Keeping Fish

[Shellybean02]

He's fighting to swim and stay normal though; doesn't he deserve a chance?
Anyone here ever had a betta with SBD? How did you treat, and how did it turn out? He just got it 15 minutes ago so I'm sure he has time left for me to attempt at saving him. I can temporarily house them in a bowl while the tank cycles; I can add some hardy fish to speed up the cycle; I can even get a hospital bowl just for my little Orlando, as long as I'm trying for him. I'll convince my mom that it's an emergency and that we should shop for his special needs, with my money. It's worth a shot if other people do it, right?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I would pull him out and put him in some fresh water, I don't know if you have city or well water, city water needs to be treated, I'm not sure what SBD is, they do deserve a shot, if you have some non ionized salts, without iodine add, put a pinch in the water for him and place the container somewhere warm.

 

[Shellybean02]

The temp in my room is pretty warm since I always have the TV running and the door closed. I'm sure the water in a little container will be around 78 degrees or so. SBD is swim bladder disorder, usually caused by constipation and usually not fatal. It causes fish to sink or float on their side. I'll put him in a container with fresh water and keep him in my room. The water I use is from this place where we fill up huge bottles and we use that water all the time. Even if it is tap water it sits in the bottles for days so it should be settled and good for the fish. I doubt they would have water with extras or what not available for the whole county to drink all the time.

 

[politicalcenter]

I can't say much about the behavior of my boys, as they seem active one moment and wasted the next. Orlando(multicolored rosetail) sometimes blows bubbles from his gills when he breathes at the surface. Do Monroe's gills seem to have lost color?

As far as color is concerned check the background of you tank. Fish will "wash out" in a light colored background and darken up in a darker backgrounds. If you use a light gravel and a light colored background the fish will become lighter colored. So...they will change color (lighter to darker and vise versa) with no ill effects. It is just natures way of keeping them hidden from predators. I always preferred a darker gravel and a darker background.

Wouldn't that require more filters/heaters/water etc.? I'm not sure if I'm really ready for that kind of upgrade just yet. There are slits on the sides of the box(for lack of a better word), which should let the water quality remain pretty much the same without the flow from the filter. I also use a syringe with water(not a needle one) to squirt dirt and such from the bottom compartment. I was considering rehousing Monroe, because his bubble nest is coming along beautifully and I wouldn't want to destroy it when it's completely made(he needs another container to care for the eggs anyways). They both seem normal, I know I shouldn't have but I checked to see if they would eat using one pellet each - they won't eat if they're sick, right? They ate, so I'm not concerned as before. I'll check the water levels tonight.

Fish can go without eating for quite a while if they have to and if you have ever gone fishing you know that sometimes fish just don't bite. I have dropped my bait in the middle of a bunch of fish and sometimes it only serves to scare them away. The fish in my catfish pond are not eating right now and I am not concerned. They slow down when it gets cold and they quit eating.

Fish will stop eating when it gets too hot and when it gets too cold. You may want to check the temperature of the water and make sure it stays at the proper temperature for your fish and make sure you don't have temperature swings more that 2 degrees between day and night. You want to maintain the proper temperature and keep it there.

If you don't have them ...get a thermometer and an aquarium heater before you get any more fish.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Shelly, You'd be surprised about what can be found in your drinking water at any given time...

Bettas aren't particularly prone to SBD (you see it more in fancy, round bodied goldfish) but I'd imagine they could get it too. If I were in your situation, honestly, I'd leave the fish in the tank, turn off the tank light (if its on), keep your room dimly lit and don't feed them for a few days. They sound super stressed, likely because, as mentioned before, your tank isn't cycled. When I set my tank back up, I let it cycle for an entire month before adding fish, and I'd treated and seeded the water and used a filter pad that had come out of an established tank. I still used cheap feeder goldies as guinea pigs at first.
Allowing the tank to cycle is the absolute most important thing you can do for your new fish.

Try to reduce stress for the fish as much as possible. At this point, I wouldn't even remove them to fresh water or to dip them, you'll just be stressing them even more. I hope you don't loose them, but please prepare yourself for the worst case scenario and don't get too discouraged.

And on that note, I found one of my Sakura shrimp dead today. It had somehow managed to get itself stuck between a couple of the marbles on the bottom of the tank :/ I've removed the marbles and added some fine gravel. Hopefully I didn't kill too many of the shrimp fry in the process

 

[Shellybean02]

I meant my black betta's gills seem to have lost color; thanks though, good to know!
Quick question: are all epsom salts the same? I'm pretty sure we have a bag of it somewhere, but I'm not sure if certain epsom salts are for baths, fish, cooking... or are they all the same unless otherwise stated on the package(like epsom salts and baby powder bath solution... just coming from the top of my head lol)?

