Strange behavior

[jade71301]

My betta is acting strange since last night. His bowl is on my night table and I kept hearing noises coming from the tank like banging or little splashes. I turned on the light to see what was going on. My betta kept darting to the surface and doing a flip almost out of the water and darting back down to the bottom. I went to feed him just now and he won't touch his food. HE took a bite and spit it back out, then opened his mouth like to stretch it. and he kept doing that he did another dart flip. ALso I noticed he is closed up witch is unusual. I put betta fix in for now but any idea what can be causing him to do this. The water is clean did it sunday. and my other betta fish is fine so can't be the water cause they were done at the same time.

Baffled owner

 

[nealio]

what are the water params?

 

[FroggyFox]

Is the filter working ok? I hate to say it but it almost sounds like he's choking? Hows he doing now? Only reason I've ever seen my fish act like that has been when something with the water was REALLY bad, ie the temperature was way high, something bad is in the water (something accidentally added), not enough oxygen (though with a betta that probably wouldn't be it...). You could always try doing a say 20% water change again, making sure to dechlor the water and not have a very big temperature difference.

 

[jade71301]

its a fish bowl with no filter. I guess i will change the water again to see what happens. Right now he is just sitting in the corner. Even my other betta is not eating either i found the food i gave him still floating on top of the water. Maybe its the water.

 

[BettaChick84]

I would definitely sugguest you do a pH, ammonia & nitrate test. Darting is usually caused by the ammonia levels being too high (caused by their wastes & uneaten food)

Also, test your bowl each week a day after the water change for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates just to be safe.

 

[nealio]

Yeah I agree, I would just be consistent with water changes.

Betta's have a breathing system a bit different than other fish. (labyrinth system) They can come up for air and they have a way of taking air and storing it to get the most oxygen out of it. That’s why they are able to live in those little cups you see at petsmart. So you are totally fine with fishbowl, but I would suggest to get a 10G for him. You can get a 10G from petsmart for about $10.

Just keep up with water changes and he should change his behavior. Make sure when you do the water change that the temp is the same as the water he is in. Its best to leave the water out over night, and dechlor it right away.

 

[echoofformless]

Speaking of all this, what are you using as your dechlorinator? I know that my tap water contains ammonia and nitrates so I use Amquel+ to detoxify it. If you're just using plain dechlorinator and there is nasty stuff present...that can't help.

Other than that it's tough to say what is wrong with your fish. Has the temperature in the room been fluctuating a lot? Are the fins looking normal? Do you rinse and clean the bowl with each water change? (I scrub the bowls with a brush and a little hot tap water everytime.) Are you aging the new water for at least two days before using it? Are you overfeeding?

 

[jade71301]

ok here is what I did. I went to do a partial, since i cleaned the tank saturday, figured it wouldn't be that bad. When i went to take the water out, I saw all this white fluffy dusty stuff in the water so i did a complete water change right away. No wonder he was freaking out poor guy. Anyway he was bubbling away and happy when i changed the water and put warm water about 80 degrees. Then I put the betta conditioner and salt as usual and put him back to observe his behavior. He must have been happy for how many times he went up to blow bubbles lol. Then this morning I fed him and he was waiting for the food, but never touched it. I looked at him closely and i see 2 white blemishes on his body. Very light and hardly visible so I put betta fix in the bowl just in case, and sprinkled a pinch of salt on him and now i just have to wait and see how he does.

 

[nealio]

I was just talking on another thread about this, but you might want to test your tap water for PH swings. A ph swing can make your fish ill. My PH would come out of my tap 8.5 then swing to 6.8 in a day or two. That isn't healthy for the fish so I age my water two days now. Pain in the butt, but it’s worth it. Take some tap water and put it into three glasses. Test the water right away, then in 24 hrs, then in 48 hrs to see if it swings at all. He might be happy in the PH that he gets right away from the tap, but then it might swing on him making him ill.

Just a thought…

 

[jade71301]

Thats what i am planning to do from now on is keeping the water out since in winter they put more chlorine in the water or at least it smells like it. He is really really bad off. I am sure he has ich again. He is scratching on everything and won't eat. This case is worse than the other time. Plan: go out and get ich gard or something. If you know the best treatment to use please let me know cause time is getting precious right now. TY

 

[FishWhisperer]

Hi Jade. My bettas had what is called "white fungus". If you move the bowl do the white fluffy pieces float around? It looks like "cotton" pieces in the water and they usually float clear to the top and just sit there when the bowl is still. If so, they are probably on your betta too so you will need to do water changes every day and add the MelaFix. I did that and the fungus was gone in no time. I don't know how long yours will take, especially if he's had it a while. Keep us posted.

 

[jade71301]

Here is the update. Its been about two weeks now and my betta is still not eating. I change the water every two days cause I am treating him with this new medication that my bf has, but can't tell you the name. All I know that all the symptoms he has this med fixes. He looks a bit better swimming around more and not scratching or darting, but he is still not eating, but blowing lots of bubbles when he goes up for air.
How long can a fish last without food before their organs start shutting down. I am worried.*SICK*