Hey guys, so I’m a college student who bought a beta fish to be my pet. I have had him for a little over a year and just today he started acting weird. His fins are moving and trying really hard to push him but it looks almost like his body can’t move and he can’t push himself, I changed his water and made it warmer, idk what could be wrong. The heavier breathing started after i warmed the water, the water change also made him start moving his fins more. My family had owned betas before and they never had any problems so I thought it would be super easy to have one. Please help me save him
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1) I don’t know 2) no heater 3) I don’t know the temperature 4) ? 5) I’ve had the tank for like my whole life, I’ve only had the fish for a year 6) I change the water once a month, I fill a jug with Brita water and add water conditioner, then I let it sit for a day to reach room temp and then I take the fish out and save a cup of the old water, I clean the tank and then fill it with new water and slowly oh the fish and old water back in 7) no tankmates 8) I feed him twice a day, 2 pellets 9) only decoration is a funky little house
Oh man. There is so much wrong here. The tank looks too small, there’s no heater, you’re over cleaning your tank and destroying your beneficial bacteria, essentially having to recycle your tank every month.
Is there a filter? Stop cleaning your tank and do more frequent partial water changes. Also, turning off the light and temporarily blocking a wall in his tank to limit what he sees could help ease some of his stress.
He’s likely dying from the build up of ammonia and nitrite poisoning in your water and needs daily 25-50% water changes with temperature matched dechlorinated water.
Did you use a thermometer to check the temperature of the new water before you replaced all of his water with it?? Sudden temperature changes can shock a betta and kill them. Please do a lot of research before buying another pet.