Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I will try to make a long story short.
I have bought a Betta male 7 month ago. He was alone in one aquarium (so no external 'influence').
He was very active.
Two month ago, suddenly, his appetite dropped dramatically (from very good to almost nothing in 2-3 days). No external signs on his body. Tried changing the water completely (no change).
Over the last 2 months, his situation changed in bad.
Now, he is not eating at all (and by not eating I mean nothing).
More, he is not active any more; laying on leafs, on bottom of aquarium, on water surface.
The last thing I have observed is that the front part of his body has lost colour. His body is blue; the head is now brown-blue.
He really seems suffering. His eyes have lost the sparks he used to have..

Please help me with some advice. I am thinking he is just aging (although the signs were a little to fast), but I just want a confirmation.

Thank you a lot!

And one more question:
can an infrared lamp do any help? or it will make thinks worse?

It sounds like your betta has gill disease. I learned from experience that the outcome is not so good. However, you can still try to save him. You can add an airstone to help oxygenate the water to help his gills pick up the oxygen. You can also add a teaspoon of aquarium salt to 10 gallons of water. That will help with his osmoregulation. It may also help if he has an infection. It worked wonders for my one barb that had a sore that was getting infected.

The 100% water change was a very bad idea because now the beneficial bacteria that were in the water are no longer in there, so he may die from ammonia poisoning since the tank has to cycle again. The cycling process is very stressful on a fish. I would also add some cycle or some other bacterial additive to help with that process also. They have one for bettas, I think it's called betta complete.

Since it's been 2 months since you noticed the changes, it is likely that the damage is not reversible, but that's not for sure. I can only say from my best judgment. He may have a lot of fight in him. Hopefully he can pull through this.

I've not heard of an infrared lamp being used to treat fish diseases, so I wouldn't recommend that. Try the above solutions and just be patient. There's nothing else you can really do. Just keep an eye on the symptoms and water parameters (i.e.: ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, and pH). If you don't have a water testing kit, you should purchase one. It will help you know when to do a water change (although a tank should generally have 20% of the water changed every 2 weeks). Keep in mind also that your tank will be cycling again, which means your ammonia will be high for a little while (not good for fish).

Hope this helps.
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Phishie
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"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."