My betta needs help

[BettaBuddy]

My sweet betta Zenzo has not been very good lately. I got him about a year and a half ago at Aquashella. He’s been staying at the bottom of the tank and rarely swimming to the surface to get air. He can hardly swim and can’t stay afloat. He’s in a 5 gallon tank with a heater that stays at 78 degrees Fahrenheit and a sponge filter that I cleaned a couple of weeks ago. There’s a big, growing banana plant in the tank and a mystery snail. The parameters have been checked recently and seem fine. He’s had problems with fin rot in the past, and it stopped for a while but it’s coming back now. I’ve managed to get him to eat pellets and frozen bloodworms but he’s been getting more reluctant to eat the past couple of days. I’m young but I’ve been fishkeeping for several years. I’ve had a special betta that died overnight from a medication that claimed to heal fish, and I don’t want that to happen again, that’s why I’m being extra cautious. It’s just so frustrating how when I’m doing research to try to help Zenzo, one source will say a certain product saved their fish while another will say their fish dropped dead in an hour. I just want advice from someone who knows what they’re talking about. He used to be very lively, and I hate seeing him like this. I don’t want to put my fish down unless I have to. I want to see if there is any other way for him to get better first. Thank you for reading this, I’ll appreciate any advice I can get! ❤️

[Cory]

Have a picture of the overall tank? Sometimes that helps.

[Colu]

What are your water parameters ammonia nitrite nitrate pH KH GH temperature 

[BettaBuddy]

I had to turn the lights off and use flash so the glare wouldn’t be really bad. Does this help? (That’s my snail at the top.)

[BettaBuddy]

On 10/20/2024 at 11:54 PM, Colu said:

What are your water parameters ammonia nitrite nitrate pH KH GH temperature 

I use API test strips

KH 40 ppm

GH around 130-160

pH 6.5

Nitrite 0

Nitrate around 5

Temperature 78 degrees Fahrenheit 

My test strips don’t have ammonia on them. Do I need to try to get something that does?

Are these parameters ok?

[Colu]

On 10/21/2024 at 6:24 AM, BettaBuddy said:

I use API test strips

KH 40 ppm

GH around 130-160

pH 6.5

Nitrite 0

Nitrate around 5

Temperature 78 degrees Fahrenheit 

My test strips don’t have ammonia on them. Do I need to try to get something that does?

Are these parameters ok?

Your parameters are fine I would recommend you getting some ammonia test strips or liquid test just in case you have an ammonia spike what are you feeding and how often any rapid breathing loss of appetite redness to the fins or body bloating 

[Basrive]

Have you tried any botanicals, like a few alder cones? Not sure where botanicals fall on good advice vs woo, but people claim that Bettas love tannic water.

How old was your betta when you got him? If nearing 2-3 years old, might be slowing down with age. 

[ArthurLK11]

Not the answer you want and might not be the best one, but if you got him a year and a half ago he might just be at the end of his natural lifespan. They typically live for 2-3 years and it's not unreasonable to think he was already six months old when you got him. 

[BettaBuddy]

There’s not really any other symptoms other than the lethargy. I’ll put a catappa leaf in the aquarium and see if I can test the ammonia. I guess that it’s old age. Thank you for the help everyone!