[baileyellicott]

I recently purchased a 5 gallon tank with a filter. After putting all the rocks and decorations in, adding bottled water, and letting the tank filter for 24 hours, I added my betta and 2 cories. The cories were a new addition to the tank, and the first time my betta met them was when they were all added to the tank. My fish now cannot control his swimming and sits at the top on his side. (I thought he was dead at first). When he does move, he jerks his whole body and swims down, then floats back to the top. Also, he looks pregnant. HELP! I think this is the end of my betta, and I dont want to say goodbye

 

[LebronTheBetta]

Okay. You said he looked pregnant. Bloated, right? He might have Swim Bladder Disease. Since he's new, he might have an infection rather then too much food.
Symptoms: Swimming Upside Down. Unable to Control Way Of Swimming.
Cause: Blockage. Tumor. Infection. Constipation.
There are alot of ways to treat this. If he is constipated, fast him for several days. If Infected, find a good treatment for him. Even if this is common, my Betta Fish has never experienced this before. Good Luck with yours!!!

 

[Mo]

Yiur tank is alady over stocked. For a betta to be able to be in the same ank as any species of cories and for both soecies to thrive happily you would need a tank minimum of 10 gallons. Even for the dwarf species, they are extremely active and need a large footprint to swim around in and thrive. Corydoras are also schooling fish, they need to be in groups minimum of 4 for the larger types and minimum of 6 for the smaller types.

Your tank is not cycled and it's needs to be with that stocking, with that amount of ammonia being produced, ideally you should be doing daily water changes to keep it minimal. Cycling is a process in which you grow nitrifying bacteria that breaks down harmful substances such as ammonia, and converts them into less harmful ones. Ammonia gets converted into nitrites by nitrosifyers, such as Nitrosomonas, and nitrosococcus. Nitrites are just as Lethal as ammonia, so ideally both levels of these should be 0 ppm. Nitrites thn get converted into nitrates by nitrobacter. Nitrates are as lethal as ammonia and nitrites so this level doesn't have to be around 0 ppm as ammonia would be, a good level of nitrates would be around 10-15 ppm. Indicating that you have a cycled tank.

If he looks bloated then it could be a result of over feeding, swim bladder disease or constipation, usually over feeding and constipation doesn't cause eye fish to lay on its side at the surface and cause eradicated swimming, I would diagnose this as Swim bladder Disease

This could possibly be a symptom of Swim Bladder Infection which is usually caused by over feeding. My recommendation towards treating this would be along the lins of introducing a dose Of Epsom salt at around 1 teaspoon per gallon

Symptoms
- Bloating
- eradicated swimming
- floating towards the surface of the water
- trouble swimming up
- seems to be doing "rolls"

Treatment
Treating this usually non fatal illness will be very easy to do. Usually a dose of aquarium salt, something along the lines of 1 teaspoon per 3 gallons for tetras, and 1 teaspoon per gallon for more salt tolerant fish such as Bettas. Typically after 1-2 Epsom salt treatments it will go away. Ideally during this treatment time you would also want to offer peas, and daphnia to the fish as this will also help

Cause
This illness is usually caused by incorrect feeding with diets that have little or no nutritional value, or over feeding. Or incorrectly feeding more than the needed periods in the day to feed, like feeding very often

Prevention
This illness is easily prevented by going along the lines of not over feeding, providing a varied diet with many good foods, and avoiding feeding lots of low nutritional value foods

 

[baileyellicott]

Thank you! So I moved the betta back into his old bowl. What should I do about the cories and the tank? And is the swim bladder a result of the new tank?

 

[Mo]

No swim bladder is a result of over feeding or feeding low nutritional value foods. Swim bladder is not stress related and isn't contagious. So it can't be caused by new tankmates or a new environment.

If I were you I would return the Corydoras or get an ideal Sized, and cycle pd tank for them depending on the species. Dwarf species would be fine in a tank of 10 gallons while the larger species such as bronze, albino, Julii, etc. should be in a tank of 15 gallons+ the dwarf species should also have sand substrate and the larger species should have sand or small pebbles.

Once the Betta is alone in his larger 5 gallon home I would do x2-x3 50% water changes weekly until the tank is cycled. If you can, purchase a test lit and research a bit into fish-in cycling

 

[baileyellicott]

i feed him one freezedried bloodworm a day. Does he not have enough nutrition? Hes been eating that diet for several months now.... Thank you so much for your help!

 

[Mo]

Hmm. I would say so, these do contain vital parts to a bettas diet but also lack vital pars to a bettas diet. They also a known to cause bloating and SBD unless they are re-hydrated and soaked in water before being fed to the fish. I honestly try to avoid freeze dried foods myself

 

[baileyellicott]

Did the new tank have anything to do with him suddenly getting SBD? I find it a little to coincidental that I put him in a new tank and he starts to get sbd. Is it because he was too weak to handle it from his diet? Sorry for all the questions, im a rookie.

 

[Mo]

No, since Swim Bladder Disease is not stress related or low immune system related, it was most likely caused by his diet of freeze dries bloodworms. I would recommend a pellet food such as atisons Betta pro, new life spectrum, hikari Betta bio gold, or omega one pellets.

 

[baileyellicott]

Where should i put my fish? Should i put him in the old bowl he was in with less water when he is by himself or keep him in the new tank with the 2 cories and more fish

 

[Mo]

I would place both in the larger tank as the water parameters will be less stressful. Have you researched fish-in cycling? Depending on where you live there should be a member that You will be able to rehome your Corydoras to. I live in Texas FYI

 

[MaisyDawgThirteen]

I also want to add that bottled water isn't recommended - it lacks some of the minerals fish need in their water. Tap water with water conditioner is much better.

And freeze-dried bloodworms are not good for a staple diet. Your going to want a good quality betta pellet food (try to avoid flakes - it's hard to portion) like omega one or new life spectrum. I use omega one and my betta loves it.

 

[baileyellicott]

yes i did. should i keep my betta out of the tank while cycling? Will the cories help to be in the water when i cycle the tank? they said it would be helpful to have fish in there to assist cycling it

 

[Mo]

No. Ideally Fishless cycling is Bette as it causes minimal stress on the fish. I would recommend having all the fish in there, getting a test kit. And doing water changes when ammonia/nitrites are above 0 ppm

 

[baileyellicott]

okay so i took his water to the petstore for the water to be tested and and they said the water was perfect. the only thing we could think of that could be wrong with it is he was accustomed to bad water conditions (before he was in a bowl with no filter) and now he is in pH shock. what would you do? should we put some of the water left over from the old bowl into the tank?

 

[MaisyDawgThirteen]

If I were you I'd slowly transition him over to treated tap water, and get him on a high quality food. Along with the epsom salt treatment.

 

[ao]

Your cories probably shouldnt be kept with the betta, except for a few species the majority are subtropical fish that requires cooler temperatures.