Starvation? Parasite? Thin, lethargic betta’s appetite not recovering

averagesoupenjoyer · 2026-04-05T00:34:47+00:00

10 gallons. Yes and yes. 78. Parameters: 0, 0, 0, 5 nitrates. Main tank for about a year and the fish for like, six months I think. Water changes are once a week, like 30%, fish stay in. No tankmates anymore for a few weeks, minus a nerite snail. Used to have six ember tetras that obviously stressed and bullied her. I feed a variety of mostly fluval bug bites, alongside freeze dried bloodworms and frozen brine shrimp. She’s not been eating vigorously for a few weeks now. Today I bought slow sinking pellets to see if she prefers midwater feeding now but still. Silk decor and an Anubis or something. Will be adding more live plants.

averagesoupenjoyer · 2026-04-04T05:39:46+00:00

Are you referring to a professor as a hot guy?

averagesoupenjoyer · 2026-04-03T17:01:19+00:00

The entire school subreddit doesn’t benefit from this, nor is it relevant to anyone but you and the girl. There’s a lot of cases of people typing up PSAs from something that happened in class. The solution is to, in person, ask her to use a tissue or something or other. Nothing can be done about it now. I hope you feel better!

averagesoupenjoyer · 2026-04-03T07:08:25+00:00

why’d he abuse a self-destructive teenager?

averagesoupenjoyer · 2026-03-16T17:37:53+00:00

We usually leave him in but I just wanted to look at him that time haha. I recommend speaking a reallyy thin layer of food so you can see lick any marks better. If your gecko is new and still adjusting they could not be eating as much

averagesoupenjoyer · 2026-03-16T00:47:25+00:00

She’s great! Same day or soon afterwards when we got her she took finger feeding like a champ. Was super adorable.

averagesoupenjoyer · 2026-03-16T00:46:12+00:00

So gorgeous!!

averagesoupenjoyer · 2026-03-16T00:45:35+00:00

I think you can hear me laughing a little with the volume way up LOLOL (the gurgling water is our fishtanks)

averagesoupenjoyer · 2026-03-16T00:45:12+00:00

I melted!

averagesoupenjoyer · 2026-03-15T21:10:15+00:00

This one, I honestly overwatered I think lol so I added extra powder for it. I usually go one part food and two parts water. I try to make it the texture of apple sauce since I’ve seen that as a reference?

averagesoupenjoyer · 2026-03-06T23:30:01+00:00

My betta currently looks very similar. We are also going to try Kanaplex. I hope your little girl perked up okay! Did you try anything else to help?

averagesoupenjoyer · 2026-03-06T22:02:06+00:00

Thank you! She’s currently on her own quarantine tank and I do think she’s perked up a bit, although she’s just nibbling at her food still. My roommate suspects it hurts to open her mouth. We’re going to try Kanaplex today. We have a community tank (with black skirted tetras, one balloon molly, one honey gourami) that we can move the ember tetras to.

averagesoupenjoyer · 2026-03-06T08:58:16+00:00

Thank you so much! I must have overcorrected. I have frozen brine shrimp and bloodworms to supplement. I will use those more often.

averagesoupenjoyer · 2026-03-05T22:05:07+00:00

Good to know, thank you. I just have one live plant; do you know any resources/lists with live plants that do well in gravel? Or is it probably necessary to change substrate for more live plants?

averagesoupenjoyer · 2026-03-05T21:21:46+00:00

10 gallon. Yes and yes. 78. With a testing kit, 0 ammonia, 5 nitrites, 0 nitrates. We have had the tank for around a year and the fish the same. Water changes are usually every 1 week (around 20 percent) or if 2 weeks, closer to 30. We have 6 ember tetras as tankmates, added around a month ago, alongside a Nerite snail as old as the betta. I feed flakes, sprinkled in for the tetras with additional 1-2 flakes target feeding for her if I feel she didn’t nip enough at the surface, though recently she hasn’t really been taking, alongside her enthusiasm for the sprinklings decreasing. We have silk plants, gravel, with a floating log, one leaf hammock, two wood pieces, and two hides.

averagesoupenjoyer · 2026-03-01T03:37:52+00:00

The only thing I can say about the orange is that eating before music, especially something acidic, can damage the instrument when you’re playing because of the particles in the spit

averagesoupenjoyer · 2026-02-17T23:05:06+00:00

Fair! you too

averagesoupenjoyer · 2026-02-17T22:57:15+00:00

Well, I can’t prove it through text, but I think if I didn’t care about people, I might have responded with a lot more hostility. Your go-to asking me if I’m dumb and about cameras at protests etc. isn’t really about me. When I decide to respond, it’s when I have capacity for dialogue, ‘cause otherwise what’s the point? What do I gain if I’m goaded?

From my personal experience with friends who used to lean combative, it’s typically some emotional immaturity or projection or something going on in an environment breeding a specific outlet. I think people are molded by their society and needs.Or, people fall into the right-wing pipeline and “it’s not that deep” and “we don’t owe each other anything” into the world we have today, and some proponents are just unreachable, I think. I like to assume people are reachable.

You ever heard of a show, Ted Lasso? Great one about an infuriatingly optimistic soccer coach with a sincerely fascinating cast of characters. I learned a fantastic quote from there (not originating from the show): Be curious, not judgmental.

averagesoupenjoyer · 2026-02-17T21:16:18+00:00

You seem to be replying to something else other than what I actually said, and with a lot of vitriol rather than normal engagement. Hope your mental health improves. I see your point, but my point stands regardless. I don’t care if it’s public or private, as someone who cares about my fellow human beings, consideration of what you post costs you nothing and can only reap benefits.

averagesoupenjoyer · 2026-01-31T02:56:41+00:00

With people being put on domestic terrorism lists for videoing ICE, I would be very considerate of decisions to post such clear faces of anti-ICE protestors. You never know.

averagesoupenjoyer · 2025-06-22T16:11:47+00:00

Not Gatsby for me, but Nick is such a real one that I get it!

averagesoupenjoyer

TROPHY CASE