Why is my betta not eating

Don’t experiment on anything that can harm your betta fish. Here we have a detailed guide on what to do if your betta fish isn’t eating!

Why Is My Betta Fish Not Eating?

Your betta fish can stop eating due to poor diet, inappropriate temperature, competition, diseases, environmental changes, stress, overfeeding and poor water quality. Before we discuss the treatment, let’s have a look at the common causes that can kill your betta fish’s appetite.

– Poor Diet

Diet plays a vital role in your betta fish’s health, so you can’t feed anything to your betta fish. Its diet should contain all the essential nutrients and vitamins required for healthy growth and avoid things that can negatively impact its health. Palleted food is the best option for your betta fish as it’s packed with all the essential nutrients that your fish need.

While feeding palleted food or container food to your betta, you have to care for some things. Never feed a food that has been kept for more than six months. After this time, most of the food items doesn’t contain vital water-soluble vitamins, especially vitamin C.

Betta fish recognize its food by its smell, but if you have kept a food container for too long, the smell doesn’t remain the same. When you add food that won’t have a very good smell, your betta fish won’t eat it.

By feeding your betta fish old fish, you’– ll make your betta sick by affecting its immune system. Old food doesn’t provide immune system boosters such as vitamin C and E in the required amount, making your betta susceptible to many health issues.

– Inappropriate Temperature

Betta fish belong to tropical waters and thus need optimal temperature that isn’t very cold to survive in aquariums. Any fluctuations in the temperature can create problems for your fish while digesting its meal. If the tank water is cold and your betta fish isn’t eating, it might be because the gastrointestinal tract (GI) fills with food, leading to impaction. In such a situation, your betta fish won’t be able to eat anything.

The best way to get rid of this problem is tank heaters that keep the water temperature in the required ranges. Your fish’s metabolism and immune system are directly linked with its surrounding temperature, so you can’t compromise on this.

The ideal temperature for betta fish is 78 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit, not below or higher than this. To ensure that the tank water temperature is suitable for your betta, you can check the heater’s functioning regularly while keeping a thermometer in the tank.

– Overfeeding

If your betta fish stopped eating suddenly, the underlying cause could be overfeeding. Betta fish have a large appetite and due to this, it will happily eat all the food you’ll add to the tank. But this will happen for a limited time only until your betta’s GI tract becomes so full that it can’t eat even the required amount of food.

Its metabolism won’t be able to digest an excessive amount of food, leading to food pilled up in the stomach, which can cause bloating. If the problem is due to overfeeding, your betta’s belly will look inflated like a balloon.

It’s essential to feed your betta the required amount of food twice a day is often the requirement of most bettas. If you add more food than this to your fish tank, you’re overfeeding it. Once your fish has eaten its food, remove the leftover food from the bottom of the tank. It’s essential to stop your betta from eating it again, which will lead to overfeeding.

– Diseases and Sickness

Even if you provide the best care to your betta fish, you can’t prevent illness and diseases. Many health problems can occur for your betta due to poor diet, water conditions, stress from a new tank mate, etc. It’s hard to balance all the parameters to perfection all the time. So, you can’t avoid diseases, but you can choose how to deal with them in a way that saves your betta from much suffering.

A sick betta fish will lose its appetite when it is sick. If you can’t identify any other cause of your betta not eating, then look for the signs of disease or illness. A sick betta has rips or tears in the fins, change in color and becomes lethargic. Whether the signs of an illness are mild or severe, you should consult a vet. The earlier you start the treatment, the more will be the chances of your betta’s recovery.

– Competition

Betta fish are known as territorial and don’t like it if other fish, their own or different species, invade their space. Male bettas are especially well-known for their aggressive behavior. They will attack bettas or other fish if they find them in their tank. Female fish are also aggressive and their temperature changes are quite sudden and often.

Fish with this kind of behavior in the tank are more concerned about their tankmates. The presence of too many or sometimes even a single tankmate can create stress for your betta, leading to a loss of appetite.

– Poor Water Quality

Poor water quality or sudden changes in the water parameters are harmful to the fish and sometimes can be deadly too. Although many health problems are linked with poor water quality, stress is the most serious issue.

If the water parameters fluctuate, your betta fish won’t be able to find an escape. It will have to live in poor water conditions, and if the duration prolongs, it can cause chronic stress for your betta fish. One of the early signs of a stressed betta is that it stops eating food.

Maintaining the water parameters in the required ranges is easy. First, transfer your betta to a bowl containing at least five gallons of water. Take a water testing kit to know about the current water parameters of your fish tank. Make changes in the disturbing parameters to bring them back to normal. Once the water parameters are adjusted, set a maintenance schedule to check the water parameters using the water testing kit.

– Stress

Many things can cause stress for your betta fish; as a result, your fish will be on a hunger strike. Betta fish are shy and aggressive, which further enhances this problem. The common stress triggers for betta fish are new tankmates, new home, changes in the water conditions, poor diet, etc.

Your betta fish will not eat until the conditions come back to normal. Try to find out the cause of the stress, so you can help your betta fish get over it soon and start eating. For example, if the stress is because you added your fish to a new tank, then make changes in the tank so it can look like your fish’s previous tank or natural habitat. This will help your fish get rid of the stress soon and break the hunger strike.

What To Do if Your Betta Fish Stopped Eating?

Some effective ways to treat a betta fish that isn’t eating are mentioned below:

– Feed the Right Food

You’ll have various food options for your betta fish that you’ll want to give to your fish. But, before you feed your fish everything you want to or everything that your fish likes, check the nutritional value. Not all food items are healthy and good for your fish’s health. So, choosing the food for your betta should have all of your attention.

