Ok my betta has been acting REAL weird today..he's barely swimming around..he wont eat his food..and I caught him sitting right on top of the plant and i swear i thought he was dead and so i tapped the tank and he just started spazzing out and then hid behind the filter(it doesnt run..its just in there). Anyone know why he's acting this way? Is there a way to help him? Please someone help!!

A water change might help? I'd test the water, then change some out just in case...

If he's not eating, then it might be something on top of that, though I'm not too experienced in treating fish yet, so I can't offer any specific advice beyond what I've got

My bettas "play dead" fairly often, though compared to other bettas I've seen they are still very active, fluttering around the tank when I'm around. Could be that they're just being bettas in sitting on the plants & such, but the not-eating is a concern...

Maybe test the water first... that'd be the first thing to affect him adversely?

I am thinking it's the water because i added more water to his tank...i dont have any test kits or anything and i cant get any for a while yet so...and to change his water completly...i would be like this: haha i just liked that emoticon. And he seemed sooo happy when i gave him more water too...i even had it sitting out for a long time so it could get to the same tempurature. And i dunno he really likes his grubs and would eat all the time but now his food just sits there..not touched.

Don't feed him for a day or two, and then try some different foods. Bettas do like to 'play dead' quite often, mine do it even when I am around sometimes. You can do a full water change, just add some dechlorinator and let it be the same temp. I do full water changes once a week with mine with no adverse effects.

He might just be having an off day.

When you changed the water did you use a decholinating addititve?

yes i used the dechlorinative or whatever stuff. i dont think the temp of the water was quite right yet..but i had to put it in. he's probably just not happy with that im guessing..and i do have betta pellets cause when i first got him he wouldnt eat anything for a month..then suddenly started eating grubs. I've tried giving him the pellets once and a while to change his diet up a bit but he just looks and turns away.

You can buy a little thermometer for a couple of dollars to use for checking the temperature of your water if you don't have time to have it sit out for 24 hours or so.

What sort of routine are you using for caring for your betta?

I really would do a full change, because your water quality could be the culprit.

Any way you can get that filter up and running?

See the filter I have is really bad..it killed my goldfish and it gives a REAL strong current and sucks in the fish which is real bad so I don't like using it.

Ok another thing I forgot to say, is it normal then for bettas to "play dead" at the very VERY top of the tank..like right at the edge of the water? Is there too much water in there or something that makes him unhappy?

As some of the others have mentioned, I would do a 100% water change. Match the temperature and add a good dechlorinator/water conditioner.

In an unfiltered container, I do 100% water changes. If the tank is around 2 gallons or so, I do them about once weekly. I let the water sit out for at least 24 hours to match the temperature and stabilize the ph. Then I add my water conditioner (I use Prime). I rinse out the tank with hot water and rinse off any decorations and put it all back together.

hmmm sounds good. but, i dont know what to put the water in to change it..and...where to put him and how to catch him. lol

I would try to catch him with some of his water in a glass, or plastic cup, with a little room for him to swim in (so he's not so cramped that he's bent up...), this should be okay for just a few minutes while you clean the container.

Then I'd take the whole container, dump it out (except for decorations), swish water in there a few times and rinse, then swish and rinse again, then refill with water and add dechlorinator. In refilling, I'd try to match the original temperature by touch - which is probably room temp? - though even room temp water feels cold to me either way, so I err a bit on the lukewarm side, and then give the container with new water in it a few minutes to acclimate to room temp... it would probably take a little while longer than that to truly acclimate, but if you don't have a larger container for the betta to stay in while you clean, it's probably best to keep him in the cup for as little time as possible. Then... set the cup back in the tank so he can swim out on his own, it minimizes stress...

Performing a 100% water change like this is okay for this situation, since you don't have a filter and it sounds like you probably don't have a cycle going through any gravel/decor in your container.
However, performing a 100% change on a fully-cycled, larger filtered tank is highly advised against, because it could damage the tank's biocycle... but that's another story which doesn't apply here... so you're okay. bla bla bla

Edit: Disclaimer: those are just my . Hope this helps!

