Is my Betta dying?

[Denther]

I've had my betta Malcolm for 2 years now. I bought him at petsmart since he seemed the most active at the store. Originally he was kept in a small tank with no filtration or heating. Was little over a gallon. Now he's moved up to a 2.5g Mini Bow thats filtered and heated. He's been in there for a year.

Anyway he's been acting really weird lately.

1. Doesn't eat much, uninterested in food.
2. He's been acting less active in the past few weeks, especially the past few days.

I came home today and he was on the bottom of my tank completely motionless except his eyes are looking around. Look back a little while later and he's floating near the top, motionless, but not a dead type of floating. Then I look back and he's wrapped around the filter intake. I unplugged the filter and he swam around really fast at the top in circles from corner to corner. He's calmed down now and is nibbling at some food that I put in there.

He just seems kind of old and confused.

Ideas?

 

[skjl47]

Hello; Considering that he may have been over a year old when purchased, assuming that you bought him at the typical size seen in pet stores, it may be the natural ageing process going on. I feed some uncooked canned sweet peas to all my fish from time to time and it has been posted by others that this is good to relieve constipation in fish. My bettas have taken them. Just squeeze some of the soft stuff from inside the pea shell, wont take much for one betta. Good luck. The nature of small fish is that they do not often live for a long time. I have had some that survived for many years, possibly most lived much longer than if in the wild.

 

[KcMopar]

I agree with the pea feedings. I have never had a betta live under 5years.

 

[Denther]

Well he's still alive but he just floats the top and stays there for a very long time... He's still alive for now. And I was mistaken. He's only been with me ONE year.

I'll try the peas. Can I run a frozen one under warm water to defrost it?

 

[skjl47]

Hello; Never tried frozen peas but should work fine. One pea will thaw quickly. Why not try holding one in your closed hand for a bit. I have frozen small chunks of fish filets wrapped in foil not much larger than a few peas and found that the chunks thawed right away.

 

[MdngtRain]

I guess my questions are obvious, but hows your water quality? My betta became listless when I was sick and want home to change the water for 2 months (big long fight with the gf over the care of all the animals while I was gone). What's your water change schedule like?
Good luck. I hope he "comes to" with the peas.

 

[Denther]

Yeah he's still alive but he just kinda lays around or float to the top but still is alive. He just spotted the pea. He seems to have trouble moving around.

I change the water every weekend about 40% of it. His water has perfectly clear for months. I don't have a water test kit though.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; Just looked thru the thread again. You mention that the tank is heated. I find that bettas like warm water, around 80 degrees or so F. I also like to have a fairly tight cover on top of the tank. This keeps the air directly above the water surface moist and warm. This way when the betta takes a gulp of air it is not getting cold dry air, but warm moist air which i suspect is more like their native environment.

 

[Denther]

Yeah his temp is 80 degrees. It's got an opening in the back about 2 inches square but the rest is covered.