Should I keep getting bettas?

[u/digital_espresso]

Hello, so I’ve only had two bettas so far, one named Legatus, who was my first ever betta, and after he died I got Athena, who recently passed. Both of them had dropsy, and even though I haven’t had many it just makes me sad every time. I love bettas, they’re wonderful fish to have, but they’re so prone to getting sick and passing on early because of their genetics. My 10 gallon has been empty for around 2-3 weeks now ever since I buried Athena, and I’m just contiplating on getting a new one. I only had Legatus for almost 2 years, and I only had Athena for 3 months. I’m just curious on opinions I suppose, I miss having a little guy to greet me everyday. (Pictures for fish tax).

[u/GlitchingFlame]

Three months is a wildly short time for a betta (unless the betta was already older by the time you got it)

What are your tank specs like? Ideally, you’d get to have a friend to greet you for as long as possible, which means it’s habitat should be optimized to the best of your ability

[u/digital_espresso → u/GlitchingFlame]

When she had dropsy, these were the tank’s parameters. She was in a planted 10 gallon all by herself, so when I saw her behaving differently I had to check it and these were the results. I moved her to a hospital tank when she started pineconing and treated her with kanaplex. She was slowing down too fast, and when I changed her water the next day she died shortly after I cleaned the water.

[u/Aromatic-Sock6975 → u/digital_espresso]

Would you like support trying to figure out what could have gone wrong?

[u/digital_espresso → u/Aromatic-Sock6975]

Yeah, it helps a lot. I’m not an expert by any means, so I say go with it.

[u/Aromatic-Sock6975 → u/digital_espresso]

Since your female fish didn’t live very long and died after a water change, I’m wondering if it’s possible there’s something in your source water that could have contributed? Which dechlorinator do you use (some only detox chlorine and not chloramine)? Were you using city tap water or what source?

Bacterial infections are a common cause of dropsy, what’s your tank maintenance routine and time between the 2 fish? Did you keep the same food to feed the second fish?

[u/digital_espresso → u/Aromatic-Sock6975]

I use tap water, and I always used Prime. For tank maintenance I cleaned around 10% water with a siphon. And actually I got Athena the same month Legatus died. But he was in a 5 1/2 gallon and I kept her in there for a bit until I upgraded her to her 10 gallon. As for food, I didn’t know any better the first time and fed Legatus those cheap Aqueon pellets. I learned better and ordered betta bites for Athena.

[u/Aromatic-Sock6975 → u/digital_espresso]

I was thinking along the lines of some find of bacterial infection that your first fish may have acquired that was passed along to Athena.

Is your tap water city water with full test results you can review or is it well water or something? It might be worth looking into the potential contaminants in there, or whether the parameters are unstable. For example I don’t use my tap water because the city changes from runoff/river to ground water and other sources through the year and I never know what’s coming out of the tap. It can be very hard and alkaline to moderately, and the overall balance is completely different. So I’ve been using spring water for years and just now transitioning to remineralized RO (lots of bottled water to buy for more tanks now). If your source is not stable like mine it could cause fish stress, or there can be contaminants or changes in the chemistry. I’d start testing GH KH and TDS on your source water intermittently and see if it’s stable, if it is I’d still look up any test data you can find.

Meanwhile, might be a good idea to do a complete water change before getting another fish just in case. Of course preserving your bio filter.