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Every pet owner knows that it is essential to take care of their pet. When you own a fish, there are many things you need to think about. One major concern for any fish owner is the possibility of your betta dying. It’s also common for people who don’t know much about them (or anything at all) to buy these exotic little guys and then find themselves unprepared when they start displaying signs of illness or stress. This post will provide tips on keeping your betta happy so he doesn’t end up dead in the water.
What Are the Most Common Reasons Your Betta Fish Might Die?
The most common reasons for betta fish dying are:
Inappropriate tank conditions, including dirty water and temperatures that don’t match the pet store’s recommendations. In addition to being an issue of basic care, this can also be a sign that your pet is sick or injured.
Fish diseases such as fin rot or white spot disease. JV betta fish has betta fish for sale and disease Treatment Kits for $15, including medicine designed specifically to treat common fungal infections that disfigure fins and tails.
Not changing out at least half of your betta fish’s water each week (and sometimes even more often) if it doesn’t get filtered/cleaned by other means like biomedical. The ammonia put off from your fish’s waste builds up in the water, which is bad for their health. Even if you have a filter or other filtration system, it doesn’t take care of all the nooks and crannies where bacteria can thrive.
Feeding your betta fish bread/sweets like crazy – these are not good for them. If you want to occasionally feed something sweet to your betta, that will be fine, but don’t go overboard. You shouldn’t even need live food since most bettas eat pellets just fine if they’re properly sized (and fit into their mouths.)
How Can You Prevent Your Betta Fish From Dying?
Your betta will be much healthier and less susceptible to disease if you take the following steps:
Keep your water clean. Change out at least half (ideally more like 75%) of his tank’s water each week, preferably using dechlorinated tap water. This is very important when it comes to preventing diseases caused by bacteria in dirty tanks.
If you have a filter/filtration system for changing or cleaning your fish’s tank automatically, that helps but not as much as replacing old water with fresh water every few days.
Also, make sure there are no chemicals in the new water; test it before adding any. Use proper temperature-appropriate aquarium heaters – bettas do best around 76 degrees Fahrenheit, so adjust accordingly.
Must Read: 4 Tips for Caring for Someone with a Chronic Condition
How Can You Treat Your Betta Fish If They Get Sick?
If your fish is sick, you should first quarantine it from other bettas to avoid infecting them with any disease. This will also make treatment much more effective since they won’t fight two diseases at once.
A lot of people don’t realize that bacteria, not viruses, actually cause most common betta diseases – this means medications like antibiotics can help cure your pet if properly administered in a timely manner.
Unfortunately, there isn’t one all-purpose miracle medication available over the counter for every type of illness suffered by bettas; each medicine works best against certain types of infections and may not affect others.
How Can You Keep Your Betta Fish From Getting Sick?
The most obvious way would be by making sure you don’t overcrowd your tank or overfeed them – this causes waste buildup in the water, which encourages bacteria growth that will make even healthy bettas get sick easily. To clear that dirty water you can use a water filter for aquarium that can easily clean water and remove all bacteria.
But there are other ways to keep their environment clean enough for them not to have major problems with diseases: change out 75% (ideally more) of his water each week using dechlorinated tap water; use aquarium heaters and no heaters or lamps that need to be plugged in; use proper food designed for bettas vs. other types of fish (most pellets are fine, but avoid live foods like bloodworms.)
