Hollyfish101's question - Posted by Admin

[marko]

Sneakypete. im a stranger to you but you may be able to help me but more so my fish.

you wrote something on a blog or queston that was title MY BETTA. you said that because the betta cant swim and laying at the bottom, and had red gills and whiteish in color of scales,it may have ammonia posioning. why do you think this the reason i ask is because this is what just happened to my betta that ive had for 3 years and i love him. clearly i need to know what wrong asap

"My fish 5 minutes ago was laying on the bottom of the bowl, panting fighting to get oxygen and i cant figure out what is wrong. i was able to get Wilbur to the top to keep him going. he is currently at an angle at the top, not vertical but slightly..he looks like he is trying to recover. but note he doesnt look good at all. im afraid he was die while im asleep. i need help preventing this.
heres what made him do this.
i added more water to my 10 gallon fish tank because the water level was getting low. i thought it would be okay, well it shocked my betta fish. and now that i have him in a small bowl where i can observe him. When i observe him something strange happens bubbles are coming out of his gills while coming out of his mouth.he seems to be panting like a dog, but much like a fish. seems as if something is blocking the flow of his breath because when only one gill was moving at a time. it has ruined the whole balance on the fish meaning it has a hard time staying afloat or from sinking.
i need to know of anything i can do to help him."
thanks .
holly

[MyBirdIsEvil]

I realize this was directed to Sneaky but I figured I'd answer since he's nowhere to be seen at the moment.

That's an almost impossible question because many health issues and water quality problems can cause that behavior.

Is the tank cycled? How often are water changes done? Do you ever test your water parameters? With water quality problems nothing can be said definitively unless the water is tested, it's merely speculation.

It doesn't sound like simply ammonia poisoning, but it's definately possible.
You could try an ammonia neutralizer just in case, such as Amequel, AmmoLock, ACE (Ammonia and Chloramine Eliminator), or Prime, but you should also have an ammonia test kit, and if your tank is filtered a nitrite and nitrate test kit (All of these are included in a freshwater master test kit). Also test the water being put into the tank. Water changes will lower ammonia, nitrites and nitrates but I wouldn't do this until you test your water to make sure it's safe.

If your tank is filtered it could be high nitrites or nitrates. Nitrates have to be really high to cause problems for most bettas, but if you've had him for 3 years and don't do water changes often enough they could very well be. Tap water can also have nitrates.

A few other ideas could be:
Swim bladder problems, caused by any number of things. For this feeding small pieces of peas sometimes helps.

Chlorine poisoning. Did you use water straight from the tap to top off your tank?

Temperature. Is there a heater in the tank? Has the tank temperature fluctuated a lot lately? Was the water you added extremely cold?

Age. You said you've had him 3 years, he could be 4 years or older, and that could be especially old for a betta depending on what kind of water conditions he's been in his whole life.

PH. If your PH is either too low too high or fluctuates a lot it could cause stress. Fluctuation is the main source of problems since bettas seem to tolerate a pretty large range of PH as long it is stable. You can test PH with a PH test kit. Test both tank and water being put into tank.

Maybe Sneaky can think of something better, but that's about all I can think of off the top of my head without testing the water myself or seeing the tank and fish in person.
There can be other problems with tapwater if that's what's used to top off and do water changes on the tank, but none that are easily diagnosed.

[want4rain]

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by MyBirdIsEvil

It doesn't sound like simply ammonia poisoning, but it's definately possible.
You could try an ammonia neutralizer just in case, such as Amequel, AmmoLock, ACE (Ammonia and Chloramine Eliminator), or Prime,

im not really a huge fan of those products for ammonia neutralizing.... to me its kinda like a person being stuck in a room with loads of ammonia and instead of opening a window to let fresh air in you use another chemical (which may or may not be harmful) to render it less harmful. sorry!! just a personal preference!!

