Who Gives A Fish Forums

Hi all, new here, but desperate for advice at this stage.

Have a cycled tank, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrate, 0 nitrite, 7pH. Temp 25c

I moved my betta out of a community tank 3 weeks ago, as after 2 months in there she became aggressive. She settled into her new tank seemingly fine, she was very happy for a week swimming around and eating as normal.

After a week she started to wedge herself next to the heater, or the filter, and seemed to be at the top a lot to breathe. After a few days of this she perked up again.

On Saturday, 2 and a bit weeks in, I fed her as normal (couple of fluval bug bites) and she moved onto this leaf at the top of the tank and has not moved since. We’ve been to the local shop 3 times to ask for advice, there are no signs of any disease physically, she won’t eat, she will not move from the leaf.

We gave her some vitamin drops (esh?) for the last 3 days.

If I tip her off the leaf, she is frantically trying to get back to it, swimming head up tail down. She seems to sink like a brick if she stops, but the guys at the shop said it didn’t seem like swim bladder as she’s not tipping or struggling to swim. All she does all day is sit on that leaf.

We’ve tried live food, we’ve tried her old food, we’ve tried lights on/off, temp up/down a bit, air stone on/off, we’ve baffled the filter with extra sponges, nothing.

We spent a small fortune and a month cycling the tank to make sure everything was perfect and set out just for her and now I have no idea what could be the issue!

Hi, it sounds like bloat. Have you tried changing the food a little? Also, try a little epsom salt, approx 1/8 teaspoon per gallon. Hopefully will come right!

Thanks for your response, unfortunately it took 4-5 days for my post to be approved on here and she died on Saturday. I’m devastated.

oh dear, sorry to hear that! in all honesty, it seemed a little too late for the poor thing anyway. new acc's on here are taking a day or two for approval because of the number of spam coming in. I've lost my fair share of fish, and feel your pain.

so sorry for your loss.