Sick/Aging Betta

[EvesFishJourney]

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. 

[Kurt Brutting]

You could add a couple Indian Almond leaves. Bettas love them and they provide medicinal effects including enrichment. Also maybe get some new fresh fish food if yours has been around for awhile. It’s hard to say what is wrong, but 3 years old is a good age for a betta. I personally keep my betta around 80-82 degrees. I have heard a lot of people keep them even warmer up to 86 degree’s. 

[Colu]

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

Edited November 17, 2022 by Colu

[EvesFishJourney]

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 🙂