Age. You said you've had him 3 years, he could be 4 years or older, and that could be especially old for a betta depending on what kind of water conditions he's been in his whole life.

under the best conditions bettas (these days) live to be around 4 years old. factor in things like their initial "cup o' doom" and all that brings with it, over feeding and the hundreds of other things that can go wrong its a miracle they live to THAT age. if your bud is already 3 years old, you are doing somethign right!!


keep us posted if you will!!!
-ashley

[MyBirdIsEvil]

[QUOTE=want4rain;473401]

im not really a huge fan of those products for ammonia neutralizing.... to me its kinda like a person being stuck in a room with loads of ammonia and instead of opening a window to let fresh air in you use another chemical (which may or may not be harmful) to render it less harmful. sorry!! just a personal preference!!



under the best conditions bettas (these days) live to be around 4 years old. factor in things like their initial "cup o' doom" and all that brings with it, over feeding and the hundreds of other things that can go wrong its a miracle they live to THAT age. if your bud is already 3 years old, you are doing somethign right!!


keep us posted if you will!!!
-ashley

I also like to use more natural methods, but ammonia neutralizers do work in an emergency. They should always be followed by a water change. I've used them before when cycling tanks, and suggested them to others whose fish seemed to have signs of ammonia poisoning and they seem to start working within 5-10 mins. I only meant it as in option in the meantime while preparing to do a water change, to give the fish quick relief, since the water source was in question.

As far as age, I didn't mean to imply that the fish ONLY made it to 3 or 4 years because of bad practices, just that poor water conditions will speed up the aging process. 3 or 4 years old is definately a pretty good age for any betta, but I think of it this way - If the betta made it that far with poor water conditions it probably could have lived longer with good water conditions.

I did seem to miss part of the post though. I didn't realize the fish had been moved to a bowl. Why move it to a bowl if you think you already shocked it by adding water to the tank? Moving it to a smaller bowl will only quicken the ammonia buildup. Why do you think you shocked him after you added water to the 10g? What signs of poor health was he showing that made you move him in the first place?

The air freshener thing is a valid point. I've heard of people spraying air freshener and if the tank isn't covered it can get in the tank and kill the fish. If the tank is covered and you're running a bubble wand the air pump can suck the air freshener in and pump it into the tank. This can also happen with other chemicals that you spray in the room and become airborn.

Waiting for updates. It's been awhile since the post and hopefully the betta is still alive.

[want4rain]

you wrote something on a blog or queston that was title MY BETTA. you said that because the betta cant swim and laying at the bottom, and had red gills and whiteish in color of scales,it may have ammonia posioning. why do you think this the reason i ask is because this is what just happened to my betta that ive had for 3 years and i love him. clearly i need to know what wrong asap

ive found that water quality is usually suspect in fish sickness in one form or another. right off the bat, do soem water changes. if you trust your tap(dechlorinated) water use it, if not use bottled SPRING WATER (not distilled)

"My fish 5 minutes ago was laying on the bottom of the bowl, panting fighting to get oxygen and i cant figure out what is wrong. i was able to get Wilbur to the top to keep him going. he is currently at an angle at the top, not vertical but slightly..he looks like he is trying to recover. but note he doesnt look good at all. im afraid he was die while im asleep. i need help preventing this.
heres what made him do this.

any other fish in there? are they showing ANY signs on discomfort?

i added more water to my 10 gallon fish tank because the water level was getting low. i thought it would be okay, well it shocked my betta fish.

so he WAS in a 10g and is NOW in a bowl?

and now that i have him in a small bowl where i can observe him. When i observe him something strange happens bubbles are coming out of his gills while coming out of his mouth.he seems to be panting like a dog, but much like a fish. seems as if something is blocking the flow of his breath because when only one gill was moving at a time. it has ruined the whole balance on the fish meaning it has a hard time staying afloat or from sinking.

a list of questions, please try to get answers to ALL of them-

when was the last time you did a water change(take old water out and put in fresh dechlorinated new water)?
how much and how often do you do a water change?
do you use city water or well water?
what did you 'top off' your 10g with?
did you 'clean' your tank prior to this?
rinse or change out any of the filter?
do you vacuum your gravel with a gravel vacuum?
do you have a bubble wand or air stone making bubbles in the water?
do you have a filter? heater?
have you had any fish die?
can you get your tank water AND your tap water tested at your local fish store for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH. WRITE DOWN what they tell you. make sure they know you need to know EXACTLY what the figures are.
do any of your other fish look sick? clamping fins? red streaks? gasping? bulging eyes? strange lumps? salty looking white spots?
do you use air fresheners?
wash your hands well before putting them in the water?



sorry for all of the questions but they are all important in helping us to figure out what is wrong.

-ashley