[Sick/Aging Betta **UPDATE** Pt. 2]

Brief synopsis of previously transpired events: My halfmoon betta, Floyd, was lethargic, barely eating, and was losing color drastically. I reached out for advice, and determined he was suffering from fin rot. I quarantined and treated him with erythromycin and stress guard, and at the recommendation of a few forum members, added almond/cattappa leaves for additional antibiotic properties. 
Present day: I am happy to announce that after a full week in quarantine, Floyd has made a full recovery! A few days before he was due to be put back in his home tank, I decided to upgrade him from his normal 5 gallon home, to a 20 gallon retirement tank. His previous 5 gallon house had a filter that was causing very strong flow that was built into the tank and I was not able to remove. I believe it was causing him stress from being pushed around and may have led to him getting fin rot. I did try to buffer the flow using a small piece of filter sponge, but it didn’t do much. While I know his rapid decline was caused by him trying to fight off the infection, he had definitely slowed down in recent months, so I figured it was time to give him a chill place to live out the rest of his life. Floyd currently resides in a 20 gallon (tall?) with a peaceful Aquarium Co-op sponge filter, so no more harsh flow! He has the plants and little rock house from his old tank, and a new log to swim around. I also got him a betta log, so that he has somewhere secure where he can rest near the surface so he can get air when he needs it. I did some research and found out that older food can make fish sick as well (makes sense, old food would make humans sick) so I tossed out his betta pellets that were at least a year old, and got him a small pouch of Hikari Betta Bio-Gold. Its small enough that I’ll finish it in about three months and replace it with a fresh pouch so his food is never going bad. I’ll include some pictures below. Also yes, I know, my current light situation is janky at best! It came from my old 2.5 gallon tank, so its very small for a 20 gal, but I’m saving up for a more appropriate one. And finally, a big thank you to everyone who commented on my original post with any and all advice on how to help my poor boy. There were a few days before I started treatment that I thought I was going to lose Floyd. I know his passing is eventually inevitable, but I wanted to do everything in my power to help him recover, or at least ease any pain he might have been feeling if it were to be his last few days. You folks helped me more than you know, and I am so grateful Floyd is alive and well! Thank you thank you thank you 🥲😊❤️🐟
 

[GH very soft]

On 12/4/2022 at 12:11 PM, smm333 said:

I have well water and my GH is very soft. It hasn't been a problem with my current tanks ( African dwarf frogs bettas, honey gourami, male endlers snails), but I have a platy tank set up  and I am concerned as I would like babies. I read that they are pretty hardy and adaptable, but  on the aquarium co-op site it says most fish are fine in 6.5-8 with livebearers liking it harder. I'm nervous that I haven't even hit the 6.5. I added a wondershell yesterday.  I don't want to go crazy and change parameters too quickly. Should the wondershell be affecting the water yet? Any other ideas? The fish seem happy and are swimming and eating well.

In my experience, wonder shells are great! They usually dissolve fully into the water within a few days. They’ll add some of that additional hardness you need and also keep your water crystal clear. They’re also great for adding calcium for keeping your snails shells healthy and strong, and same with your shrimp if you have any. If the wonder shell doesn’t add as much GH as you’re wanting, definitely look into adding some Seachem Equilibrium. I’ve had pretty good luck with that in the past. I know API has a similar product that will increase hardness, though I can’t remember the name off the top of my head. Best of luck! 

[Sick/Aging Betta **UPDATE**]

On 11/18/2022 at 5:53 PM, Kurt Brutting said:

That’s awesome news! Congrats! Good luck to the little guy, keep us posted. 
I love those Indian Almond Leaves I swear by them. 

Thank you so much for the advice! Floyd made a full recovery and I’ve had him back in his home tank for about a week and a half now, and he’s continuing to do great! I added two small almond leaves to his tank and he loves them! One floated down to the tank floor and he doesn’t seem interested in that one, but one of them has just continued to float on the surface, and he likes to push it around or float directly beneath it 🙂 

[Howdy fellow fish nerds!]

On 11/20/2022 at 4:49 AM, JohnnyD said:

Love your tanks, so beautiful! Also love the Pink Floyd references with the names 🙂

Thank you! I was struggling to come up with not too cheesy names for my little guys, and I’m a die hard Floyd fan so I was either going to use snippets of song names for them, or band members names, and I ended up naming them all after the band members 🙂 

[Howdy fellow fish nerds!]

On 11/12/2022 at 5:21 PM, TeeJay said:

Welcome to the club. Those are some awesome snails. Excellent job in the scapes in your tanks. I always found it tricky to get a good scape set up in smaller tanks.

Thank you! They were my first rough attempts at aqua-scaping, and I’m excited to learn more about it! 

