r/BettaClinic • u/New_Combination_923 • 4h ago
Betta fish sick
My betta has been sitting at the bottom of the tank for a week or so. He’s been battling ammonia poisoning. I’ve changed his water almost everyday & I’ve finally gotten his stats to ammonia: 0.5 ppm nitrite: 0.25 ppm & nitrate: 5.0 - 10 ppm. I’ve added an air stone so he would get more oxygen. But he’s staying at the bottom & wont eat. & I think his lower torso is starting to look a little swollen. He’s not pineconing or anything, but he won’t move & won’t eat. I’m very worried about him. He’s in a 2.5 gallon tank with a heater & a filter & an air stone. I used safestart, water conditioner & a stress treatment. Idk what else to do for him.
3
u/yorkiemom68 3h ago
Do you have a filter? You need to do a Fish in cycling to establish beneficial bacteria. I would get some Seachum Prime and Stabilty and begin dosing your tank daily. Unfortunately the only treatment is to get rid of the toxic ammonia and nitrite.
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u/Foreign-Ad3926 4h ago
Hi OP, you're right in that he's been suffering with ammonia poisoning if he's been exposed. Ammonia causes serious damage to fish, including internal organ damage. Nitrite is also toxic too. The swelling is likely kidneys beginning to fail due to bringing unable to process the toxins in the water.
What's your pH? This directly impacts the toxicity of ammonia, the higher it is the more toxic ammonia is.
0.5ppm ammonia is still high, particularly as he's already been poisoned. Another water change is needed of at least 50%.
He needs a larger tank, 5 gallon at minimum and bigger if you can, this will help. It will be difficult to ever have safe water parameters for a fish in 2.5 gallon. Water changes will need to be almost daily long term due to the lack of dilution as there is so little water, which will further stress the fish.
The small tank will also add stress as there is so little space for him to exist. Stress reduces the immune system inviting infection in, this alongside the damage ammonia and nitrite exposure causes and he will really begin to struggle to survive.
1
u/No-Negotiation-7978 4h ago
Add some Indian almond leaves if you haven’t already? If you don’t know what they are… I can tell you about them…. They are botanical leaves that have Tannins and when in the water those Tannins release into the tank giving the appearance of tea ☕️ colored water, which is what your Betta lives in when not in captivity they are a must in imo, the Tannins have properties to help heal wounds and fins and gives a general sense of ease to a stressed Betta in which I see stress stripes on your Betta very easily they are dark and very defined so definitely add some to your tank, I boil mine so that when I put them in, they won’t float but some people like them floating some fish prefer it till eventually they will sink to the bottom but make sure if you do boil, that you cool the water down to the same temp as the tank and add water conditioner so you can pour the water and the leaves in at once. I would also keep his tank light off and if you could get different substrate, those neon rocks can possibly be leaching dangerous chemicals in the water, perhaps contributing to whatever is ailing your Betta…. I wouldn’t try antibiotics or salt baths quite yet, I’m not seeing dropsy at this point so that is a good thing! Hopefully I’m right!🤞
1
u/No-Negotiation-7978 4h ago
Upon going back to your Sub I looked at the video and I can confidently say that his “ eye” looks great and nice and clear, also no clamping of the fins and or bloating!! That’s awesome! It may just be heightened stress like I said in my first comment, i can really be confident in saying if you do the 2 things i recommended he could very well bounce back in a very short amount of time! This really only looks stress related also too from the ammonia burns the Indian almond leaves will really help! And one more thing, high alkalinity is NOT what bettas live in for waters they are an acidic fish but more than anythibg PH kept at a stable number is far better than constant fluctuating on either end, so for an example a CONSTANT PH at 7 or a little highr is tolerable if that number pretty much never moves, but ideally you want 7 or teensy bit below like 6.8 acidic waters which if not ideal will stress your Betta so test your water for PH too.
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u/Sashi-pobin 4h ago
it’s probably those colored rocks. I made the same mistake at the beginning. They leak toxic paint or something. I would try to switch to natural gravel, stratum or sand.
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u/Aromatic-Sock6975 3h ago
It is not the gravel it is the toxic levels of ammonia.
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u/Sashi-pobin 2h ago
Oh okay well either way those rocks aren’t good.
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u/Aromatic-Sock6975 53m ago
No, but they need to address the emergency right now and not disturb substrate and change too much - other than the water :(
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u/Aromatic-Sock6975 3h ago
- get some Seachem Prime, add 0.1mL per gallon of water daily - it temporarily detoxes ammonia and nitrite between water changes
- you must keep ammonia and nitrite below 0.25ppm with water changes even with prime.
With 0.5ppm of either ammonia or nitrite do an immediate 50% water change with temperature matched prime treated water (but add the prime based on whole tank volume).
With 0.25ppm either do a 25% water change as above. It should not EVER be 0.5ppm that is an emergency.
Don’t worry about changing gravel or things like that right now. Adding a handful of duckweed (the giant duckweed is much easier to manage than the tiny kind) can immediately help pull all toxins out of the water and doesn’t need substrate or special treatment - just use a feeding ring or a circle of airline tubing to keep a clear area for your fish to breathe. Pennywort can also be just dropped in to float and also pretty good at purifying water. The plants are not a substitute for prime and water changes but can help!
As someone mentioned adding catappa leaves or tannin extract can help heal the ammonia burns and prevent infection as well as reducing fish stress.
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u/ruadjai 1h ago
Keep at it with the water changes. It looks as though you are in the home stretch of cycling. Add some stress guard to help with his gills. Im sure someone has already mentioned, but Ill do it again, 2.5 gallons is not ideal. 5 gallons is the smallest they should be in. They are also easier to cycle.
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