My fish are sick...any ideas?

Question

Long story short: My two betta are very sick. They have been for three weeks now. They look perfectly fine except I think they are losing weight because they aren't eating. No changes to suggest parasites or Ick or anything. I am getting advice from someone on YA but I would like some ideas as to what could possibly be the problem. They don't eat anymore, as of a week and a half ago and they don't swim, just lay on the bottom and move from spot to spot occasionally. I have done water changes, tested the water, medicated with Maracyn 2 for five days ending yesterday. I use spring water in their tank and I even switched brands in case the water quality changed in that brand. I added Stress Coat. No salt since I was adding too much, so I was told to hold off for awhile. Did anyone ever have such a condition? A mysterious illness that you can't find out what is wrong?

Answer 1

First of all, if you are feeding the betta those commercial pet store flake food that betta will never eat that. Bettas are very picky eaters beacuse they are born in feilds and ponds where they eat insect larva insects woorms and other stuff in that nature. Since bettas cant get that stuff in pet stores, they ususally die in 6, 7 weeks. Try feeding it freezed dried bloodworms and experiment in there diet. Bettas cant recognize that those flakes are foods.

Answer 2

Check the temperature.  I'd be willing to bet the water is below 75*.  Cold water slows the fishes' metabolism, reducing their need (and drive) to eat.  Also, if there are ANY levels of ammonia, they could be suffering the early stages of ammonia poisoning, which causes anorexia.  How big are their tanks?

EDIT: Well, I lose, then.  Maybe try cranking the temperature back up to about 83-84* (the fish will love it)-- it is possible they are unhappy about going back to "cool" water after getting a taste of heat.

Answer 3

This happpened to my fish too. how long have you had them for? my uncle knows alot about fish and he said it just comes to betas with old age. my beta lived for aobut 2 years when this started to happen. good luck :D

Answer 4

Just curious where did you happen to get your fish from?

Edit: I am going to bet that Soup n**i is right!

Answer 5

I've had that problem before. First of all, how old are they, and second, where did you get them from? Because if you've gotten them from a petshop that doesn't treat their animals with much care, then you may have just gotten some poor health animals at the petshop. Most petshops don't care about the health of the animal, just the profit they make.

But, if you didn't get them from a poor petstore, maybe they are just old? I'm not sure. I still need to know where you got them and how old they are in any case.

I hope your fish get better. :)

Edit: I had a betta that I had had for about two months before this started happening to him. He just ignored the food. I'm thinking that they came from a bad petstore.. Other than that, I don't know what else could be wrong, you already checked the water and everything, so sorry I'm not of much other help. Possibly they're old?