Rescued a little boy and I need some help!

[mjscooter]

Hello! I am a new proud momma of a little betta I rescued on Saturday from some horrid living conditions. He basically was handed over to me in a mason jar of filthy water that was almost pinkish and smelt terrible. I have no info on when he was last fed or how old he is. I am horrified I might lose this lil boy because he really doesn't seem to be doing so hot.

His symptoms basically consist of him floating on his side at the top of his tank. If I tap on the glass gently or wiggle my fingers over him he will respond with some movement but it is rare he willingly swims of his own volition. I posted on here the other day and received some grade-A advice as far as what I would need for him goes. I began with a small bowl that I purchased (something cheap until I could do research on what would be best for him) and did complete water changes every day for him of conditioned water. He seems to improve a bit then go back to exactly how he was before.

He is currently in a new 5 gallon tank with a water heater to keep it at a comfortable 76-78*, the water is conditioned and I added predissolved pure dye free and perfume free epsom salt into it. I let him adjust to the new warmer temperature before adding him in. He has only been in there a few hours but I guess I am just still worried. I have owned other species of fish before and have done many rescues (fish are kind of my passion, especially gourami) and when I saw this lil guy I just couldn't leave him and jumped at the chance to take care of him when he was offered to me.

ANY other suggestions or comments would be appreciated. Please, I need all the help I can get. Does anyone know what might be causing him to float on his side? Any other suggestions? He refuses all food and it doesn't sound like he has been fed anything in a while. Any suggestions would be most appreciated! Thanks!

[callistra]

The photos you shared the other day he was upright and unclamped and not bloated. He has regressed from this?

In the 5g you only need to do 50% midweek and 100% by week's end. Maybe moving him less will help him perk up.

To try to entice him to eat you can try some frozen brine shrimp or blood worms (they come in blocks and you can thaw little pellet sized chunks and try one or two. You can also soak pellets in garlic guard by seachem.

[mjscooter]

Hello again callistra! And yes he did unfortunately. The pictures yesterday were of him right after I had moved the bowl to try and see if there were any spots on him and to see more clearly if he might appear bloated. This morning when I woke up he was floating on his side, clamped up and still. I thought he had died. As soon as I realized he was still alive I went and followed what you and the others had suggested. Bought the bigger tank, heater etc

But to be honest I just went in the room to check on him and he is actually not floating anymore and has begun to swim about his tank...I don't want to get too over excited but I kind of have become attached to the little guy, he seems like he has some will to live to have made it this far.

I will definitely try the blood worms and brine shrimp :)