 

[politicalcenter]

The temp in my room is pretty warm since I always have the TV running and the door closed. I'm sure the water in a little container will be around 78 degrees or so. SBD is swim bladder disorder, usually caused by constipation and usually not fatal. It causes fish to sink or float on their side. I'll put him in a container with fresh water and keep him in my room. The water I use is from this place where we fill up huge bottles and we use that water all the time. Even if it is tap water it sits in the bottles for days so it should be settled and good for the fish. I doubt they would have water with extras or what not available for the whole county to drink all the time.

Is this water you get reverse osmosis water? If it is the problem may be your water. Reverse osmosis water is IMHO too pure for fish. The water has very little...if any...dissolved minerals in it and it could harm your fish.

I think it would be better if you used tap water treated with one of those over the counter additives.

Someone else could probably tell you which one to use because I treat my water with air and sunlight over days and even weeks.

 

[politicalcenter]

Shelly, You'd be surprised about what can be found in your drinking water at any given time...

Bettas aren't particularly prone to SBD (you see it more in fancy, round bodied goldfish) but I'd imagine they could get it too. If I were in your situation, honestly, I'd leave the fish in the tank, turn off the tank light (if its on), keep your room dimly lit and don't feed them for a few days. They sound super stressed, likely because, as mentioned before, your tank isn't cycled. When I set my tank back up, I let it cycle for an entire month before adding fish, and I'd treated and seeded the water and used a filter pad that had come out of an established tank. I still used cheap feeder goldies as guinea pigs at first.
Allowing the tank to cycle is the absolute most important thing you can do for your new fish.

Try to reduce stress for the fish as much as possible. At this point, I wouldn't even remove them to fresh water or to dip them, you'll just be stressing them even more. I hope you don't loose them, but please prepare yourself for the worst case scenario and don't get too discouraged.

And on that note, I found one of my Sakura shrimp dead today. It had somehow managed to get itself stuck between a couple of the marbles on the bottom of the tank

I've removed the marbles and added some fine gravel. Hopefully I didn't kill too many of the shrimp fry in the process

If you look those cheap feeder goldfish over very carefully you can get some really nice goldfish cheap.

Feeder guppies are nice too.

The above post is good advice. Don't worry the fish to death!!!!!!

 

[LeafBlade12345]

Sorry, he's probably not going to make it, you have to let your tank run a bit to get established, a few weeks, normally when you set up a tank you should fill it and let it sit for a few days than add a couple of fish that are considered guinea pigs, they help to get the tank going and have to ride out the spikes, bettas aren't good for that, they are sensitive to ammonia spikes which can burn their gills. You may unfortunately lose all your first batch, just leave things be and let the tank get established, then in a couple of weeks I might add some guppies or platies then a bit later try another betta if you lose more. In the meantime do some reading on setting up a tank and keeping it healthy so you know what to expect, I read a lot of things and had to figure out what worked best for me. Don't get too discouraged.

X2!!! Start up again with some guppies or mollies if you want to breed. Both species are great live bearers and much more hardy. I can give you tips on them as I have kept and bred both species for a very long time now. You can even show some quality gups!

Regards,
Leaf

 

[LeafBlade12345]

The temp in my room is pretty warm since I always have the TV running and the door closed. I'm sure the water in a little container will be around 78 degrees or so. SBD is swim bladder disorder, usually caused by constipation and usually not fatal. It causes fish to sink or float on their side. I'll put him in a container with fresh water and keep him in my room. The water I use is from this place where we fill up huge bottles and we use that water all the time. Even if it is tap water it sits in the bottles for days so it should be settled and good for the fish. I doubt they would have water with extras or what not available for the whole county to drink all the time.

I doubt this is SBD. Fish like guppies often get it from ingesting air, which causes their organs to swell. This would not happen with betas, but it could be possible constipation as well. Anyway, I treat SBD in different ways. I will sometimes add a piece of cooked pea into the water, after eating, some fish may improve. Sometimes I will just let the fish be. I've had them survive for a very long time in this condition. Often it goes away by itself if it is truly constipation. Intestinal swelling is more dangerous though. Sometimes culling is the best choice for your fish. But if he is eating and seems to have a good quality of life, you may just let him be.

Regards,
Leaf

Edited because stupid spellcheck changes by to bye. Bravo Internet!