Guide to Sick Betta Fish & Betta Fish Diseases

 

         When you suspect you've got a sick Betta fish on your hands and you're a new owner at a loss as to how to make him better, it can be nervewracking.  Trust me, I've been there.  While some Betta fish diseases can be deadly, many are easily curable if you can both detect them early and administer a proper treatment.  Seeing as you're reading this page, you've likely noticed some odd behavior or symptoms, so the logical first step is to diagnose your fish.   Below, you'll find an alphabetical listing of individual diseases; clicking the name of a disease will jump to a paragraph with details about symptoms and treatment. 

Note:  If you are unsure of what is making your Betta fish sick, read through the symptoms listed for each disease below and match your own Betta fish's symptoms to these, then following the appropriate treatment.

Bacterial Infection
Dropsy
External Parasites
Fin Rot
Fungal Infection
Ich
Internal Parasites
Popeye
Swim Bladder Disease
Velvet

 

Bacterial Infection

   

    Symptoms: Clamped fins, laying at the bottom or surface of water without moving, refusing to eat, losing its color/turning gray, and, in rare cases, the development of red patches or sores on body.

    Treatment:  Curing a bacterial infection is a two-step process.  First, do a water change of 70% or greater to get rid of any bulk amounts of bacteria that may be present.  Clean your tank's filter and remove any uneaten foor or visible waste you can see.  Second, add in a Betta fish antibiotic (a general aquarium or fish antibiotic will do, it does not need to be specific to Betta fish).  There a wide variety of brands available, just be sure to follow the instructions on the container!  It may take a week or two to see visible changes, and you may need to repeat the process after that much time.

 

 

Dropsy

     

    Symptoms:  Diagnosing a sick Betta fish with Dropsy is a matter of looking for the distinctive body bloating and raising scales that are associated with the disease.  The protruding scales will make your Betta's sides look like a pine cone.

    Treatment:  Unfortunately, dropsy is almost always fatal.  It is a failure of the kidneys and as such there is nothing antibiotics or water treatments can do.  If you do have a fish with dropsy, you should first isolate him from other fish (if he is in a community tank) and then try to make his last days comfortable.  For future prevention, it may be a good idea to minimize the amount of love-foods you feed your fish, as the bacteria that cause dropsy can sometimes live in live worms and other Betta snacks.

 

 

External Parasites

 

Symptoms:  When diagnosing external parasites (meaning those that are living outside of your Betta on its skin), think Chicken Pox.  That is to say, your fish will likely be trying to dart around and itch/scratch itself on everything it can find:  decorations, plants, the sides of the tank, etc.  Most of the time the parasites themselves will be difficult to see,  so rely on your Betta's behavior for diagnosing.

Treatment:  Grab some BettaRevive, a copper-based cure-all treatment for Betta fish, at PetCo or a local pet store.  Follow the instructions on the bottle and, prior to adding it, do a high percentage water change (70-80%).  Usually these are non-deadly if caught early, so just start treatment as soon as you can.

 

 

Fin Rot

 

Symptoms:  As the name suggestes, Bettas afflicted by fin rot will appear to have their rotting or dissolving away.  In some cases, you may also notice your Betta getting paler or acting lethargic.

Treatment:  Water changes.  A lot of them.  Basically, every third day or so you'll want to be doing a full or near full water change, and after each change you should be adding in some 'Jungle Fungus Eliminator' (sometimes called Fungus Clear as well)  and/or tetracycline, both available at many pet or aquarium stores.  After 2-4 weeks of this regimen, you should notice the rot stopping and, hopefully, new growth.  Congratulations!  You've beaten fin rot and can stop changing your tank every few days like a crazy person.

 

 

Fungal Infection

 

Symptoms:  The symptoms for a fungal infection usually include tiny white balls or patches on your Betta fish's body and/or head.  They may resemble little cotton pieces.  As with many Betta fish diseases, he may also be moving more slowly than usual, and losing color.