The best food options for betta fish are pellets, flakes, live and frozen food. Bloodworms, mosquito larvae, brine shrimp and mysis shrimp, are the most commonly used live and frozen food items for betta fish. They are full of nutrients that your betta fish need and they work as treats too for your fish. Betta fish love feeding on these food items and having them in the tank will be a green signal for its almost dead appetite.

– Check the Water Parameters

If you don’t want your betta fish to stop eating, the water parameters should be adjusted as per your betta’s requirements. Water temperature, pH, general hardness and ions in the water shouldn’t exceed or fall below the required ranges. Any changes in the water parameters will affect your betta’s appetite.

A water testing kit can help you a lot to keep the water parameters adjusted. Check the water parameters regularly to make changes before they fluctuate beyond the safe limits. At that point, it will be hard to bring them back to normal without your betta fish being affected. To keep the water parameters within safe limits, you can also perform regular water changes.

If the cause for your betta not eating is stress, you have to remove the thing causing stress as soon as possible. Now you know the things that can cause stress for your betta fish; you can keep a check on them to avoid this situation.

Besides removing the stress factors already in the tank, you should also try to avoid things that can create stress for your little pet. For example, if you want to transfer your fish to a new tank, acclimatization is crucial to avoid stress. Make efforts to make your fish comfortable in its new home, and don’t rush or expect quick results. It will take time, and once your fish becomes used to the new tank, it will start eating again.

– Reduce Competition in Tank

The competition for space and food will turn on your betta’s aggression mode. When a betta fish becomes aggressive, it won’t eat until the factor responsible for aggression has become out of sight. Due to its solitary nature, betta fish doesn’t like other fish in the tank. However, it will be hard; if you want to keep your betta a peace, you have to keep it in a separate tank.

You can transfer your betta to a new tank if this is the reason for not eating. Some bettas can live with other fish, so this can’t be generalized for all the betta fish. Therefore, before moving your fish to a new tank, take time to inquire the actual cause of why betta fish isn’t eating.

– Take Your Betta to a Vet

It’s always a good idea to consult a vet if you can’t understand the problem with your pet. Even if you do, there are chances that you might have spotted the wrong cause. Betta fish not eating can become a serious problem, so you shouldn’t take a risk.

Take your betta to the vet and allow him to examine your betta’s condition to diagnose the exact cause of the hunger strike. You can’t give any medicine to your betta fish, and for this too, an experienced vet will be a great help.

FAQs

1. How To Prevent Decreased Appetite in Betta Fish?

You can prevent decreased appetite in betta fish by keeping it in a heated, well-filtered water tank, checking the water parameters and feeding a balanced diet. When your betta fish gets all the things required for survival on time, they will continue to be happy pets. A happy betta is a healthy one who won’t stop eating.

2. How Long Can a Betta Fish Go Without Eating?

A betta fish can survive 10-14 days without eating anything. However, leaving them without food for a prolonged duration isn’t recommended as it can badly affect their overall health.

3. Are Betta Fish Picky Eaters?

No, betta fish aren’t picky eaters because they will eat everything you put in their tank, from frozen to live food. They are often found at the bottom of the tank because they are searching for leftover food. They are often mistaken as picky eaters because they are their slow digestive systems. They can’t digest food as quickly as other fish, which creates a gap between their meals. They can be picky eaters if they have some health crises going on.

4. What Are the Signs of Stress in Betta Fish?

A betta fish not eating is one of the signs of a stress betta; besides this, you’ll see the following signs if your fish is stressed:

• Closed-up fins
• Excess mucus
• Lethargy
• Hiding constantly
• Residing at the bottom of the tank

5. Which Diseases Can Attack Betta Fish?

Like other fish, many diseases can attack your betta, too, causing him to lose its appetite. The most common diseases that affect betta fish are:

– Ich

Ich is a very common infection that is caused by a parasite and affects many fish species. If your betta has ich, it will stop eating and acquire a texture that will make it look slightly dusted in salt.

The tiny white spores that form during ich burst after a specific time and are released in the tank water. These spores can attack other fish and spread the infection. For treating ich, copper-based antiparasitic medicines are used. However, you should always consult a vet before giving any medicine to your betta fish.

– Swim Bladder Disease

If the water quality is poor, it will cause swim bladder disease. The fish infected with this disease get easily get bacterial infections by living in dirty aquariums and it can be deadly if left untreated. Regular water changes can help your betta fish get rid of this infection. If you want to use medicines, the best one for this disease is an antibiotic called Melafix.

– Fin Rot

Fin rot, which is the result of bacterial infection, and fungal infections are also common reasons for making your betta fish stop eating. In bacterial infection, veins become inflamed and excessive mucus is produced.

Fungal attack on your betta looks like cottony patches that will mostly appear near the wounds. Before you start medications for fin rot, you need to know about the type of infection because the same medicines can’t be used for bacterial and fungal infections.

Conclusion

Betta fish not eating is a serious problem that can be more severe if you don’t know how to deal with it. You can now handle this situation well, so let’s have a look at the important points you learned here:

• The most common causes of this problem are poor diet, stress, environmental changes, overfeeding, competition, diseases, inappropriate temperature and poor water quality.
• If required, Betta fish not eating can be treated with changes in the tank conditions and medicines.
• A betta fish can live for 10-14 days without food.
• Common health issues associated with betta fish not eating are ich, swim bladder disease and fin rot.

Now you’re prepared what to do next time your betta fish stops eating. Don’t wait until the problem becomes severe seek the help of a vet to begin the treatment!

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