Blondie is very very very very sick!

[blondie82]

I have had my betta named blondie for just over a year. He stopped eating....well he'd try to eat and couldn't get the food in his mouth...he got greyish and would lay at the bottom of the tank. now he has more color yet it looks like he might have reddening of his body and white patches however its hard to tell because of his coloring. he doesnt expel his fins out and flare like he used to. He has a hard time breathing and can't close his gills. I have him in a 3 gallon tank with a heater. his water is clear and he is the only fish in there. I got him pimafix and once I gave it to him he started darting into things like he was earlier and his body seems to have a curve to it like an s form. This morning I saw the white stringy stuff hanging from him in one place, but when I got home that was gone. I have no idea what to do. Any advice is greatly appreciated..also every time i do a full water change which is once every few weeks (he'd get too stressed when I did it weekly) I add a little aquarium salt too with the dechlorinator.

[Sella]

Oooh this doesn't sound good. Fungus? I'd try and do water changes a little more often for your size of tank. For the meantime, hopefully someone smarter than I can help you with the current situation.

[blondie82]

If he makes it, i'm gonna go back to once a week. He hates it so much. I'll have to buy more stress coat.

[BettaxFishxCrazy]

I would do a 100% water change to get the pimafix out of the tank. I never use medications unless I absolutely have to. Where was the white thing hanging from? Was he pooping it out? What does his poop look like? It sounds like it could be parasites; if it's internal than they will poop out white stringy mucus stuff. If it's external, you can sometimes see them on the body of your fish.

[blondie82]

No it was on him....it went away tho and yet he still floats on his side and can't eat even though he wants to.

[BettaxFishxCrazy]

Could you post a picture of him? Is he bloated?

[blondie82]

doesn't seem bloated to me. He just lays there. he went the bathroom on sunday so he can't be that bad as far as that goes...maybe he's just old.

[BettaxFishxCrazy]

How long have you had him? They can live 4-6 years. A picture could help us determine what could be wrong with him.