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can anyone help, my daughter has a betta in her 10 gallon tank he has been fine and a very active for the last year and a half she has had him but he seems a bit less active and looking sorry for himself. i have noticed a little tiny lump on his face near his mouth...does does not look like he has fin rot or anything like that but has 3 slightly light marks on his tail fin ..not very noticible but seem to have appeared in last 3 weeks, how long is a betta supposed to live? hes well looked after with water changes and levels always checked. any ideas is he just getting old or can we do something to help him???

Usually bettas only live 2-4 years, some can live much longer of course.

What's the temp of the water? And when was the last water change? Cooler temps generally make for slower moving bettas.

^_^

Sounds like the Betta is aging. If the Betta has lasted that long your Daughter must be doing some thing right, the only thing it could be has she slackened off a bit or an imported water problem.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
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Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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hi the tank has a temp gauge in it and always reads about 26.
is that warm enough its always been at that...water gets a 1/3 water chage every 2 weeks sometimes it is 3 weeks but 90% of time every 2 weeks. i wondered if he is just aging a bit now he still chases the danios sometimes showing who is boss...but he just seems a tad slower these days....i guess hes an OAP now coming upto 2 years old. im trrying to get a pic of thelittle lumpthat has appeared on his chin....only noticed it the last 2- 3 weeks...as i said does not look like mouthrot i just wanna make sure hes not poorly. and if there is any treatment for it...i will try and post pic.

Has your daughter ever dealt with an ill or dying pet before? If she hasn't and she's young, you may want to start discussing the fact that he's getting a bit old and what that means.

Depending on where you got the betta, he may have had a stressful early life which may shorten his overall life expectancy. Around 26 sounds right for a betta, is there a heater in there maintaining temp? Also, just had a thought but is he eating and getting a chance to get to his food if he has to try and beat the danios to it?

If you don't have photobucket, I suggest that as a good option for hosting the photo, then just paste a link to the address in your post and we can have a look.

^_^

yeah always make sure i give danios food and then him floating stuff while they eat..and sometimes live food. yes heater and filter in tank.
i guess hes just maybe getting on coming upto 2 years old..

On a lot of my older fish, although mainly tetras, I have noticed that they begin to grow strange, sometimes tumors, especially around the mouth. They look like nothing I've ever seen before, and no matter what medicine I use to try and get rid of it, it never seems to go away.
I dont know if this is the problem with your betta, but in any case, i would try to keep the water as pristine as possibe by doing weekly water changes, but instead changing about 15-20% of the water.