That sounds good..just a question though. I have to use the water in my tap which is pretty cold and it takes a long, long time to get room tempurature...which is still cold anyway like you said lol. I also kept the cup that my betta came in..you know those cups that they have them in when you buy them? So yeah, would it be okay if I left him in there because thats where they stay in the store..lol. Because I want to water to warm up better than what it is..so...he's gonna need to stay out of the tank for a while so I was wondering if he could stay in that cup for max a day. Because what I want to do is take him out, pour out the water, clean everything, add the new water, dechlorinate it, and then leave it for 24 hours so it can get to mostly room temp..so yeah can he stay out for that long in those cups?

Is it one of those little mini-tubs with the lid that has the inverted hole in it? My bettas came in those... I still use em for transporting the bettas, etc. I think that as long as the water's clean in there, it'd be safe to have a betta in there for up to a day, since they're in those tubs for goodness knows how long in the pet stores w/o water changes & they seem to manage somehow - it's just not the healthiest living situation for that kind of time duration and since they're only in there for a day, I'd refrain from feeding them once they're in the container, to keep the water as close to clean as possible..



I guess in the future maybe you could have an extra container w/refill water waiting in it for a day or two to acclimate? Dunno

*down there*

I think one day in the cup will be okay. As long as it isn't a thimble where he's all folded up & stuff.

oh..well then...hmm..his water seems to have uh..grubs in there..which is real gross..i never knew the water was that bad..so yes this isnt good! The cup has dirty grubs in there..and his tank is too cold for him right now. ahhhhh


oh oh what if i used water bottle water and put him a cup with that water for a bit? but then there is still that situation of trying not to get the grubs in there...haha. ahhh so confusing

I'd think that even with the grubs, he should be able to hold out for one more day. If you want, you can change out some of the water in the cup (pour a little out, add a little in) with the warmest faucet water that you can get. Add some dechlorinator before running the stream of water into the cup, or run the new bit of faucet water into another cup first and add dechlor to it, then pour it into the betta's cup... that way, since you are leaving some of the already-room-temp water in the cup, there won't be much of a temperature change once the new little bit of water is added into his temporary home.
That is, if you want to add any mooore containers to the equation

Ooh... & if by grubs, you mean floating clumps of stuff, I get those too. I try not to overfeed and it's recommended that you pluck out any pellets that aren't eaten in a timely manner, since they can get moldy waaaay faster than anyone'd suspect, and turn into gross fluffy balls. However, it can be hard to pluck out the uneaten food if you have rocks in your tank or a filter to swirl the food around so you can't grab it.... I usually just do my water changes a little more frequently to catch the goobers that don't get plucked out.
Other grubs might be poop or goodness knows what, & since those gather in the container too, just another reason to clean stuff out regularly.

haha yeah. I am all out of dechlorinator unfortunately so he's just gonna have to live with that junk for a day! and i think since i dont have a net..i'll let him swim out once the water is ready (hopefully not a lot of the water hes in right now will go in..its gross! ) and then if anything else gets in i'll use the cup to scoop it out the best i can...or maybe the lid! then wash it and save the cup for hopefully another clean out time . So yes by the way, thanks verry much for your help and thanks to everyone else who helped too! Been very helpful.

No problem, anytime!!

Yeah, he should be okay for one more day, IMO. A little bit of the yuk water getting into the tank is no big deal, though fishing the goobers out would be a good thing.

Beaming positive betta thoughts your way!

haha yay positive betta beams! *dances*. I just hope he is happy and doesnt act mean on me because i cleaned his home..hopefully he recovers and becomes a happy little betta again

I bought a 2 gallon plastic watering can from the dollar store. I keep it full of water and when I need to do a water change in my betta tank, the water is room temperature. After I do the water change, I just refill my watering can and leave it sit in the same room as the betta. This has worked well for me.

touchofsky, that is a smart idea. However, I just added my betta back to his tank and he seems pretty happy so if he stays happy then I'll just stick with the routine I did. Hopefully he stays happy.

Update: So far he seems somewhat okay in the new clean tank..but he swims around on the top for a few times in circles, then goes to the bottom..then swims to the top and sits there almost vertically..then goes back to the bottom. So, is this normal behavior? Oh and he's back to not wanting to eat ANYTHING now..took me a month to get him to eat..will it take me another month?

I would give him a few days to see if he starts to eat again. He has been stressed over the last little bit and he may need to calm down again.

It is hard to say if his swimming behaviour is normal without seeing him, but I do think it is a good sign that he is moving around

yay . okay, I'll not feed him for a few days and see what he does when I do feed him.

You can still continue to try and feed him, however, if he doesn't eat, I would remove the food

makes sense