What's wrong with my Betta?

[deadfever]

Hi

I bought a Betta about a week ago and he hasn't eaten since I bought him!!! I heard they take a while to adjust to their surroundings...but I'm getting worried. I have three black mollies in the tank with him....but they gobble up all the flakes before he even goes near them. He just doesn't seem interested. He has started to turn a little grey around the gilsl and hides a lot.....he seems almost sick now.

I have a piece of coral that's about 20 years old in the tank, I wonder if it's releasing salt into the tank. And if it is think it would affect him? I just can't figure it all out. And he's my favorite fish by far....I hope he lives.

Thanks for any feedback.

 

[aznpanther98]

one thing u'll be glad the coral doesn't havesalt but that couldbe affecting ur PH take out the coral unless u have fishes that like high PH dunno if mollies likes it corals are made of calcium and it's gonna raise the ph,
whats the temperature in the tank?
what size of the tank u have?
bettas perfer slow moving water i've had bettas in my community tank b4 but fin nippers are a no no with them guys like tiger barbs and another betta aren'tagood idea
let us know about what u have like filtration tank size ph nitrites ammonia
check the last three and see what they say if u don't hav a test kit for those get it or take a water sample to ur lfs(local fish shop) and ask if they can test it for u

 

[keprydak]

Well bettas like their water on the acidic side, and mollies like it on the alkaline side, so you have two different water types in the same tank, which wouldn't be a problem except that the coral is probably making your water harder than a betta would like. Often if they seem to breathe heavily or hdie a lot or lay on the bottom it is because of the wrong pH. I just got a betta myself, and I put him in some R/O water which was quite different than that of the store, and he was breathing pretty hard, so I quickly and slowly buffered the water back up to 7.4 by doing small water changes and adding stress coat. When I got him a big tank, I slowly made the change and now he's in 6.0 water and loving it. I think it may be the pH.

And if you get the pH down and he's still not eating, it may be because the mollies are much to boisterous for him. They are indeed gobbling up all his food before he even gets a chance. They aren't really great competitors for food. Perhaps you could get him his own small 2 gallon tank? That's what I have mine in. He wasn't eating before, but now he is!

HTH

 

[tabby360]

My experiance with bettas is that they wont eat flake food. The only food i ever got my fish to eat was betta bites or any other find of betta pellets.

 

[colesea]

I hope you don't take this offensively, but sometimes it is easier to make suggestions in list form.

1) Black mollies and bettas in the same tank = big no no. Black mollies tend to be big, somewhat aggressive surface feeders that would have no problem bullying a slow-moving quiet type fish like a betta away from food. I have seen black mollies beat the crap out of tankmates before, and they are certainly not above harassing and scaring a betta, especially if the mollies are pigs at meal times.

2) Coral in any freshwater tank other than African Cichlids = big no no.  This is pretty much a very general and subjective statement, since there will be many people who disagree with it, but it is always the first issue I find wrong with people's tropical community fish tanks when they are having pH and fish health problems.  Like everyone stated above, those are the reasons. Take the coral out.

3) Mollies = Brackish water, Bettas = fresh water.  Molly species prefer salt in their water, in fact they should have enough salt in their water so that you can just about taste it.  For a betta and many other tropical fish, that much salt spells death.

4) Bettas will eat flake food. The purple male I have eats flake all the time and has been doing so for two years. He'll also eat sinking wafers and just about anything else he can get too. The problem becomes when the food drift past him too fast. I have to turn my filter off to give him time to swim over to it and gobble. If I don't, the food gets pushed down by the waterfall and he can't get it. Bettas are surface feeders, they would perfer to eat from still water.

Your betta is not eating because of possibly three factors:

1) The mollies are scaring him away from the food.
2) The water chemistry are wrong
3) He simply is too slow and cannot reach the food before the mollies or the filter do

The above comination of reasons could cause your betta to get very stressed and sick, which may explain the grey stuff around his gills, which sounds like a possible bacterial infection.

Best advice for you. Take the betta out of your tank and get him his own little one gallon system.  It can have a UGF or HOB filter (My one betta lives in an Eclipse 6, my other betta lives in a 1 gallon UGF hex). Place it in some fresh, dechlorinated tap water. If the grey stuff around his gills is puffy like and seems to be like mold on bread, go buy Marycine I and II and crush the proper dosage into his tank by following the directions on the boxes. That should clear things up.
~~Colesea

 

[deadfever]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Unfortunately after I moved my betta to a seperate bowl....he went belly up.
Perhaps I will look for something to balance the Ph....or just seek another fish. Although I really like betta's, I don't have the space for another tank. I guess the girl at the pet shop didn't know what she was talking about, I wanted the betta as my main fish and something to cimpliment him. And from the sounds of it Mollies aren't really suited! Ah well.....the search for a nice tank continues.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

 

[colesea]

White cloud mountain minnows are the only fish I have ever personally been able to keep successfully with bettas. I've had them together in two gallon tanks and three gallon tanks.  Of course, you only want perhaps a trio or quad of minnows to one betta in such a small volume, and it has to be very well cared for (I would say 1 gallon twice a week water change).  
~~Colesea

 

[aznpanther98]

well when i kept bettas(even bred themonce never do it again lol) i had a betta barrack (like a breeder for livebearers but longeer and can be divided into several sections in with my at that time cories clown loach neons  and a couple different schooling fish in a 30 gal i dun remember what the ph was but probally around neutral and they did fine in the betta barracks they would flare up against eachother and i fed them bloodworms pellets and they were fine had them for about 5 months until one by one they got sick and died :-(

 

[ChazECJr]

I tried keeping a trio of white clouds with a betta in a two gallon tank and it was a disaster, they all died over a one week period.  I tried again with another pair of minnows and another betta with the same results.  Water quality tested out fine.  

I would not try this again.

If you like white clouds keep at least five of them, in at least a five gallon tank.  Tankmates for battas is a "touch and go" thing, some are laid back and accepting of tankmates, others will attack just about anything, you will have to observe them and use your judgement if you want to give your betta "fish friends."  Most bettas seem to do just fine in a one or two gallon tank by themselves.  Or you could try ghost shrimp or a snail, they usually get along with bettas OK.  Good luck.

Charlie

 

[Pooky125]

For the record, I have a betta in my 30 gallon tank, with 4 gouramis, atleast 2 male, if not 3, 3 mollys, 2 swordtails, and a pictus cat, with no problems, hes been there probably about 4 months now, and has never picked on/ gotten pick on by anybody.. Been a great tank..

I also have a 10 tall with A male betta, a male golden wonder killifish, 3 platys, and oto, and 2 corys, and have never had any problems with this tank either..  I dunno cole, maybe it's just bad luck that you get aggressive bettas, or maybe it's mine that I got mellow ones... Who knows...

 

[FishQueen]

my betta is fine with my platy... although they just ignore each other...