Treatment:  Treating fungal infection is extremely similar to curing fin rot and has a very high recovery rate.  Simply complete water changes every 2-3 days and add in "Fungus Clear" or "Fungus Eliminator," these are made by Jungle and available at pet/aquarium stores, and on amazon.com

 

 

Ick/Ich/White Spot Disease

 

    Symtoms:  I'll give you three guesses as to the symptoms of White Spot Disease.  Stumped?  Alright.  The main symptom is white, er, spots.  Basically, white spots (that look a lot like salt grains) will be covering your finned friend's body, and he may be moving slow or clamping his fins to his side.  Alternatively, he could be darting around trying to rub against objects in his tank.  Either way, there will be spots, and they will be white.  :P

    Treatment:  At 85 degrees fahrenheit, the parasites that cause Ick find the water a more attractive home than your Betta fish itself, so the first step is to heat your tank water to 85 or 86 degrees by carefully monitoring your aquarium heater.  Next, to make the water deadly for parasites, add in some Aquarisol from a pet store (or, again, an online retailer like amazon).  The whole ordeal should be over in a few days, but just to be safe run treatment for about 5 days before bringing your temperature back down.

 

 

Internal Parasites

 

    Symptoms:  The main sign of internal parasites is a fish that rapidly loses weight even though it appears to be eating normally.  If a fish is also refusing to eat at the same time, the emaciation can be quick and deadly.

    Treatment:  Your best bet is to begin drasticdaily water tanks and then ask your local aquarium store for a water treatment for internal parasites.  They are not necessairily easy to find, and brands vary so you may have to do some digging.

 

 

Popeye

 

    Symptoms:  Contrary to popular belief, Popeye is not a sailor.  Lucky for you, however, it IS one of the most recognizable and fixable Betta diseases.  Basically you'll notice that one of your pet's eyes is getting big, really big.  It won't be pretty, but you can help him be back to prince charming in no time.

    Treatment:  Change your Betta's water every third day (keep it very clean), and use an aquarium antibiotic to kill the bacteria infecting your fish's eye.  As for prevention, this disease is caused by poor water conditions, so keeping the tank clean will ensure you never have to deal with this ailment again.

 

 

 

Swim Bladder Disease

 

    Symptoms:  Swim bladder symptoms may be one of the most easy to identify disorders, as a sick Betta will swim on its side or have trouble swimming normally.  This is most often due to over-feeding and, while not deadly if treated, should signal you to feed your Betta less and, if you're feeding a lot of live foods and treats, balance out your diet a bit more.

    Treatment:  Basically, don't feed your fish so darn much food.  For another look at eating related issues, visit our Betta fish won't eat page for a neat trick you can use to help a Betta with a blockage move along smoothly.

 

 

Velvet

 

    Symptoms:  While the actual parasites causing velvet are very hard to spot, you should look for regular "sick Betta fish" symptoms like lethargy (laziness), clamped fins, a refusal to eat, etc.  There is a fine layer or film over your Betta's scales, this the name, when it is afflicted with velvet, though this can be hard to spot without a flashlight.

    Treatment:  Treatment of velvet involves a familiar regimen:  Add Betta revive as instructed and wait.  To accelerate the removal of velvet,  keep your tank in a low-light environment for a few days while treating.

 

         If you're new to Betta fish care, learn to avoid basic Betta care mistakes and completely eliminate the risk of most of the diseases listed on this page by signing up for our completely free care lessons below.  You'll get a completely free 10 day email course with lessons aimed at helping Betta owners just like you keep their pets happy and healthy! 

Simply enter your email below to learn...

• The 3 deadly Betta care mistakes most new owners don't know they're making until it's too late!
• How to setup your tank properly
• How to maintain perfect water quality and prevent the illnesses on this page
  
• And much much more!

 

These lessons are completely free and have already helped over 5,000 Betta owners learn to properly care for their fish!

 

Comments

[Aquarium Services]

Great information! I was not knowing about the betta fish so much but thanks to you for sharing this post being very informative.

