my betta is lame..

[amu21]

not in the boring way
i rescued this betta from a cousin who has been neglecting him for a looong time. water changes once every few weeks, fed whenever my cousin remembered to (probably no more than once a week). my cousin said this fish used to swim like a normal betta.
i brought him home and noticed that he lied on the bottom, but he would swim up for food, then lie back down on the bottom. thinking that he just needed more room, i put him in a 10gallon planted tank the other day. but he still lies on the bottom. he isn't paralyzed, because he still swims along the gravel to a different spot and lie down again .... and i dont think he realizes when i put food in since the tank is so much bigger.
i think that all those months of inactivity may have caused his muscles to atrophy, or he's just damn lazy (like a couch potato).
i just switched him back to a 1 gallon container, so he can see the floating pellets better. well, he swam around for a few minutes (as if looking for a way out) and now he's lieing on the bottom again. i'm going to try feeding him daily; hopefully this will condition him back into swimming mode.
what do you guys think?

 

[fishdude07]

i think you should keep him in the 10 gallon so he has more swimming room...1 gallon is fine for a betta but i think hed be happier in the 10 gallon. he should get used to it and maybe then he'll be a little more active

 

[Jan]

And maybe you should hold up a mirror in front of him every once in awhile so that he flars and bulids his muscles up.

 

[amu21]

my only concern with putting him in the 10 is that he might not eat. him lieing on the bottom, the pellets floating up top, and 10inches in between.. i probably wouldnt notice something that far away neither which is why i decided to put him in the 1gallon for the time being, to make sure that he eats.

 

[AquaticGem]

Actually, bettas can go a week (sometimes more) without food, and from owning a few myself, I can tell you they are easy to train to come to where the food is, since most bettas are little piglets.

The ten gallon is far better for him as the ammonia will not build up as quickly as it would in the small one gallon tank, and the last thing you want now is a stressed out betta.

How long has your cousin had the betta, btw? It's possible that he might just be old. Bettas tend to become less active with age.

 

[amu21]

he's had him for about 8-9 months. says the betta used to be actively flaring and swimming back and forth (well, as much swimming he can do in those small half gallon containers). then neglect kicked in the past 2 months or so and thats when he noticed the fish didnt move much anymore... and he looks alot like your avatar

so do you think if i just leave him in the 10gallon for say a week, the betta will eventually stop sitting at the bottom and come up to the surface expecting food? i think i may have to turn off the filter during feeding time to help..
should i give him a few pellets each day, or just leave him alone for about a week to build up his appetite? keep in mind that he hasn't eaten much, if at all, for past 2 or 3 months
also, do you think the light being on affects seeing the food? to me, it could either appear as dark dots, or the light is just too blinding to look up

 

[AquaticGem]

I would leave him in the ten gallon tank, which should be a much more stable environment for him. What are the water params (ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte) on the ten gallon tank, btw? You'll want to make sure the both the ammonia and nitrate are at zero, and the nitrate should be less than 40 ppm (10-15 ppm is ideal).

Due to the neglect over the past 2-3 months by your cousin, the betta is not in the best shape currently, and it could be why he is spending most of his time at the bottom. Also, depending on how bad the water he was in was, he -could- have suffered damage (such as gill burn from excess ammonia in the water). It's hard to tell really.

You need to be patient at this point allowing him time to get his strength back, and the best, most stable place for him to do that is in the bigger tank. One gallon of water is really, IMHO, too small.

I would wait until Friday, then attempt to feed him a pellet or two, and see if he regains his appetite. If he still doesn't eat, then of course remove the uneaten food from the tank if possible. Perhaps trying to tempt him with a bloodworm or two would bring him around, but again, wait a few days (until Friday). No doubt he is under a bit of stress right now from his previous conditions, along with the move from one place to other. Don't worry about the betta starving at this point, because if he truly hadn't eaten anything in 2-3 months, he would have been died by now.

Also, the lighting shouldn't be an issue. I have feed my bettas with both the light on, and the light off, and they always found the food. Bettas have built in radar for that kind of thing.

HTH.

 

[Iggy]

Sounds like he is sick. Just from his behaviour. Now, some bettas just lie around, but if this is a recent event, then I would suspect he is feeling ill.

I would not medicate for now, but I would try feeding him something more nutritious, like frozen brine shrimp. He will DEFINATELY eat that and it should help him recover from any lack of nutrition.

Like Gem said, keep the water clean, and change it regularly to ensure the proper minerals/vitamins are in the water.