u/8TheKat

I rescued a betta fish named Kevin from a really bad condition about 2 months ago. My husband's boss decided to impulsively buy a betta and stuff him into a teeny tiny bowl hardly any bigger than the cup he was purchased in. He was in that bowl and often times forgotten about for several weeks until I finally asked if I could just have him. I felt bad the poor guy was being so neglected, he looked miserable in that bowl.

I put him in a 5 gallon tank with plenty of hiding spots and live plants, a hammock, a heater, the works. I check his water multiple times a day and fed him every day. He seemed to be thriving for the majority of his time in there, seemed happy and would swim up to me all the time and sometimes even watch me cook (he could see me from our kitchen). He had so much personality.

About 4-ish days ago he started acting a little different. He would hide at the bottom and/or back of the tank a lot and just not move. he wasn't eating as much and about 2-3 days ago he just stopped eating all together. he showed no interest in food and would barely swim around anymore. Just 2 days ago I got a video of him swimming and acting more normal (attached video), but last night I found him dead.

I'm so incredibly sad about this. This was my first time owning a betta and I tried to take as good care of him as I could. His water quality was perfect, his temperature was perfect (around 80 degrees), he had plenty of hiding spots, I fed him every day and I genuinely don't think I overfed him at all, I was super careful not to put TOO much food and only gave him what I knew he would eat. I'm just not sure what happened to him.

The only thing I could possibly think of was there was a period about a month or so ago where his nitrites and nitrates were elevated. It did get into the "stress" levels and I did a 50% water change almost daily and added "quick start" to the water to get the good bacterias in there. This elevated nitrate/nitrite period lasted no more than 4-5 days (every water change they'd go back down then elevate slightly again and I'd do another water change. I'd also ALWAYS condition the water I changed it with) and after keeping up with it constantly they finally went back down to 0 and have been perfect for the past month.

I'm not sure if that brief period of higher nitrates/nitrates could have given him dropsy. He behaved perfectly normal, seemed really happy, no signs of sickness at all until a few days ago. And I didn't notice that his abdomen was swollen/pineconing until he was already dead and I looked at him closer. That's how I know it was dropsy. I even re-evaluated the video I got 2 days ago and notice his abdomen looks a little swollen there but I didn't know that was a sign of illness...

So I just don't know what I did wrong. Could it have been genetics? He was purchased from a chain pet store so I don't know if he just had bad genes...and the small window of elevated nitrates/nitrates maybe? His water was always a little on the hard side but I read that bettas like harder water? I don't know if that's wrong.

If anyone could give me any advice on what I may have done wrong that would be great. I plan on doing water changes for the next few days to make sure the water is safe for the next fish I get. I already have a nerite snail in there so I may as well get a new betta. This time I'd really like to make sure I don't fail the next fish, so please let me know what I may have done wrong and how I can do better.

Rest in peace, Kevin. At least he got to live happier and didn't die in a puny sad little fish bowl, I suppose :(

Perameters:

• Tank size: 5 gallon
• Heater and filter? (yes/no): yes
• Tank temperature: around 81 degrees F
• Key water parameters include the amount of ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and pH.: last check taken about 2-3 days ago: Nitrate: 20-ish, Nitrite: 0, pH: 8.5, ammonia: 0 taken with API test strips
• How long have you had the tank? How long have you had your fish?: 2 months for both
• How often are water changes? How much do you take out per change? What is your process?: I did daily water changes when the nitrates/nitrates were elevated about a month ago for roughly a week. That was the last water change I did.
• Any tankmates? If so, please list with how many of each: a nerite snail that I got only 2-3 days ago
• What do you feed and how much: betta fish pellets, a small pinch of pellets a day (maybe somewhere between 6-10 pellets)
• Decorations and plants in the tank: anubias plant, cabomba plant