Betta Fish Disease Symptoms

Introduction of Betta Fish Health Condition

betta fish
betta fish

This is an introduction to finding out if your betta fish is sick. Sometimes it is very difficult to know if the betta fish is sick or just being normal.

Betta fish are so tough that sometimes it is almost a maintenance fish for starters.

They are very easy to take care and if you follow the steps that I have outlined on betta fish care then there should be no problems and it will live the 2 to 3 years life expectancy.

I will be mentioning the common symptoms that you will be encountering with your fighting fish and pinpointing what kind of disease that it had contracted.

The betta fish cannot be all invincible even if they are living a long life in their natural habitats. Sometimes they can contract diseases through the food intake especially if you always offer live food.

Some live food is carriers of bacteria and diseases.

Here is the summary of symptoms to consider before you could conclude that your betta splendens is truly sick and will be needing your utmost attention.

Bacterial Infection

bacteria infection
bacteria infection

As I have mentioned before when you are starting out on the nitrogen cycle 101 water cycles,?you have to make sure that the ammonia and nitrate level is ZERO before you introduce the betta splendens into the betta tank.

Sometimes you are too eager and introduce betta tank mates too soon and too much at one time then, the bacterial cannot catch up with the bioload overload of fish waste and ammonia toxic buildup.

This kind of scenario will wreak havoc on the betta fish immune system.

If the fighting fish have a low immune system due to stress then there will be some form of bacterial infection.

Parasitic Infection

parasitic infection inside fish
parasitic infection inside fish

This is normally caused by the introduction of outside fish.

Sometimes the betta fish tank mate is a carrier of parasite and when you introduced it to the community fish tank then it would infect everybody inside.

It would be essential for you to check the condition of the betta tank mate before introducing into the tank.

Sometimes I see the fishes sold at the pet stores have already white spots or ich on their fins.

It would be nice if you have a spare tank for observation before transferring a new betta tank mate.

Environmental Infection of

bacterial invasion
bacterial invasion

This is self-explanatory. The environment where the betta fish resides must always be kept clean and maintained properly with regular water changes of at least 20 to 25% per week.

My fish tank setup is aquaponics and i never need to clean or change the water of my betta fish tank which is around 15 gallons. My plants take care of the ammonia and nitrates which is the nutrients needed for growth.

The ammonia and nitrates reading on my aquaponics setup are always zero. So my job is just to top up water now and then as needed, something like once every two weeks.

If you do not keep the proper water parameters then your betta fish and the rest of the other fishes will eventually get sick.

Betta Fish Disease Symptoms

You need to make proper observations when you are feeding your betta fish.

Here are some common symptoms that you might have encountered.

  • Fish is always trying to rub its body from decors or plants inside the fish tank
  • Most of the time gasping for air at the surface
  • Doesn’t eat enthusiastically
  • There is a white thing on the body of the fish
  • They do not seem to flare their fins anymore but instead, their fins are clamped to their body
  • Defecate white matter instead of the usual brown stuff

These symptoms can be easily cured and you just need to take action which will be explained in depth.

Conclusion

Most of the time if some symptoms are showing signs of your betta fish being sick then I quickly change 20% of the water daily.

I buy an aquarium salt and add 1 tablespoon per gallon.

Some parasites cannot survive if the water is salty.

I will be discussing the treatment procedures that can be taken to ensure that you betta fish will be properly healed under the Betta Fish Disease Treatment Guidelines article.