[Sick/Aging Betta **UPDATE**]

Thank you to everyone who left a comment on my previous post about my sick betta, Floyd! I went to my LFS and purchased some almond leaves as recommended by @Coluand @Kurt Brutting, API erythromycin, and Seachem Stress Guard. Floyd is in his own quarantine tank, with a small heater and lots of nice places for him to hide, as well as an air stone to oxygenate the water. Today will be his second dose of erythromycin and stress guard, and when I came to check on him this morning, he was way more colorful and lively, and zoomed right up to the front of the tank, so I would say he was just suffering from a bad case of fin rot, and the medicine is helping him feel better almost right away! He also seems to love his almond leaf, so I’ll definitely be adding small ones to his home tank once his treatment is complete. 🙂

[Sick/Aging Betta]

On 11/16/2022 at 8:24 PM, Colu said:

With the symptoms your describing it could be old age or illness as he's not eating what I would do is a course of maracyn  to cover against any possible bacteria infection maracyn won't effect your shrimp and snails and add a Small amount of aquarium salt 1 table for 5 gallons that will aid Gill function and add essential electrolytes to give him more energy and I would add some Indian almond leaves as they have antibacterial and antifungal properties depending on the quality of leaves you might have to add one leaf per gallon to get a benefial  and add an extra air stone to increase levels of desolve oxygen @EvesFishJourney

Thank you! I’m going to run to my LFS today to grab some medicine for him, as well as some almond leaves 🙂 

[Sick/Aging Betta]

My beautiful half moon betta, Floyd, isn’t doing so well. In the last 4 days, he’s slowed down considerably, isn’t as interested in eating, and wants to just lay in his rock house. He goes up for air still, but then just sinks down and sits on the substrate or nestled in some hair grass. I looked for any signs of fungus or ick and couldn’t spot any, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have an internal parasite or something. I haven’t started any treatment yet, as I wanted to ask if anyone had any advice or recommendations on what to do or what could be wrong, before I spend money on medication. I do at least a 20% water change each sunday, I feed him a good variety of foods, his parameters are good, he has an airstone to keep the water moving and oxygenated, and his water is sitting at about 78 degrees which is plenty warm. He doesn’t have any aggressive tank mates that might be attacking him, just two small mystery snails and three amano shrimp. His color has also dulled recently. The only visible difference I’ve noticed is one side of his gills isn’t expanding as they should. I’ll leave a video below. Any ideas on what could be causing that? He may just be getting older, as he’s hitting the 3 year mark soon, but I don’t want him to be in discomfort or pain in his final days if that is the case… 

Ok it wouldn’t let me add a video, so I inserted a picture instead. As you can see on Floyds right side, his gill is expanding properly when he breathes in, but the left side has almost no movement at all. 

[Mystery snail ate my cherry shrimp??]

On 11/8/2022 at 3:45 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Perhaps you need to apologize to “the culprit”.  Perhaps with a boiled green bean (split lengthwise) or boiled piece of zucchini?  😁😉Hehe

I apologized to him with some blanched zucchini, and a new home in my new 75 gallon tank 😂 

[Mystery snail ate my cherry shrimp??]

On 11/7/2022 at 7:37 AM, JettsPapa said:

There is a link below to the thread where I posted that information.

I also wanted to mention that if your gH and kH are high enough you might want to discontinue the wonder shell.  While I haven't experienced it, even with my gH and kH near 300 ppm, I've heard of cases where they were so high that the shells get too strong and hard, and it caused the shrimp to die because of failed molts.

 

Ok, I’m betting the wonder shell and too much gH and kH preventing them from molting was probably the main issue. @Chick-In-Of-TheSea also said that it’s possible that I was changing too much water, as shrimp are sensitive to too much change, and I was doing about a 50% water change every other week, so that could be a cause as well. I’ll definitely have a look at that shrimp info thread that you linked. I appreciate the help, and I’ll definitely implement those changes to hopefully have better luck with cherries in the future! 

[Mystery snail ate my cherry shrimp??]

On 11/7/2022 at 3:49 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I keep mystery snails with shrimp, and they live peacefully together. Mystery snails will certainly eat dead shrimp, and dead fish as well. Shrimp are fast and when they feel threatened they shoot off like a flash in the other direction. I think it’s unlikely the mystery snail killed them.

I’d look at a few more possible causes of death such as:

*stress from current (common with hang-on-back filters)

*sucked into hang-on-back filter

*Water changes of more than 10%. Shrimp are sensitive to change.

*temperature of new water going in does not match temperature of tank

*parameter issues (ammonia or nitrite present, or nitrates >40ppm)

Would any of these apply to your tank situation?

 

I use a sponge filter, my parameters are pretty stable and in healthy areas for shrimp, so my guess is it probably had something to do with the water changes. I usually change at least 50% of the water. I wasn’t aware that shrimp were so sensitive to water changes! I’m going to definitely be more car about that in the future, thank you! 

[Mystery snail ate my cherry shrimp??]

On 11/6/2022 at 11:53 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea and @Guppysnail do a lot of stuff about Mystery Snails, maybe they can help?

Thank you!! 

[Mystery snail ate my cherry shrimp??]

