Beta fish =(

I've had my beta for about 2-2.5 years now. He's looking a bit under the weather! Everyday when i go to feed him he just kinda sits at the bottom of the tank. =( usually now he doesn't even notice when I put food in the tank for him, I have to take a chopstick(clean) and dip it in a few times to get him to notice. His fins look fine, and his color looks great. The only thing I've changed about his enviroment was I removed the plants in the tank (they were dying) and I moved the tank beside a window.

awww, bummer, bettas sure get in your heart huh?? can you tell me a few things about where he lives and what you do to keep his house clean??

how large is the tank you have him in?
how often do you do water changes?
do you ever test for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH??
how often do you feed him?

if you can fill us in on some of that information, that woudl go a long way towards helping us figure out IF you have a problem or if your fellah is getting old.

-ashley

:( I don't really know the volume of the tank. It's an old one I had a long time ago hexagonal form large enough to fit 2 cats in.
I change the water every week, I feed him once a day with 4 pellets. I've never tested for ammonia. And I only use distilled water that has sat for 2hrs or more the change his water with.

You must not use pure distilled water.

Distilled water has no buffering agents which means the pH will continue to drop after it's added. That is very stressful to your betta.
If you must use purified water then you need to buy something like Kent Marine RO Right to get the water buffered so the pH will remain stable. It will also add other stuff that is important to the health of your fish. There are other ways to buffer the water, but this is by far the easiest.

There is also no reason to let distilled water sit since it has already been purified and contains no chlorine. If you use tapwater, or any other water source containing chlorine you'll have to dechlorinate or age the water.

How much water do you change weekly? If the tank contains no filtration then it would be best to change out nearly 100% of the water, or else you will only be removing part of the waste and it will continue to build up.

It is best, as already mentioned, to test for Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH. Idealistically ammonia and nitrites should always be 0. Nitrates should be below .40.
In an unfiltered tank you at least want to keep your ammonia below .25, and much lower if possible.

=( not pur distilled water! sorry I typed it wrong. It's actually purified tap water, (I have the little purifier attached to my tap). Then I let it sit for about 2hrs just in case. I'll try getting the ph buffers you recommended in there. I change 100% of the water, and give the tanks and rocks a good scrub before I add anything back in. My beta seems to be a bit more energetic when the sunlight hits the tank, are betta's very sensitive to temperature?

ah yes! they are!! if you can, get a heater and keep it between 78f and 82f! i wouldnt worry about buffers for filtered tap water. is it charcoal filtered?? it shoudl be just fine for a betta fish. can you take a sample of the water in the tank (maybe an ounce or two) to your local fish store to get the pH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates tested?? if you can do this, WRITE DOWN the results (they will probably just say 'its ok!') and bring them back. :)

-ashley

=( oh darn I feel so silly the weathers been awefully cold, and he's probably freezing =(. I should be heading out to go buy a heater soon, and I'll grab some of the water and give it to the pet store to test it (hopefully they can test it =P!). I'm not sure what kind of filter it is, but the brand is Brita.

I agree, the temperature is probably the main thing. :)
They like it around 80.

I'd still watch the pH. If your tapwater is already poorly buffered a brita could definately remove enough to cause pH swings.

Sounds like everything else you're doing is just fine.

=( Sorry for the delay guys, it's been busy!
My Ph turned out to be a 7.2 which the fish guy at the store said was pretty decent. I found out what was wrong, he had a little inflamation around one gil, so I ran to the pet store to grab some medicine. They handed me something called fungal removal for betas and a all around antibacteria medication (the same stuff used to treat fin rot). I used the antibacteria med and Mr. Betta's gils got betta in no time!. I even got to feed him some brine shrimp =D!
He looked pretty happy and all, =( then he died about 2 weeks later.
:rip:
=( He had actually just turned 3.5 years old since I purchased him. (my mom corrected me )


=( I want to know if I did anything wrong, I don't know if my fish died from old age or from something else! When I found him his tail fin was pointed upwards and his head was in the rocks.

Sorry your fishy died.:cry:

I dont think u did anything wrong.....it seems like he just lived to his ripe old age.