first pic: him a week ago / second pic: him yesterday when i got back / 3rd, 4th and 5th pics: him today / 6th pic: water parameters
my betta has always been vibrantly coloured, curious and active. he was always swimming around exploring and whenever i would open the tank or when someone even came near it he would always swim up. yes he would sometimes just lie around and play dead like bettas like to do but never like this.
now a lot of his colour has noticeably faded and he just lies around the whole time with his mouth open. he only moves when i stir the water near him a bit with a net. i fed him this morning, he took no interest in the food, he would always swim up to the top when i'd feed him but today he just stayed at the bottom. he doesn't even react when i tap or knock on the aquarium.
i was away for a one week, did a water change the evening before i left and the day i came back as well. i had a friend come over every day to dose the tank with 0.5 ml CO2 like i do and feed him each morning. he did water tests every day and those were fine as always.
i accidentally overfed him the morning before i left, a lot of food tipped out into the water but i took a lot of it out with a net and told my friend to not feed him for a couple days. a few days later my friend accidentally overfed again (much less than me tho) so he didnt feed him the day after that either.
again, he was testing the water the whole time and the parameters and temperature are stable and the first thing i did when i got home was do a water change and i just tested the water again and it's fine.
tank size is 25 L, ive had the betta for 2 months now, parameters are attached in the last photo.
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1r5bli2
Posted by Dumbass-Forg-7466
3 Comments
why are you dosing this tank with co2??
also those test strips are notorious for being inaccurate I would invest in the api kit if possible especially for ammonia. you dont have very many live plants so if you and your friend dumped a bunch of food there could have been an ammonia spike.
The “liquid co2” if that’s what your friend was dosing every day is not co2, it’s poison to kill off algae. Dosing an entire tank does nothing for algae but it can and sometimes does affect fish very negatively. Especially if you dose it every day??? On top of that, the tank is very bright with nothing tall to offer the fish shade and cover. The surface and middle are totally empty, and those are the main areas a betta generally occupies. I see you have the fluval internal filter without anything to baffle the flow too. I have their filter too and even when dialed all the way down the flow is still 100% too strong for a betta.
So from the picture and info this is what stands out to me as potential issues. Can you answer all of the automod’s questions too?
As already said, the test strips are inaccurate and under read plus there is no test for ammonia – the most toxic and likely toxin present following what you’ve described.
You think the water is fine because the test strips are not testing for what they need to, and what they are showing is inaccurate.
Please invest in an accurate liquid test kit such as the API Master kit asap. The fish is struggling.
Additionally, the “liquid CO2” dosing is not needed for the tank and is awful for fish when overdosed, which is what has been happening with the daily doses. It’s not even really safe in small quantities, let alone daily.
These two combined will be likely why he’s struggling. Until the test kit arrives (really hoping you prefer it, it’s essential really) please stop dosing the “liquid CO2” and do daily water changes to clean his water up, remove the chemicals you’ve added and dilute the toxin build up from overfeeding. Always use a dechlorinator.