Possible SBD/constipation or depression?

[Rikki1209]

For the past few weeks my beta Linus has been acting and swimming strange. He used to be very active and swim a lot, or when he did rest he would always lay on the leaves of his plants in his tank, but he has since done a complete 180. He rarely swims around his tank anymore and basically lays on the bottom all day on his rocks instead of his plants. He still comes up for food right away every morning and is eating fine, and once and a while comes up for a quick gasp of air but then he just goes right back down to the bottom. He seems to be struggling to swim right. He doesn't float sideways or anything like that, but whenever he tries to swim he just goes up or down or only gets so far up then sinks right back down like it's hard for him to hold himself up. I'm not very familiar with a lot of diseases and such, so this is based off of what I've been reading. I looked him over and I don't see any strange marks anywhere, it's just basically the swimming so I've been wondering if it's swim bladder disorder/constipation or possibly depression? Last semester at college when I first got him he always sat next to my roommates beta on the counter but I've since moved out and now he's alone. For the SBD/constipation I've read that apparently moving them to a more round shallow bowl instead of a deeper bowl (which he's in right now), letting them fast for a few days and feeding them the insides of a cooked pea works well, other than that I'm not really sure how else to make him feel better. :C Any tips or advice is greatly appreciated.

[chicagojo]

There are others here who will help you far more but just wanted to share the one quick thing I do know - don't do the pea!!!! That can be useful for other types of fish but not bettas. They can't digest the pea. I fed part of a pea to my betta months ago before I knew better and I think it may have actually contributed to chronic health problems that he now has. The other things you mentioned about lowering the water level and fasting for a couple of days sound fine - I would look at the stickies at the top of this forum about common betta diseases - SBD is listed in there somewhere with advice about how to treat.

Also, I previously thought that my two bettas were happy having their bowls next to each other but have since learned (here) that it actually causes them chronic stress. So probably not being next to your roommate's betta anymore is actually a good thing for him.

Good luck and I hope he gets better!

[Oldfishlady]

Welcome to the forum and sorry your Betta isn't well......we need more info and a pic....

How big is the tank, filter, live plants, water temp, additives used, how much and how often are the water changes, appetite, tank mates, how long have you had the Betta, approx age, has he ever been sick and/or treated in the past.

Also, IMO/E feeding pea pieces on occasion for treatment is not harmful, however, you don't want to use pea as a food source due to absorption issues and uptake of nutrients.

[Rikki1209]

I'm not sure exactly how much water his bowl holds but here's a picture. Sorry that they're kinda bad quality.


No live plants, just the fake one in the pictures. No additives. Water is changed at least once or twice a week when needed since there's no filter in his bowl and I change all of the water to make sure everything gets cleaned good. His appetite is still good. No tank mates. I've had Linus between a year/year and a half. Never been sick or treated for anything before.