Pale and lethargic betta

[sushy]

How long have you had your fish?
About 3 months but I got him grown-up so I don't know his age.

Have you made any changes recently – tank size, food, water source, conditioners, etc?
No, only regular partial water changes.

Does he (or she) have any tank mates?
No.

What size is the tank and is it filtered? Is it cycled? (A small tank that gets complete water changes won't be.)
20 liters (5.3 gallons), mechanical and biological filtration, cycled.

How often do you change the water and what conditioners/water treatments do you use?
Once a week about 30%. No conditioners because the water here is well suited for betta.

Are you currently using any medication?
No.

What do you feed your fish, how much, and how often?
Freeze-dried food, twice a day, as much as he can eat in two minutes.

What is the water temperature? (All betta owners should know this and should have a thermometer to monitor it.)
29 C (84 F)

What are the pH and ammonia levels? (Also nitrate and nitrite levels if it is a cycled tank.) Do you regularly monitor these levels? If you don't have test kits for these, many pet stores will do it for free. If you don't know them right now, it’s not too big a deal, but might be something worth looking into.
Ph is 7.5, no ammonia or nitrite, nitrate very low. Monitoring once a week.

Describe your fish’s symptoms and your concerns. How long have they been present and have the symptoms changed?
He seems to be in a bad mood. He stays at the bottom or below the surface and moves only when disturbed (He used to watch me if I only passed by). He eats very little and only blood-worms. He used to be all red but his color now gets paler towars the belly - but no signs of cotton like patches - only the color change. Otherwise he has no other signs of sickness.
He has been lethargic for 3 days but his color changed yesterday. He barely responds to the mirror and leaves it alone after less than a minute.
I don't know what's wrong with him. He might only be depressed but where does the pale color come from? I have a female and I can add it to the tank but I'm afraid that if he was sick a female would also become sick.
So, what's wrong with him and what can I do?

[ACKislander]

Hmm. Well it's great that you noticed the changes early before they developed into something more serious. Color loss and lethargy are common symptoms for several betta ailments and exactly which one isn't clear yet. There are a couple things that stand out in your fish care regimen. First, feeding all he can eat in 2 minutes may or may not mean he's being overfed. Bettas can suffer many problems from overfeeding. I guess it would help to know exactly how many freeze-dried bloodworms he was eating at every feeding (before he got ill) If it was more then 2 or 3 I would say he was being overfed to start. If it was more then 4 or 5 I would say the overfeeding could have led to his listlessness. The other thing that could be contributing is the water temperature. 29* C is quite high and can lead to lethargy as well as promote Flex. Consider lowering the temp a little. 25.5*C (78F) is just about perfect. Temperatures above 26.5 C (80F) are a bit warm.

I'm glad you mentioned the flaring. This is a common thing people do to perk up their bettas and it can actually have adverse affects. Showing a betta his reflection (or other bettas) is an activity that should be saved only for healthy fish. The flaring is a defense mechanism initiated by a male when he is angry and trying to scare away a potential threat. Even though people commonly refer to other bettas as "Flare Buddies" this term is misleading. When bettas are threatened they are more stressed and it's best not to stress a fish that is already not feeling well. Adding another betta (even a female) to the tank should never be considered as a way to perk up a sick betta. In fact, unless you're intending on spawning bettas (who have been conditioned and prepared) males and females shouldn't be placed together at all.

Try making those few minor changes above and see if he improves. Also, keep a closer eye on him then normal. Look for other problems too, like signs of a bacterial infection, parasites, fin rot, bloating/constipation or other common ailments. If you notice any changes then we can re-evaluate.

[sushy]

First: thanks for the quick reply!
Here are the news. He didn't touch his evening meal, not even his favourite bloodworms. He just doesn't seem interested in anything.
I'm now slowly lowering the temperature. I kept it so high because I read somewhere that temperatures around 29-20*C reduce chances of getting an infection. I guess I thought wrong.
As you mentioned I might be overfeeding him. But I feed the same amount of food my female and she is perfectly healthy. Well I will feed them both less in case this is the problem.
It really doesn't seem to get any better. As I mentioned before he refused to eat his evening meal. I just hope I could do something for him and not just wait.

