betta decay!?

[natas]

Situation: 2.5 g tank with opaque glass dividers. 3 Bettas (crown tails). no filtration. unheated at night (ambient heat)... heated during day w/ desk lamp to about 75F... fake plant in each compartment to rest/hide against... standard gravel substrate... bi/monthly water change.

Problems:

Betta #1: 'Scorpion' is located on the right side of the tank. He used to be a magnificent betta in a comunity tank with tetras til the fatal day I bought a barb to put in there. Barb was quickly fed to my large cichlids when Betta was beaten senseless. 'Scorpion' recovered and was growing his fins again until placed in new 2.5 gallon tank with other bettas. Lost coloring (now has white-ish streaks on sides) and dorsal/ventral fins are unimpressive.

Betta#2: 'Posiedon' is located on the left side of the tank. He seems to be struck with fin rot once per week... really odd. I hesitate to treat the tank with a med because it happens so irregularly. He appears fine normally... but occasionally I find some pieces of fin lying on the bottom of the tank. This is not due to an escape by another fish or by other fish grabbing him around the side of the divider.

Betta #3: If not for this fish I would blame the whole ordeal on stress. This fish, 'Zorro', is located between my two ailing fish. He is as normal as a betta can be.

Any Ideas on the ailing bettas?

 

[jonni_li]

Betta#1: Why not put back into the community tank? Or into a one gallon jar alone? Is he the closest to your desk lamp? Betta don't really like being under bright light. It could be stress. I used to have 26 bettas in my room, and sometimes one or two would just lose their color like that and would only swim up to get air, i usually solve this by putting them into a larger jar, 1 gallon, with some dried banana leaves and put them in an area with dim lighting for a few days. Once they start flaring at my finger, or a mirror, i just put them back and they seem just fine.

Betta#2: Are you sure it is fin rot and he isn't just tearing off his own fins? My bettas have been known to do that if they are not happy. Such as not feeding them enough, they get too stressed, or something else. Maybe try moving him also. Or watch him closely to make sure he isn't just biting off his fins.

Betta#3: Glad to hear that atleast one betta is doing good.

**this is just my own opinion, i don't really have any validation for this, except that it has worked for me personally.

 

[ChazECJr]

So, it looks like each betta has less than a gallon of water, and you are doing two water changes a month. How much water do you change?

My betta has a filtered 2 gal all to himself and I change half the water every two weeks. Perhaps you should consider keeping only two bettas in this tank, or doing more frequent/larger water changes.


HTH

Charlie

 

[Wonderwoman]

altho some people will keep bettas in tiny tiny jars, and you allow a bit more space, i'd consider giving them more. i always kept mine in 2 gallons, and they were always happy, healthy, and lively. also, a rapid temperature fluctuation could be making them unhappy. table lamps will heat your water, but with no filtration, it probably wouldn't be even since you don't have much water movement. then when the water cools off at night, the sudden change could also stress your fish. there are a lot of variables in your situation, it's hard to say why #2 is such a happy camper when the other two are not ...would it be feasible to move things around a bit? maybe spoil your bettas rotten and get them each their own small, ugf aquarium? mine was like $8 at petco... good luck~!

 

[natas]

suggestios noted from all. I'm trying my best to skirt around the space issues that are so hotly debated so lets not go there. I don't think the actual gallons/betta is an issue for my guys. I'm going to discontinue the light and put and little heater in there. I put a little bubbler in there to help diffuse the heat through out the tank. The bubbler and heater are in the middle compartment.
I previously had the bettas in different areas of the tank

 

[FishQueen]

if i were u, i'd change the water more frequently.... i have a 5 gallon with a betta and platy... i change a third of the water once a week!! It helps keep the tank really clean to protect the bettas fins and stuff... dunno what's ailing your bettas besides that...