My roommate just put her betta fish in the living room and I think it might be sick ☹️. It sits at the bottom of the bowl and has trouble swimming upwards and maintaining itself above the gravel without touching. Is there anything I can do??
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1rwqkxt
Posted by Electronic-North3865
6 Comments
Look into the nitrogen cycle- test your water parameters it might be ammonia and nitrite- also bettas are tropical fish, they need heaters and filters to live, and a minimum of 5gallons.
This is not a good set up for a betta as they need a minimum of 5 gallons, a heater and a filter. Your roommate needs to do some research on how to properly care for a betta fish. Unfortunately it looks like he’s doing the vertical death hang so unless he gets some warm clean water (conditioned with preferably Seachem prime) he may or may not survive.
Probably swim bladder issues of some sort. Some epsom salt baths, and the care methods that you can look up on this forum will probably help!
Update:
I used one my aquarium test strips I use for my shrimp and the nitrate level is at 1.0!! Ahhh
I’m going to try to convince my roommate to look into getting better beta fish supplies. Any recommendations/ tips??
Petsmart, 3 gallon basic setup is like $25, 5 gallon is $30ish, get that, it comes with a lighted lid and a filter, get substrate, aquarium bacteria, seachem prime, and a hiding place or 2. This is the most basic things needed.
That bowl isn’t cycled. Probably has that much ammonia as well. Your roommate needs real test kit, API master test kit. Ammonia is the most important parameter to keep tabs on and most test strips don’t even bother with it. That poor betta is suffering. Probably ammonia toxicity and swim bladder due to the bad water conditions. Bettas need at least 5 gallons. 10 is even better as larger water volumes don’t have the potential for sudden spikes like that tiny bowl. That poor fish needs help asap.