[Hubert]

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[NoClean Aquarium]

This is great information. I also recommend a strong, stress free betta tank like on Mr G Products http://www.mrgproducts.com/Self_Cleaning_Desktop_Aquarium_with_Natural_Rocks_p/desktopaquarium-nr.htm

[Tim]

Hello –

My beta swims up to the surface then drops to the bottom where he bends into a "u" position and lays on the bottom for prolong periods. This is repeated throughout the day. He is the only occupant of a 3 gallon tank. Any idea why he doing this? Thank you

Tim
Sylvania, OH

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[Martin]

Depends on the pet store water really as I metinon later in the video, if you'd watched that far. Many stores have central systems which generally bring problems back to your home as all the tanks are linked.Ours are all seperate and each one has its own net so when you get fish, you also get good mature water.If you shop at poor quality shops, I too would advise netting the fish out of the bag to avoid problems, yes.But why shop at bad shops?

[Jarah]

It depends on which grnias you're talking about and the person who has the symptoms. Gluten-containing grnias are usually the most important to avoid. If there is yeast and fungal overgrowth as well as H pylori, then all grnias should probably be avoided. Grains are poverty food I rarely eat them at all as they're devoid of anything other than carbohydrate! You may want to check out my book, The H Pylori Diet. it's 232 pages and contains a lot of info. Check it out at my website.

[Ben]

A LITTLE TIP)) i started using this way of quiatnainrng fish just a couple of drops of methylene blue in the bag of new fish left to stand 1/2 a hour flouting in the main tank don't no if it works but i don't lose fish this way and it sterilizes the water before adding to the main aquarium. good look. remember just a couple of drops i take no responsibility from fish deaths:) so if the shop keepers sends them already quiatnainrng thy no need to for you to bother

[Andre]

NO don't put the betta fish in with the goldfish besacue betta fish are very dominant and if you do this it will think that that is its tank and the goldfish know that it is their tank and they will fight. The three goldfish will gang up on the betta fish and kill her. So whatever you do, do NOT put them together. What you can do is put the betta fish tank under a lamp that can be on 24/7. Good luck.

[Suyapa]

IF IT IS ALRIGHT TO BUY A LITTLE BOWL AND PEBBLES?It would be so much nicer for your betta (and easier for you, larobwise) if you'd spend a bit more on the set-up. You can find a 2.5 gallon tank for $ 10 or less, I bought a filter designed for small tanks at WalMart for $ 10 and a small tank heater for $ 7. It sounds like a lot compared to a couple of bucks for a bowl and pebbles, but in an unfiltered bowl, you should be doing complete water changes every couple of days or so, which gets to be a pain and is stressful for your betta; but if you don't do it, he will die in toxic water. On the other hand, in a filtered tank you can do a partial water change every week or two instead, and the betta will be happier and healthier.Oh! Don't forget a little bottle of water conditioner, to take the chlorine out of your water, or your betta will die within minutes or hours of being added to the tank. That will cost $ 5-$ 10 but lasts a really long time.HOW MUCH THE FISH COSTS?Bettas cost between $ 2 and $ 20 depending on what kind you want and where you buy them.HOW MUCH HIS FOOD WILL COST?A container of food is maybe $ 3 or so and should last months and months and months. There are foods special for bettas. This sounds weird, but my bettas like ants. Just a few tiny ones from outside collected in a dish of fruit or something.HOW OFTEN DO I FEED HIM?You can feed him once or twice a day, just a flake or so. Don't let food fall to the bottom and collect there. It will rot and ruin your water quality.DOES HE NEED SUNLIGHT?Sunlight wouldn't be good for the fish. It will warm the container too quickly, especially a small one, and rapid temperature changes are very hard on fish. More than a couple of degrees an hour can even kill your betta. Also, sunlight will make the tank grow ugly algae.WHAT ARE GOOD NAMES?When you get your betta, get a picture or describe him and ask again. You can get some great suggestions to match his coloration and personality. Good luck! Bettas are wonderful fish, my absolute favorite.

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