Ahh what is happening?!?!

[sarahsarah]

My betta is swimming around on his side! At first I thought he was dead because he was floating sideways at the top of the tank, but he is trying to swim around, it seems like he is having trouble and keeps getting pulled to the top of the tank. Could this be a swim bladder problem? Am I be feeding him too much? I know that his stomach is the size of his eyeball etc etc and I try to feed him a very small amount twice a day...lately it's been freeze-dried bloodworms and frozen brine shrimp, since his tail got sucked into the new filter and got all shredded, so I want to feed him good food so he will heal faster. I am trying to take good care of my fish and screwing it up horribly :( Could this be a bigger problem aside from just overfeeding? How many of those freeze dried bloodworms should I be feeding him at a time anyway?

Housing
What size is your tank? 5 gal
What temperature is your tank? 78 right now, fluctuates between 76-80...need to buy a better heater
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no?
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? brine shrimp, bloodworms, occasionally those little pellets but i feel weird feeding corn meal to a fish...
How often do you feed your betta fish? twice a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? I haven't yet since I put him in his new tank about a week ago. I don't even know how often I'm supposed to change his water??
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? Half of it
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? I use the stuff that's supposed to make tap water safe for bettas

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?
No..?? Where would I even get something to test these things?
Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? It hasn't
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He's floating on his side like he's dead! But he's not dead.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Just now when I went to give him dinner
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? I didn't feed him dinner since I thought he might be overfed?
Does your fish have any history of being ill? Yes...only because I have no idea what I'm doing and I keep messing up and making him ill :( :( :(
How old is your fish (approximately)? 8 months?

[Abby]

Originally Posted by sarahsarah

My betta is swimming around on his side! At first I thought he was dead because he was floating sideways at the top of the tank, but he is trying to swim around, it seems like he is having trouble and keeps getting pulled to the top of the tank. Could this be a swim bladder problem? Am I be feeding him too much? I know that his stomach is the size of his eyeball etc etc and I try to feed him a very small amount twice a day...lately it's been freeze-dried bloodworms and frozen brine shrimp, since his tail got sucked into the new filter and got all shredded, so I want to feed him good food so he will heal faster. I am trying to take good care of my fish and screwing it up horribly :( Could this be a bigger problem aside from just overfeeding? How many of those freeze dried bloodworms should I be feeding him at a time anyway?

Housing
What size is your tank? 5 gal
What temperature is your tank? 78 right now, fluctuates between 76-80...need to buy a better heater
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no?
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? brine shrimp, bloodworms, occasionally those little pellets but i feel weird feeding corn meal to a fish...
How often do you feed your betta fish? twice a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? I haven't yet since I put him in his new tank about a week ago. I don't even know how often I'm supposed to change his water??
if hes in a filtered tank its once or twice a week maybe, but did you cycle the tank first?
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? Half of it
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? I use the stuff that's supposed to make tap water safe for bettas
water conditioner?
Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?
No..?? Where would I even get something to test these things?
At a pet store or wall mart maybe or online
Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? It hasn't
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He's floating on his side like he's dead! But he's not dead.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Just now when I went to give him dinner
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? I didn't feed him dinner since I thought he might be overfed?
Does your fish have any history of being ill? Yes...only because I have no idea what I'm doing and I keep messing up and making him ill :( :( :(
How old is your fish (approximately)? 8 months?

Have you had Bettas before, how many bettas do you have and have you researched much?

if you havent had bettas before our still learning, hopefully someone else will be able to help more

[Oldfishlady]

I would try 50% daily water changes for 3 days and hold food and see if that won't help...if not, I would QT and do Epsom salt 1tsp/gal treatment

In a filtered 5gal tank-while you are establishing the nitrogen cycle-I would make twice weekly 50% water changes...once the nitrogen cycle has established (4-8 weeks) then 1-50% weekly with vacuum should maintain water quality

Keep us posted....