Worst week yet

[bort]

I'm wondering if the winter is catching up to my bettas or something. This week I lost 1 VT (the first I ever had) who was in an unheated 5 gallon by himself, a female VT in an unheated 1.1 gallon and a CT in a divided heated 10 gallon. They all displayed the same symptoms, they lost their color, became inactive and the day they stopped eating was the day they died.

I am wondering what is going on with these fish. I bought a heater for my 5 gallon tank and I am going to transfer another CT who is sick into that tank. Hopefully a heated environment can make him better.

[Rachel]

Oh gosh, I'm sorry to hear you lost so many fish at once. Well, it is more common for bettas to fall ill if they are being kept in too cold of water. If they were in unheated tanks it may have just been too much for their immune systems.

It's hard to say exactly what may have happened. Was their water chemistry off? Did anything change about your routine with them? Was an aerosol or something similar sprayed in the room where the tanks were? Were you feeding frozen food or something else that may have gone bad? You'll want to consider different factors such as this.

Good luck with your CT and any other fish you may have. I'm sure he'll appreciate the heated tank.