Side floater

[Barry J]

My daughter's betta has been floating sideways on the top of the bowl, when stimulated he will swim around "upright", but then go back to his side floating.
He has been doing this for about a month, we changed his water and treated it with some tablets that treat a number of conditions, as well as urinary infection and constipation, which I read, might be his problem.
But he has not gotten better.
Any suggestions
Thanks
Barry

[MyRainbowBettaFish]

this could be SBD, or Swim bladder disorder. swim bladders are what fish use to swim. They inflate and deflate the sack to rise and descend. It sounds as if your daughter's betta may have this. Epsom salts may aid i his swimming.


Urinary infection??? 0.0

i have never heard of that...

those "tablets" dont work well, as they release a large number of chemicals into the water that essentially do nothing. Clean heated water is always the best remedy.

How big is this bowl?
Most members on here reccomend atleast a 2.5 gallon heated enclosure at 78-80 F. A tank of that size (2.5 gal) should be cleaned twice a week, one 100% and 1 50%

[Barry J]

Yeah that's what I meant, Swim bladder disorder.
I just didn't have the note in front of me when I wrote the post.
We used some stuff called "Fungas Clear fizz tabs'...it states it help Swim bladder disorder.
We have a gallon sized bowl, with room temperature water.
I didn't realize that Bettas needed more than a gallon or heated water for that matter.
How much epsom salt should I put in for a gallon tank
Thanks
Barry

[callistra]

He needs 2 gallons minimum. You can't use RO ("spring") water without special treatment - tap or anything else requires conditioner which removes chlorine, chloramines, and heavy metals. He needs a heater and thermometer to keep the bowl a constant 78-80F. He needs to weekly water changes in the 2 gallons and (and more if it's smaller) of 50% and 100%. The 100% needs to include a thorough rinsing of the gravel. He should be fed a good quality protein based pellet as staple - something where the first two or three ingredients are whole fish. Not fishmeal and even worse would be wheat. He needs one fast day a week with no food and how many pellets to feed depends on how big they are. Any food that accidentally drops must be fished out and not left in the bowl.

You need to be very careful during water changes to acclimate:

To do a water change, use a little cup like a plastic solo cup - this cup must be only for him and have never been used with soap or other chems. Scoop him up in this cup (keep him in the cup about 1/4 full of water - it doesn't need to be much because he won't be in it for long) and leave him in the cup while you change his water. To do the 50% use a turkey baster - dedicated only to him that has never seen soap or chems - and drag it through the gravel and try to suck as much of the poop out as possible, in addition to 50% of the water. Use a thermometer under the running tap to get it to be the same temp as the water that is normally in his tank. When the thermometer says the flowing tap is the right temp, fill back up his tank. At this point, add the conditioner (dose for how much water you change - if you change half the water you add half gallon worth of conditioner, If you do a 100% water change dose for the full gallon change). Float his plastic cup with him in it in the new water. Slowly add a couple tablespoons of the new water into his cup every 10 minutes for at least an hour. Finally, dump him in gently but try to get as little of the old cup water back into the tank as possible. When you do the weekly 100% you will do mostly the same thing except empty his tank fully and rinse everything in it very well under warm water but never use soaps or chemicals. Once it's fully cleaned/rinsed you can refill it and repeat the cup/acclimate phase.

Can you please share photos?

[Shewbert]

Try this it works quite fast, buy some cod liver oil capsules/or some pure cod liver oil, if your fish takes pellets then place 1 drop of oil in the lid of the oil container, drop 2 pellets into the oil, leave for 10 mins then feed the fish these 2 pellets, do this for 3 days,,,do not feed anything else,,, after 3 days feed normally but put 1 treated pellet in with the food, do this for another week.
If you happen to get a bit of oil on the water surface, a bit of kitchen tissue dragged along the surface will soak this up.
Hope this helps
Mandy, Marine Biologist/Vet