laying on side

[helloshekky]

hello, I've had my betta for about a month and he recently stopped eating. I plan on adding brine shrimp to his diet tomorrow. i keep him in a very small tank and when I left or work today he was just fine. I came home to find him floating on his side. I change his water ever 4-5 days. and I know in a small tank I shouldn't wait so long but I feel bad trying to catch him. I am going to get a bigger tank also. he is fighting very hard to stay up and swim around. I just want to know what I can do to prevent this from happening and if someone is up what can I get for him tomorrow. He is gonna make it.

[dramaqueen]

Hello and welcome to the forum. It sounds like your betta has swimbladder disorder, which could be caused from constipation. How much do you feed him and how often? I would recommend fasting him for a few days, then feeding him some frozen or freeze dried daphnia. Frozen food needs to be thawed out and freeze dried food needs to be rehydrated before feeding.

[Karensmom22]

Mine is doing this today too! He just started. I am going to fast him for a few days and try the pea treatment. Hopefully it will work. If not I guess we will have to try the epson salt bath. *SIGH* I hope he gets better soon!

[kelly528]

Originally Posted by helloshekky

hello, I've had my betta for about a month and he recently stopped eating. I plan on adding brine shrimp to his diet tomorrow. i keep him in a very small tank and when I left or work today he was just fine. I came home to find him floating on his side. I change his water ever 4-5 days. and I know in a small tank I shouldn't wait so long but I feel bad trying to catch him. I am going to get a bigger tank also. he is fighting very hard to stay up and swim around. I just want to know what I can do to prevent this from happening and if someone is up what can I get for him tomorrow. He is gonna make it.

First off, how do you know his SBD is caused by constipation? Does he look like he swallowed a marble?
Are his gills heaving and are they red? In a small, cold tank cleaned every 4 days, ammonia poisoning and bacterial infection are likely.

I am not sure if he'll make it, but in order to prevent this, you need to get a tank of at least 2 gallons, a heater, and a thermometer. Slowly bring his water up to 80 degrees over a matter of hours.

Also, does his tank have an open top? If cleaners have been spraying anything on your desk, it's very likely that some spray got into his water and poisoned him.