Mooch on bottom of tank

[Suda Nim]

Hi,

Mooch, my 2-year-old-ish betta, was lying on his side on the bottom of the tank this morning. His color is poor, and he's breathing hard. He occasionally flails his pectoral fins. No sign that I can see of external parasites, swellings, etc. Scales are flat, body is straight.

5-gallon tank, Aquaclear HOB filter with bio-beads. 74 F, pH 7.4, ammonia .125, nitrites 0, nitrates 10-20 (I can't tell the difference on the color card). In the past few weeks, I've had nitrates building up, so I've been changing water 2-3x/week.

When I saw him, I did an immediate 3-gallon water change.

His only previous health problem was a bout with fin rot a year ago that resolved with triple sulfa.

Help?
IMG_2392_zps863546af.jpg

[Imma24]

Hi,

Mooch, my 2-year-old-ish betta, was lying on his side on the bottom of the tank this morning. His color is poor, and he's breathing hard. He occasionally flails his pectoral fins. No sign that I can see of external parasites, swellings, etc. Scales are flat, body is straight.

5-gallon tank, Aquaclear HOB filter with bio-beads. 74 F, pH 7.4, ammonia .125, nitrites 0, nitrates 10-20 (I can't tell the difference on the color card). In the past few weeks, I've had nitrates building up, so I've been changing water 2-3x/week.

When I saw him, I did an immediate 3-gallon water change.

His only previous health problem was a bout with fin rot a year ago that resolved with triple sulfa.

Help?
IMG_2392_zps863546af.jpg

Aw... your poor fish : ( - your fish suddenly looked like this? It's been eating fine and acting fine until now?

With high nitrates (how high are we talking?) - y0u should be changing the water daily (or twice a day) with a fish in that condition! Nitrates should be no higher than 20ppm (in case you didn't know).

With your readings, you appear to be dealing with an uncycled tank - how long has this betta been in the tank?

[Suda Nim]

He's been in the tank 18 months. The nitrate rise is a mystery to me.

[Imma24]

Hope you noticed my edit - it wasn't acting like this yesterday?

[Slaphppy7]

Sorry about Mooch ...is the tank cycled, like imma24 mentioned?...you want 0 ammonia at all times

[Suda Nim]

Hope you noticed my edit - it wasn't acting like this yesterday?

No, he's been absolutely fine. Lively, colorful, interacting with me, and then this morning, wham!

[Imma24]

Wondering about the ammonia - is it possible you have been overfeeding or not vacuuming your substrate and there is stuff rotting in the tank? Also, when is the last time you rinsed out (not replaced) your media? Perhaps it is gunked up?

[Suda Nim]

Wondering about the ammonia - is it possible you have been overfeeding or not vacuuming your substrate and there is stuff rotting in the tank? Also, when is the last time you rinsed out (not replaced) your media? Perhaps it is gunked up?

I rinsed the media (in used tank water during a water change) about two weeks ago, and vacuum substrate with every water change.

[Imma24]

So, he was swimming around as usual last night?

What exactly is your nitrates level? Did you do another water change? How often do you feed it?

[Suda Nim]

So, he was swimming around as usual last night?

What exactly is your nitrates level? Did you do another water change? How often do you feed it?

Nitrates this morning was 10-20. The two colors are purt-near identical on the card, so I can't be more specific than that. I did a 3-gallon water change this morning.

I feed him 2x/day, of either a few tiny flakes of Hagen Betta Color Enhancing Flakes or 3 pellets of New Life Spectrum Betta Forumula (semi-floating pellets). He fasts on weekends. (The tank is in my cubicle at work. I cover the tank with a towel when I leave each day.)