rooibos teabags (just plain not of the flavoured crap) in the tank and let it float there for the rest of the day. It will turn the water yellow but the tannins inside the tea will be beneficial for him.

3. Replace the airstone with a small or medium sponge filter. The sponge filter will host the beneficial bacteria that will help keep the tank and fish healthy. https://www.rebelpets.co.za/product/aquatic/filtration/sponge-filters/sponge-filter-7cm/

4. Sprinkle just a tiny bit of fish food into the water and let it sink do this 3 times a week for the next 3 weeks. The bacteria will start feeding off this food do this once you added the sponge filter.

5. Get him some frozen bloodworms at the petshops.

 

[larch]

This is the dechlorinator that removes the chlorine and chloramine from your tap water its harmful to your fish

Seachem Prime

SEACHEM PRIME Nearly all pet aquatics companies manufacture a product that removes chlorine. None of those, however, can compare in... Nearly all pet aquatics companies manufacture a product that removes chlorine. None of those, however, can compare in quality, concentration, or effectiveness to...

familypetcentre.co.za

You need to add this each time you add fresh or new water to your tank.

 

[Elshubi]

For those reading this followed the steps above and got help from @larch on the WhatsApp group. Absolutely amazing advice and clear instructions on what to do and how to do it. Must send a shout out of thanks


Hopefully fish is on its way now waiting to see if everything we did will sort him out.

 

[pɐlΛ‾pɐq‾ƃᴉq]

Temp is set to 24 degrees,

A bit cool. They tend to have a very narrow temp range and anything outside of it, they are surviving and not thriving. I would bump it up to 26

 

[Spontaneous.Spinach]

Some times pet shops sell bad quality fish.

 

[Themistocles]

Keep us updated please, hoping the advise given helps out the little guy.

 

[larch]

For those reading this followed the steps above and got help from @larch on the WhatsApp group. Absolutely amazing advice and clear instructions on what to do and how to do it. Must send a shout out of thanks


Hopefully fish is on its way now waiting to see if everything we did will sort him out.

Glad to have helped, let us know how it goes.

 

[ForestGump]

ive never been so invested in the health of a fish my entire life

 

[larch]

ive never been so invested in the health of a fish my entire life

The sad reality is shops will sell things to people without explaining the care that needs to go into keeping fish just so they can make a quick buck and push some product. So a new person to the hobby spends 100s or not 1000s on getting everything only to have the fish die after a few days. Then they think it's their fault and end up quitting the hobby and dumping everything on Facebook Market Place.

 

[Spontaneous.Spinach]

I got chips ready , just waiting on the fish

 

[Elshubi]

So happy to report that the fish seems to be more active today. All the help and advice seems to be working out well for him, will keep updates going but looking good so far

 

[Elshubi]

https://imgur.com/a/OwhLMNZ

Few weeks on and we going strong. For those invested in this we have made it and are jumping for joy and food

 

[Ortaega]

nice, sorry saw this thread way to late glad there were allot of carbies that already helped you out, in most cases you can rarely trust any fish store.

give these guys a shout/try also with regards to any fish related queries: TASA

Been on there for years and in most instances many willing to help out. Glad to see you went with a little tank atleast and now some form of filtration. Hope the little dude brings you peace.

Running a work in progress 1000L lake Tanganyika setup.

 

[NemoXX7]

I just hope he is getting betta

 

[kamikazi]

I also just got back into my fish tanks recently and I will give you some advice to make your life easier In the future, when you do your water changes and cleaning etc buy water from gozone or oasis , the water is reverse osmosesed and reminaralised so you dont need to add unnecessary chemicals and when you clean your sponge filter dont rinse it with tap water but rather put it in a bowl with the water that you have drained from the tank so you can keep the good bacteria living in it alive.