[ACKislander]

You don't want to let the temp drop lower then 24C (75F) as I mentioned, 25.5C is perfect.

Not every betta will be affected right away from overfeeding. They don't even realize what's happening. Sometimes all you'll notice is a little bloating or constipation other times full out Swim Bladder Disorders can develop. I've also seen photos of incredibly obese bettas. (What a site, a chubby betta)

At this point, I'm not even sure if that's what is causing your problem, but either way they'll be healthier for it.

I hate the waiting game too. On one hand you don't want to wait too long in case something serious is wrong and on the other, you can't medicate them when they haven't been properly diagnosed because that's dangerous too. It stinks not knowing. But have faith. They're strong little buggers and can naturally fight off a lot of yucky stuff with their own immune system. Just keep an eye on him.

[sushy]

It's getting worse.
My betta is even paler than before and his fins look a little transparent. He also has troubles with swimming. It's not that he has problems with equilibrium. It seems to me like he's not strong enough to swim.

I need help, please! What should I do?

[ACKislander]

Well I just realized that you weren't using any water conditioners. What did you mean by "it's well suited for a betta." Conditioners remove chlorine, chloramines and heavy metals that can be toxic to bettas. Are you using tap water or bottled spring water? I know you're not in the U.S. (since you were talking in metric yesterday ) so I'm not familiar with the water treatment facilities in other countries, but I imagine anywhere you are there will be some additives, either man-made or natural.

Other then the color change do you see anything different? Signs of a bacterial infection (redness, bloody spots, ulsers) or paracites (spots, speckels or white/stringy poo)

[sushy]

Well suited means it's tap water but comes from the spring, it has no chlorine, chloramine, nitrates or heavy metals (only pH is slightly too high).
Besides color change and other things I mentioned before there are no signs of anything else unusual.
Could his fins change because of the lower temperature(because fin rot is healed with higher temperatures)?

[ACKislander]

25.5 C (78 F) is by no means too cold and would not make fin rot any worse. Just to clarify, warmer temperatures don't actually heal fin rot, it increases the metabolism of the fish which can help them to fight some diseases better. On the other hand high temps can make some worse. 25.5-26.5 C actually IS the high level temperature range for bettas. So actually lowering the temperature from 28.8 (84*F) the other day really brought him back into the safe range. Now just concentrate on keeping it stable.

I have to admit, you've got me stumped. I've read all you tank information and there isn't much that stands out as being unusual. I guess if it were me I'd check the kH to make sure the buffering capacity is good (so there are no pH crashes) then check the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates to make sure my tank isn't going through a mini-cycle (which you already did I think). I guess I would condition the water anyway or maybe switch to bottled spring water until I could have my house water tested (just as a precaution). I can't recommend a medicine because there is no way to know which one to use.

Maybe someone else has an idea.

My brain hurts.

[sushy]

I'm checking water every day now. KH is 8, btw. Everything seems to be fine with the water.
My betta's fins are now becoming even more transparent than before. Oh and before I forget, he's breathing normally = 65 per minute.

I really really wish I could do something! I hate this waiting!

[sushy]

It's too late now. I just found him lying on one side. He won't make it. He is not even strong enough to come to the surface. He will die sooner or after.

Thanks for the help.

[ACKislander]

It's so bazaar. I've never seen a betta die with no symptoms other then color loss. I don't know what meds you have available there, but as a last ditch effort you could try to treat him with an antibiotic that fights both gram positive and gram negitive bacterial infections.

I've had bettas come back from "laying on their side" when treated with strong antibiotics but in that case we know what was wrong with him. It looks bad but I just don't know what else to do.

[sushy]

My betta named Mušu died two hours ago.

[ACKislander]

I'm so sorry to hear that. I'm currently doing some more research to see if we can figure out what could have gone wrong, so that it doesn't happen again. I sent some emails to some expert friends of mine with your story. Maybe they'll have an idea.