Betta Not Doing Well...

Hey guys...

I got home tonight and went to feed my bettas..and my elvis wouldn't eat, which is strange because he's normally a pig, and I haven't had a problem with him yet. I was concerned, so I decided to do a water change..he had also been zooming around a bit and running into things. I changed the water and did everything I normally did, plus added a little BettaFix, and when I put him back in he went speed demon and ran into everything, started swimming on his back and I could barely catch him to put him in something else. He's still not doing well, laying there seemingly gasping. I put him in a shallow bowl so he won't have to go to far for air. I'm not sure what's going on... :( if it's something wrong with my water or something.

Send good thoughts to my baby. I hope he makes it...... :( :( :(

Im sorry fish arent my forte but i hope i can help as much as i can.
Firstly how long have you had your fish because something couldnt suddenly go wrong with the water could it- and if it is it's highly unlikely. Has he ever acted like this before when you previously changed the water.
Maybe you could try an oxidising pump to increase the amount of oxygen in the water to help him on his way.
This is a really tricky situation- perhaps its usual for this species of fish- perhaps they have wierd mating rituals, or hes reaching a different stage in his life. Possibly he has a cold or something- although im not sure whether fish can catch colds :S.
Im sorry i couldnt be of much help- i tried :p

I hope he gets well soon
:)
Love Vicky
XxXxXxXxX

I've had him for about 2 months. He has not done this before, and I'm worried because it's probably a disease but I can't figure out what. I use aquarium salt. I have him floating in my heated turtle tank right now. He ate about two bites this morning (of bloodworms), and is doing a little better. He stopped heaving and is just relaxing. At least he made it through the night...

Well changing the water probably stressed him out even more, but I don't know a LOT about fish hehe. I do know that aquarium salt is supposed to help sick fish a lot. Otherwise he isn't swimming upside down and like, rubbing against the rocks and stuff at the bottom of the tank is he?? If he is, then that's a disease that... I forget the name of, but when I worked at daycare one of the rooms had an aquarium where this happened to one of the fish, an Oscar I believe. He survived but I forgot what he had.

He only swam upside down when I put him in the water, and he has been acting a little funny rubbing against stuff, which is why I changed the water...I can't find any spots of Ick, or Velvet, which is what I suspected when I first noticed this. And with adding aquarium salt, he shouldn't even have anything. He seems to be doing ok, its just such a mystery to me.

Awwwwww i hope he gets well soon
And if he is making progress maybe it was a temporary bug thing or as previously suggested he was extremely stressed out
but im pleased to hear that he is on the mend :p
Good luck

Love Vicky
XxXxXxXxXxXx

It sounds just like external parasites. Bettas with external parasites frantically rub up against anything, which usually just rubs more parasites ONto their body. Doing a water change and adding aquarium salt is good! Try adding a pinch of salt each time you change his water from now on, as that usually prevents parasites. Add a drop of Aquarisol, or if it seems like the parasites are advanced add Clout. You may or may not want to throw away any gravel/plants that were in his old tank and *thoroughly* clean the tank :) he should recover pretty easily!

Yes, he's better. I ended up sectioning him off in my turtle tank and keeping the water heater up. I took all the water out of his bowl and left it like that for a few days. He started eating in the turtle tank, and so I put him back in his bowl with some salt and he's doing just fine.