First two pictures are the day I got him from Petco. 3rd & 4th photos are a day later and ~30 minutes before he passed. Water was changed 25% before adding him. I saw him in the morning and he looked fine, no red marks or anything noticeably wrong, but when I got home I took the 3rd and 4th photos and immediately moved him to a hospital tank and dosed with kanaplex but it was unfortunately too late. What happened to him? Looks almost like ammonia burns or fungal/bacterial infection?
Tank- 5 gallon, fully cycled and established for 7 months (previously held another betta but moved him to a new tank about a week prior to this)
Temp- around 77f
Ammonia- 0-0.25ppm ??
Nitrite- 0ppm
Nitrate- 5-10ppm
pH- 6.8
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1rlzxuj
Posted by VeterinarianLost5391
5 Comments
Bump the heat up to 78-80 degrees Fahrenheit and get some Catappa leafs. Boil them for 4/5 in about 3 cups of water treat the water in the pot with prime. Add aquarium salt 0.5 TEASPOONS per 1 gallon of tank water I usually split this in half on first dosing. Let the aquarium salt dissolve first let water in pot cool to room temp and pour the pot water directly into the tank and see if this doesn’t help. Both catappa leaf and aquarium salt help gill function and help fight of bacteria and fungal infections let it sit for two to theee days day three do a 30-40 percent water change and see if he’s doing better let me kno
it’s definitely just the petco curse, like 50% of their stock arrives dead and is is very sick. i wouldn’t beat yourself up about it. those cups are ammonia chambers
Temp too low.
Needs to be 78-82 degrees.
So next time you get a betta. Make sure your temp is stable at 79-80 degrees. Get some tannins in there as well. Use water conditioner like seachem prime and bacteria starters like seachem stability. Get top quality pellets like north fin super betta. Only feed 2-3 pellets each morning. Give your betta FROZEN OR LIVE shrimp/bloodworms like mysis and brine shrimp for dinner. Feed frozen or live bloodworms once a week for breakfast but no dinner. Bloodworms are very rich and heavy. Then fast him the next day for a whole day fasting is absolutely vital for these fish.
I feed mine Monday to Friday 2-3 pellets for breakfast.
Then.. Monday’s and Friday’s only he gets mysis shrimp for dinner.
Tuesday’s to Thursday’s brine shrimp for dinner.
Saturdays bloodworms for breakfast only, no dinner it helps kick start his fasting.
Fasting all day on Sundays.
Limit waste by feeding your fish small portions. Their stomachs are the same size as their one eye. Over feeding is the main culprit for dropsy. Not saying that is what happened. Your water temps are probably why his immune system couldn’t do it anymore
They need routine. Water changes once a week. You can get like jackfruit leaves Cocoa leaves. Willow and or Live Oak leaves. Get botanicals like seru and monkey pods.
Tried to summarize as I don’t wanna write a novel.
Sorry for your loss 😞
Could it have actually been heater burns? I had a beta that loved hanging out next to the heater and i have heard of betas getting too close.
😭😭 I’m so sorry. He was such a stunning baby. 🤍🩵💜 I think he was already very sick when you got him because your water parameters were good and you didn’t have him for long at all. 😢 I also think it could have been ammonia poisoning from the PetCo cup he was in.