Why is my betta fish so disease prone?

Question

my first ever male betta fish that I got from petsmart has gotten sick twice, and I've only had him for about a week and a few days. first he was lazy and staying at the bottom of his tank for long periods of time, and I self-diagnosed (with the help of a petsmart employee on the phone) that he had a fungal infection. (paling face, laziness) and I gave him metafix twice, and he got hyper and active. now he has these little white, salt-like things on his body, so I've given him quICK cure. he's never stopped eating regularly, he's always eaten like a little pig. he doesn't have any other fish in his one gallon tank, only plastic plants, a thermometer and glass marbles at the bottom. the water is usually around 73 degrees. every time I clean his tank, I put betta plus (water conditioner) in it. he is my baby, and I love him so much, could anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Answer 1

I don't think you are doing anything wrong. Some fish just are more disease prone than others. I've had three Betas, and my most recent died just this week of extreme old age at five and a half years. But my first one live for less than a week, before dieing of Ick.

Answer 2

Bettas from places like Walmart and Petsmart are notorious for being diesease ridden due to the conditions they often keep the fish in with infrequent water changes and freezing cups.

Thats your first problem, picking up a fish that came home with diesease.

Next problem, while a 1 gallon is the absolute minimum to house a betta and its good you went for that over a typicall 1/2 gallon "betta kit", 1 gallons are particularly difficult to keep clean and at an appropriate temp.  Bettas are tropical fish and to be healthy and better ward off diesease they need a temp over 75F and the closer to 80 the better.  So unless you have a place in your house that stays this warm you'll need a heater.  The heater will keep the betta more active and better able to ward off diesease.  So that being said, its next to impossible to heat a 1 gallon without cooking your betta accidently.  Id reccomend upgrading to something larger than 2.5 gallons which will allow you to get a small wattage heater.

Also, in a 1 gallon you'll need to change the water every 3-5 days in order to maintain healthy conditions for a betta.

Answer 3

the white spots are called ick or ich. these diseases commonly come from poor water quality. but u say u use water conditioner..i dont think this will get rid of the bacterial or fungal infections. ur best bet would to be to transfer him to a smaller container ..then clean his main aquarium. wash the gravel and plants with very hot water and or vinegar(the acid in the vinegar will help). wash the tank with salt and vinegar. the acidity in vinegar will help kill the fungus and the salt will provide a concentrated solution and the bacterial cells will dry out and die. wash the other stuff too like the thermometer. rinse it all thoroughly and refill the tank. for the tank and the smaller container make sure that the water is free of chlorine either by using a store bought product (just ask them) or u can let it sit for about 30 hours. at this point u can put him back in the tank...or if u want to be sure u can put other cheap fish in first (that are disease free) to help replace the slime layer and micro organisms in the tank that the fish need. then take them out and put ur betta in. good luck. i used to raise and breed hundreds of freshwater and saltwater fish. hope it helps. oh yea, the size of ur tank is more than adequate and a1 gal tank with only one fish u only need to change 1/3 of the water every week. make sure u siphon the droppings from between the gravel too. u can always get a small water heater.they are cheap and it will work just fine.