Betta sitting at bottom of tank, hasn't eaten in days, copepods

[bettas]

I have a 2 year old female betta who sits mostly at the bottom of the tank. She's been doing this since the past 1.5 weeks. There are many copepods in the tank, and I believe that she may be affected with parasites. Last time I posted here, there were visible copepods attached to her body, which I was told could be because a parasite may have taken over a copepod which attached to her body. This time, there are no copepods attached to the body, but she is most likely affected with internal parasites.

I have already treated her with "Absolute Wormer +" but I don't think it had any affect. I am not sure what to do at this point, as she not eating well at all. Please advice me on what to do. To make the food more appetizing, I have used garlic guard. The scent attracts her towards the food but she doesn't eat it. 

[Colu]

On 12/18/2023 at 4:40 PM, bettas said:

I have a 2 year old female betta who sits mostly at the bottom of the tank. She's been doing this since the past 1.5 weeks. There are many copepods in the tank, and I believe that she may be affected with parasites. Last time I posted here, there were visible copepods attached to her body, which I was told could be because a parasite may have taken over a copepod which attached to her body. This time, there are no copepods attached to the body, but she is most likely affected with internal parasites.

I have already treated her with "Absolute Wormer +" but I don't think it had any affect. I am not sure what to do at this point, as she not eating well at all. Please advice me on what to do. To make the food more appetizing, I have used garlic guard. The scent attracts her towards the food but she doesn't eat it. 

A little more information would be helpful what are your water parameters ammonia nitrite nitrate pH KH GH temperature what are you feeding can you post a picture of the fish it will help with a diagnosis 

[bettas]

@Colu I have tested ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate using the API water testing kit and everything is at 0 ppm. I am feeding "New Life Spectrum Betta Small 25g Naturox Series)." Here is a photo: 

[Colu]

On 12/24/2023 at 2:28 AM, bettas said:

@Colu I have tested ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate using the API water testing kit and everything is at 0 ppm. I am feeding "New Life Spectrum Betta Small 25g Naturox Series)." Here is a photo: 

It's looks like it's got weight loss what I would do is treat with levamisole active ingredient in expel p 

Edited December 24, 2023 by Colu

[bettas]

@Colu Would that be enough to treat? The medication will be arriving on Thursday. Is there anything else I can do until then?

[Colu]

On 12/25/2023 at 11:38 PM, bettas said:

@Colu Would that be enough to treat? The medication will be arriving on Thursday. Is there anything else I can do until then?

You would need to treat once a week for 4 weeks with levamisole so dose medication black out the tank for 24hr do a water and through gravel to remove as many of the expelled parasites and eggs and  repeat ever 7 days for  four weeks 

[bettas]

@Colu There will be some sunlight pouring into the tank. Would that be fine, or would I need to cover with a blanket 24/7? 

I have been trying to feed her pellets and have been using Garlic Guard to get her to the surface to eat. She gets hungry when she smells the garlic, but she is taking very small bites at the food (most of the time the bites are completely far away from the food). Is there any way I could get her to eat?

Edited December 26, 2023 by bettas

[Colu]

On 12/26/2023 at 12:42 AM, bettas said:

@Colu There will be some sunlight pouring into the tank. Would that be fine, or would I need to cover with a blanket 24/7? 

I have been trying to feed her pellets and have been using Garlic Guard to get her to the surface to eat. She is attracted to the scent, but she is taking very small bites at the food (most of the time the bites are completely far away from the food). Is there any way I could get her to eat?

I would put a blanket over the tank you could try feeding live or frozen brine shrimp daphnia blood worms that might stimulate the appetite 

[bettas]

Thanks @Colu I tried feeding freeze-dried daphnia/blood worms/brine shrimp but that doesn't seem to work. I am waiting for the frozen food to arrive. I have started the medication as well. She hasn't been eating at all, and I'm getting concerned over what I can do to make her eat. 

I would like to know why these nematodes pop up in my tank (I haven't skipped a single water change since the last time this happened) every winter. I know many people say they are harmless, but I see on the Fritz Expel box that nematodes cause wasting disease in fish. Is there an explanation for this?

[Colu]

On 12/29/2023 at 12:10 AM, bettas said:

Thanks @Colu I tried feeding freeze-dried daphnia/blood worms/brine shrimp but that doesn't seem to work. I am waiting for the frozen food to arrive. I have started the medication as well. She hasn't been eating at all, and I'm getting concerned over what I can do to make her eat. 

I would like to know why these nematodes pop up in my tank (I haven't skipped a single water change since the last time this happened) every winter. I know many people say they are harmless, but I see on the Fritz Expel box that nematodes cause wasting disease in fish. Is there an explanation for this?

