Betta Sickness (in Off-topic)

I have a betta that I notice is becoming a pale color and swollen beneath his Gills. I've had a previous beta that died the same way. We thought it was from over feeding, but I only feed my beta 5-6 baby pellets (which are very small) a day. I was wondering if anyone had prior experiences and saw anything that I could do to help. Thanks.

P.S. - I would rather only serious replies and if this seems like a waste of a thread about a fish to you, just hit the back button and go about your business. Thanks.

I don't know much about fish but we had a dragonfish that died from a mouth fungus. Everytime I go to the aquarium there's a lot of mention about fungus on all the food labels and stuff. It might possibly be a fungus. If it's swollen beneath the gills that might mean that your filter isn't strong enough and it's breathing in bad stuff.

Oh my bad, misspelled Beta..Should have been Betta, and he's around 1 and a half years old. He is in a 2.5 Gallon tank with a mechanical filtration filter that uses carbon.

Have you tried Google-ing for information on the proper care and feeding of pet fish? And for illnesses of same?

Just found a nice page about diseases and such in fish, I guess I didn't look in the right place last time I googled.

One thing you might try is let the sun hit the tank and let the algae bloom for a week or so it really seems to help Bettas .Although with such a small tank the sun might over heat it .Oh how much and how often do you do a water change ?

pretty often, once every around 10 days or so, his tank never really gets dirty, but then again I don't have anything to test the chemical properties.

A Pool test kit is fairly cheap and can be gotten at just about any hardware store it will test for the pH and Cl2 in your water. Now do you have well water or town water. Just about any town water system uses Cl2 as a disinfectant, and may add other things like water softeners, orthophosphates, fluoride, and many if they are filtered use some sort of aluminum based coagulant to aid in filtration. We've had a few Beta's as well (awesome little fish) I usually used bottled water or let the water sit out for a few days for the Cl2 to dissipate.

I use town water, I'm assuming that it is treated, but I use a solution that breaks down those chemicals, can't think of the name of it off the top of my head, but you add a certain amount of drops per gallon and it basically makes it untreated water.

A thought, if you bought it fully grown the "condition" could be old age.You should get a bigger tank and a male and female if you turn off the bubbler they will often mate. Those bubble nests and their construction I found really neat.

if you are using city water it is best you add some salt, its what i do everytime i add water to my tank along with water solution

Most likely a infection on the gills, you should go down to your local aquarium and see if they have a treatment for it. Usually comes in a bottle, similar to your water treatment, just add how many mil/L. Or you could do a minor water change, i.e. 1/4 of the water level and add the new water in with the solution premixed. I've also seen 'pills' that you can drop into the tank to help kill the parasites/bacteria.

Wiki Link

I love Siamese fighting fish myself, they are way hardy fish and can thrive even with little maintainence. My sister had one that she put in normal tap water, fed once a week and didn't give a water change for months, poor thing, but it lived well over a year. I myself like to collect Siamese fighting which are purely one colour, I've had a pure red, blue and white, each living several years :)

Well... I think he had ich, and he is now gone. It doesn't take very long does it? Thanks for the replies, and I think if I were to get another betta or any other fish for that matter, I'll be better prepared. bettatalk.com has a nice First Aid Kit for betta's that makes a lot of sense. Just thought you betta keepers might want to check that out.