I had the shrimp for about 5 weeks before they started to disappear. The tank is about 8 weeks old, so pretty fresh. I feed Hikari mini algae pellets every few days, and occasionally blanched cucumber as a treat. I can’t remember what my tank parameters are exactly, but I tested this morning and they’re in a safe range, and around what they usually are. Zero chlorine, zero nitrite, barely any nitrate, zero ammonia, and liquid rock in regards to hardness. I have pretty hard water where I live anyway, and I do add wonder shells to clear the water and add more calcium to the tank, but I haven’t ever had problems with the water being too hard to the point it kills things, especially because harder water is great for shrimp and snails. So who knows? It’s possible that they’re just dying off slowly from a disease, but I’ve looked for any signs of infection, parasites, or diseases, and I couldn’t see any, plus my LFS does a thorough quarantine process before releasing any fish for sale, and I’ve always had good luck with their shrimp in other tanks without David the possible killer snail. And it just confuses me why I didn’t see any dead shrimp after they began to disappear? Unless the snail was eating them after they died? Anyway, hope that gave you any additional info you needed to maybe help solve this mystery? And thank you for the input! 

[My first Wrigglers today!]

Woohoo baby angels!! As everyone else is saying, yes, please post some pictures! 

[Mystery snail ate my cherry shrimp??]

Well folks, I think I have a silent murderer on my hands. I had a group of cherry shrimp, 4 to be exact, in a planted 2.5 gallon tank, with a nerite and 2 mystery snails. I slowly started noticing my cherry shrimp disappearing, and now I’m down to only one! I looked for a body to scoop out when I noticed one was missing initially, but couldn’t find one. I moved things around and still nothing. I thought maybe it had escaped out of the tank as shrimp sometimes do, but I have a pretty tight lid on the tank with no gaps it could’ve crawled out of, so I ruled that theory out pretty quickly. A few days go by, and another one went missing! I went through the same process as before, look for a body, make sure the tank lid had been on properly that night, etc. Still nothing. Now I know this might sound crazy, but my mid size gold mystery snail, David, moves pretty quickly, and I can only assume he ate them somehow? I had seen him sneak up on my shrimp before and and try to glide over them, but never try to take a bite of one. My nerite is slow and keeps to himself, and my other mystery snail minds his own business and likes to hang out under his favorite little rock, so I ruled them out as possible suspects as well. I know shrimp can be quite vulnerable and a bit slower when molting, so maybe he got them then? Has anyone had this happen before or knows anything about mystery snails munching on helpless cherry shrimp? Any answers or theories would be much appreciated! 

Here is the culprit: 

[Oberon and Puck!]

Your fish are beautiful, and such a pure white! I’ve only ever seen white ones that still had a bit of a blue or pink tinge to their scales, though still stunning nonetheless. Best of luck on your fish keeping journey, and keep up the good work, your tank and fish look great! 

[Howdy fellow fish nerds!]

On 11/4/2022 at 9:41 AM, SC Fish said:

personally i think that tank is a bit small for a betta, but it may be the camera not doing it any justice. how big is it exactly? 
none the less it looks pretty healthy 

The tank is 5 gallons, and I know thats the bare minimum that a betta needs. When I adopted Floyd from my friend, she gave him to me in a tiny plastic tank that was barely a gallon, so I would say his current tank is definitely an upgrade! A 5 gallon was also the largest tank I could afford at the time. I’m hoping to eventually upgrade him to something bigger like a 10 gallon. 

[Howdy fellow fish nerds!]

Howdy everyone! I’m super excited to be joining this forum! I’m a relatively new fish keeper based in Utah. I love musicals, I’m an audio engineer by day, aquarist by night, and I love Pink Floyd! I have two nano tanks at the moment; a 5 gallon and a 2.5 gallon. In my 5 gallon, I have a two year old red and blue half-moon betta named Floyd that I adopted from a friend moving states for college. Adopting Floyd (formerly known as Sherman) really kick-started my fish keeping journey, and now he is my absolute pride and joy! Sharing his home are three amano shrimp called the Three Musketeers, and two brown mystery snails named Mio and Steve. Plant wise in that tank, I have an amazon sword, pogostemon stellatus octopus, a very small dwarf saggitaria that I propagated from my 2.5 gallon, and some sparsely planted dwarf hair grass. This tank has been running in its current configuration for about 12 weeks now. My 2.5 gallon is a little newer, coming in about 7 weeks old. As of now, it’s a shrimp and snail only tank, with two big mystery snails (one gold, one black), a small but mighty nerite snail, and a handful of cherry shrimp. The gold mystery snail is named David, and the black one is named Syd. I called the nerite snail Roger, and the cherry shrimp are collectively known as Barbra Streisand. Plant wise in this tank, I have a not-so-dwarf dwarf saggittaria and a rapidly growing java fern. While I’ve pretty much always kept some form of betta since I was about 8, this is my first serious attempt at fish keeping, and its going quite well! Random side note, the first betta I ever kept, Finn, lived to be 7 years old! I know the average betta life span is around 2-5 years, so maybe I just got lucky? Or maybe being an aquarist is in my DNA! Anywho, thats a little bit about me and a lot about my tanks. Thanks for reading if you got this far! I’ll try to include some pictures of my underwater friends.