The eggs can come in on  plants  fish.  fish can have a low parasite burden when a fish becomes stressed affecting the immune system that's when your fish can become overwhelmed there's lots of different species of nematode worms some species' are completely harmless other such as camallanus worms have a high mortality rate 

[bettas]

@Colu I purchased the plant about 1.5 years ago. I guess the eggs for the nematodes might hatch during wintertime. 

How can I get her to eat? After adding the Expel P, she seems to have gotten even more lethargic. 

[Colu]

On 12/29/2023 at 2:16 AM, bettas said:

@Colu I purchased the plant about 1.5 years ago. I guess the eggs for the nematodes might hatch during wintertime. 

How can I get her to eat? After adding the Expel P, she seems to have gotten even more lethargic. 

Given the length of time from adding the plants I don't think they would be the cause of what your seeing. It's a difficult one she might be to weak to accept food live or frozen might simulate here appetite if you have access to kanaplex maracyn2 API fin and body cure just in case there's a bacterial component I would do a course of which ever one is the most readily available 

Edited January 2 by Colu

[bettas]

@Colu She has lying motionless on the floor but her gills are moving (after adding the medication). I am not sure what to do in this situation, as I am not sure if the medication is working. 

[Colu]

On 12/29/2023 at 5:36 PM, bettas said:

@Colu She has lying motionless on the floor but her gills are moving (after adding the medication). I am not sure what to do in this situation, as I am not sure if the medication is working. 

Sorry to say she might be to weak for the medication to have  any effect at this point what I would do is add an extra air stone and hope for the best 

[bettas]

@Colu She is still breathing, but on the gravel from the past few days. I'm not sure if adding Kanaplex would help in this situation, but I can try adding. Please let me know what other steps I can take. She also hasn't been eating.

[Colu]

On 12/31/2023 at 7:33 PM, bettas said:

@Colu She is still breathing, but on the gravel from the past few days. I'm not sure if adding Kanaplex would help in this situation, but I can try adding. Please let me know what other steps I can take. She also hasn't been eating.

If she's still holding on you could add the kanaplex if you think she suffering I would humanely euthanize her with clove oil 

[bettas]

@Colu Thanks for the advice. She passed on her own. I would just like to know what might have triggered the hatching of the nematode eggs. This happened last winter as well.

[jwcarlson]

On 1/2/2024 at 2:23 PM, bettas said:

@Colu Thanks for the advice. She passed on her own. I would just like to know what might have triggered the hatching of the nematode eggs. This happened last winter as well.

Sorry to hear you lost your fish 😞

Do you have a heater in your tank?  When you say that this happened last winter as well, I assume it was the same fish?  My general thoughts on parasites is that they are ALWAYS present in aquariums, but typically not able to overpower an otherwise healthy fish.  But if they're hit with a stressor like shipping or maybe a heater goes out and instead of being at 80 degrees and happy it drifts down to 68 (or maybe even lower) and that's enough to suddenly allow the parasites to start overpowering the host.  She starts eating less so if the worms were consuming half of her calories before but now suddenly she's only eating half as much, she will start to dwindle.  A year old fish might be able to take it, but a two year old one might not.  I personally think two years is pretty good for a betta, I've not kept a ton of them, but I have never had good luck personally.

[bettas]

@jwcarlson Thanks for your input. There is a heater in the tank and the temperature has been pretty stable from 77-79. Very rarely would the temperature drop down to 75 or 74, but I believe that could be enough to have stressed her out (?) She was about to turn 3 years old right before she passed 😞 

Edited January 2 by bettas

[jwcarlson]

On 1/2/2024 at 3:11 PM, bettas said:

@jwcarlson Thanks for your input. There is a heater in the tank and the temperature has been pretty stable from 77-79. Very rarely would the temperature drop down to 75 or 74, but I believe that could be enough to have stressed her out (?) She was about to turn 3 years old before she passed 😞 

Almost three is a pretty good run, in my opinion!

[bettas]

On 1/2/2024 at 3:15 PM, jwcarlson said:

Almost three is a pretty good run, in my opinion!

Thank you

Edited January 2 by bettas

[Colu]

On 1/2/2024 at 8:23 PM, bettas said:

@Colu Thanks for the advice. She passed on her own. I would just like to know what might have triggered the hatching of the nematode eggs. This happened last winter as well.

Sorry to hear that she didn't pull through you did everything you could 3 years is a good age for a betta especially with health issues they have due to low genetic diversity in tank bred stains 

Edited January 2 by Colu
Stupid autocorrect

[bettas]

On 1/2/2024 at 4:52 PM, Colu said:

Sorry to hear that she didn't pull through you did everything you could 3 years is a good age for a betta especially with health issues they how due to low genetic diversity in tank bred stains 

Thank you. I got her as a little fry from PetSmart. There may be genetic defects that led to a weak immunity later on.