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My fish has been very sick for the past week, and today i noticed that his fins do not spread out beautifully like they used to. They now seem very stiff and rigid, and all he seems to do is lie under his plant and only come up for feeding...if anyone can help that would be great...i'm really worried about him
Cheers

Hey Michelle

it sounds like you have a very sick fish there. I have found that thick fins almost always happen at the beginning of an infection.

Is your fish showing any other signs of illness?

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

No other signs of illness...he just lies under his plant. only time he comes up is whne i open the lid to feed him, but he doesn't even do that now
Well...i took some digital pics of him and took them to the fish shop where i buy all my fish. They tested the water for me and there is too much Nitrite in the water (i keep my fish at the office you see). The guy there told me he should be ok. He gaev me some antibactreial to put in the water, it's especially designed for beta's. SO hopefully he'll get better in a coupl of days, i'll keep you posted

If you have too much nitrite in the water you can use something like AmQuel Plus or Prime to detoxify the nitrites.

You don't say a lot about the fish... Is it the only fish in the neighbourhood? I have never kept bettas by themselves, but I've read somewhere that they become bored if kept alone, and that they do better with tank mates. If he is alone and you can't add any more fish (small tank, no filter, etc) just put a mirror next to the glass for him for a while every day. He will enjoy the exercise and will not be as bored. You can also try priting a nice picture of other fish for him. One of my bettas was flirting with a print of a female betta for a couple of weeks (but the other couldn't care less, so I guess it's individual...).

Last edited by untitled at 14-Dec-2004 02:40

well...i'm very sorry to say that my Beta passed away this morning RIP Fang
yes, he was the only fish in the neighbourhood..i was thinking of getting another one but can't put them in the same tank without a divider in it and i can't get a bigger tank..i don't think my boss will think it's appropriate.
really, thats interesting, someone told me that it's mean to do that, but i was thinking well that's what they do..fight..so maybe that's what it was, maybe he got too bored....
well..i'll be buying another fish soon, hopefully this one will be ok