Sick betta

[Bullsnark]

Three weeks ago Iused the med trio as a precaution with all my fish. During day three, she developed tiny white spots on her fins which I assumed was ich. I did a 50% water change at the end of the week and retreated with ich-x and the dots disappeared somewhere in there. 
She was always small and never really grew like the other betta in the sorority did, and she kept going to the bottom corner of the tank. It’s hard to get a picture of both sides of her, because she keeps moving every time I try to get a picture, but after she moves, she sinks to the bottom. Water perimeters are stable. It looks like she’s gasping a little harder, but she was never going to the top for air. Since it looks like it’s the last hours for her, I put her in an outdoor pond to enjoy the sunshine and possibly some fresh bugs if she cares. I know I can’t probably save her, but I would like to prevent this from happening again
Water temperature is 79

[Zenzo]

Looking at your test strip, it appears that you have nitrite present. Is this a relatively new tank, or was there a sudden change that may have caused the nitrite to spike? Nitrite at elevated levels can be very harmful to fish. 

I'm sorry to hear that your fish is ill. Hopefully she will recover. 

[Bullsnark]

On 9/15/2021 at 1:04 PM, Zenzo said:

Looking at your test strip, it appears that you have nitrite present. Is this a relatively new tank, or was there a sudden change that may have caused the nitrite to spike? Nitrite at elevated levels can be very harmful to fish. 

I'm sorry to hear that your fish is ill. Hopefully she will recover. 

It’s a fairly new tank, and I just rescaped it two days ago. This particular betta hasn’t been as active, and hasn’t been putting on weight like the other bought at the same time of the same size. I will grab pictures of the other two. 
The black betta was the same size at the time of purchase 

[Zenzo]

I would suspect that nitrite is the issue because the tank is new/rescaped. Do you happen to have another established tank that you good transfer some filter media, substrate, or decorations from for beneficial bacteria? 

I would advise to do a partial water change to lower the nitrite level (assuming that the tap water doesn't have nitrite - you can test that too). Live plants can help too. Is that floating hornwort a real plant?

[Bullsnark]

On 9/15/2021 at 1:17 PM, Zenzo said:

I would suspect that nitrite is the issue because the tank is new/rescaped. Do you happen to have another established tank that you good transfer some filter media, substrate, or decorations from for beneficial bacteria? 

I would advise to do a partial water change to lower the nitrite level (assuming that the tap water doesn't have nitrite - you can test that too). Live plants can help too. Is that floating hornwort a real plant?

Yes, all the plants are real, and the filter is from the original tank. I moved it into my guppy tank while I worked so that it wouldn’t dry out. I also added some FRITZzyme to my tanks this morning just to boost the bacterial counts. I will check the water again later tonight as I am leaving for a funeral tomorrow morning. 
before I changed the tank, nitrates were extremely low, nitrate was zero, and the rest of the strip looked the same. She hasn’t had much in the way of energy in the four days or so before I remodeled the tank. I was afraid it was something environmental. 

[Colu]

I would do is small daily water changes and add prime every 24hr to detoxify any nitrites.till your nitrites go to zero

[Hobbit]

Nitrite poisoning interferes with breathing/oxygen in fish. I wonder if she was a little weaker than the others to begin with, and the nitrite levels just pushed her over the edge. ❤️ 

Very sweet of you to put her outside for a bit. Not sure what the weather’s like where you are, but warm water holds less oxygen, so if you’re hoping she’ll still make it, be sure to keep her in the shade and bubble in some air. 

[Brandon p]

Has this fish been treated for internal parasites. If has never done well and has not thrived in the past there was a problem before the nitrates changed. The fish may have been to weak from something else. I have always treated twice for internal parasites. Just an idea

[Bullsnark]

On 9/15/2021 at 5:30 PM, Brandon p said:

Has this fish been treated for internal parasites. If has never done well and has not thrived in the past there was a problem before the nitrates changed. The fish may have been to weak from something else. I have always treated twice for internal parasites. Just an idea

Yeah, this week would have been the second week for parasites if I had done another round, but it was the week after the ich-x, para cleanse, and maracyn2 that she started going downhill. 

[quikv6]

Maracyn 2 is quite different than Maracyn....which one did you use? I don't know if Maracyn 2 can work alongside the other 2 meds.

And as others have mentioned...that Nitrite level is too high. Ideally, it should be zero. Getting it down with a partial water change or two would be a great first step for a hope of recovery.