Help? (betta with odd case)

Doggywhisperer · November 2009

Yeah, so my betta is 4 or 5. (Well that's the number of years I've owned it for anyways) Now he can't seem to stay a float at the top of the tank, has eating troubles (misses the food) and I had to clear brown bugs from his tank! What is wrong? (PLEASE do not say the bugs are there because of my bad cleaning, I've been looking for a new filter for weeks!) He is in a vase right now with water changes every 3-4 days. All bug stuff was boiled. The tank is 5 gallons.

Zagari Wolf · November 2009

Well, if your fish is 4-5 years old, he's OLD for a betta. They usually don't make it past four. Good job with him. I am no expert at ID-ing diseases, but it could be swim bladdar disorder. Is his body in an arc or "s" shape? Do you have any pictures? That would help amazingly. If I don't have an answer, give me a picture and I'll ask my pals on the betta forum I'm a member of. But, if you're going to keep him in the vase, I suggest doing a water change every day instead of just every 3-4 days.

EpikLove · November 2009

That's what happened to my betta before he died. |: LOL, I'm not saying your betta might die !

It's just that a few weeks before he died, he did have eating troubles, and I had to reclean his bowl a lot of times. ): But I have no idea how he died. -fail- xDD So, just giving you a story ? xD

DarkWolf666 · November 2009

at 4 - 5 years for a petshop betta (assuming he is one) he is probably at least 6 - 12 months older than that. that is geriatric age for a betta. the inability to float hints at either swim bladder disorder or constipation. To fix constipation feed him a teensy bit of the inside of a boiled pea. see if he improves over the next 12 - 24 hours. How exactly is he missingthe food? lunging at it and missing? or just going for the food and deciding not to eat? Pictures help heaps with diagnosing sick fish. If he starts to swell up and his scales start to stick out he's in real trouble. Can you give a better description of how he's behaving now and how he used to behave? And clear pictures will help if you can get them Ana

Doggywhisperer · November 2009

He lunges and misses hid food. He is either straight or in a u, time pending. His scales aren't sticking out. He looks normal to me apart from the u shape he sometimes makes... His top fin sticks up a lot too. My dad is very against uploading pics sorry...

DarkWolf666 · November 2009

not too sure on the lunging and missing really. and his posturing can only really be diagnosed from pictures

have you tried feeding him a little bit of the inside of a cooked pea yet?

Doggywhisperer · November 2009

I did twice before, once as a treat, the other a couple days ago for this. He doesn't touch it, so I take it out. He lunged 6 times before getting his food today. I tried starving him. Nothing. (I tried this before posting this thread). He is very inactive though. I think he's gonna die, because he IS a pet store fish. And very old... All I will have left are 2 baby guppies I bred last July. They are seeming ok. Of course, their tank is not his or they'd be food! Their mother died and father disapeared... There one day, gone the next. Just like my other male...

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Help? (betta with odd case)

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