Looks like poo to me. Sometimes it hangs on for a while, but it'll fall off soon enough. If he had prolapsed (Intestines outside the body) it would just be a little pink stub, not a big ball. Insides want to stay inside, after all.

I'm not sure if it's the angle but does he have a bent spine? I've never seen a betta who curves downwards after their head...

 

Yes his spine is bent. I am not sure why. It has been like this for a while but was not when we got him. He was beautiful. Idk if it is poor water quality or what. I posted another of him from when we got him and then to date. Do you have any idea why it is like this? Also do you think he has fin rot? could that be causing his body to bend?

 

Hmm, to be honest the only things I know of that cause bent spines are- injury, birth defect, malnutrition, and myco (TB). It does look like he has some fin rot, that wouldn't cause a bent spine but the two may have the same cause.

Actually, if you could answer these questions that would be great. It's helpful to know what he's living in, what he's eating, etc.

Housing
What size is your tank?
What temperature is your tank?
Does your tank have a filter?
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?
Is your tank heated?
What tank mates does your betta fish live with?

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?
How often do you feed your betta fish?

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change?
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
When did you start noticing the symptoms?
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
Does your fish have any history of being ill?
How old is your fish (approximately)?

 

he is in a 5 gal tank with heater (78) and filter. No other tank mates. My tank is in the process of cycling. I have been messing it up so it hasn't properly done so.
I usually feed him 2-3 betta pellets every few days, but am now have him on a diet of blood worms and deshelled peas.
I usually change his water 50% every week. But since he is sick, starting today i am changing a gallon every day. I use seachem prime. I don't have a test kit at home. I did take a sample to petco and they tested it. I had done a water change the night before and the test came back ok. I know their strip tests aren't super reliable, but when i had a goldfish before their tests always showed negative results.
His appearance has changed. His color has been fading and his body bending. I am not sure for how long this has been going on. His behavior depends on the day. yesterday he spent most of the time laying at the bottom of the tank, today he has been swimming around and greets me whenever i walk in the room. I have never treated him for anything. I add epsom salt to the water sometimes. I don't know how old he is. we have had him since september, and he was full grown when we got him.

 

he is in a 5 gal tank with heater (78) and filter. No other tank mates. My tank is in the process of cycling. I have been messing it up so it hasn't properly done so.
I usually feed him 2-3 betta pellets every few days, but am now have him on a diet of blood worms and deshelled peas. - 2-3 pellets every few days isn't much. I feed at least 6 (depending on the pellet) daily, deshelled peas are controversial on this site & IMO unnecessary. Bloodworms most on here will say should not be their staple diet but a treat once or twice a week.
I usually change his water 50% every week. But since he is sick, starting today i am changing a gallon every day. I use seachem prime. I don't have a test kit at home. I did take a sample to petco and they tested it. I had done a water change the night before and the test came back ok. I know their strip tests aren't super reliable, but when i had a goldfish before their tests always showed negative results. - If you are truly cycling a tank then a once a week water change may not be adequate. I would invest in the liquid test kit if possible or at the very least get the 5 in 1 & ammonia test strips, better than nothing.
His appearance has changed. His color has been fading and his body bending. I am not sure for how long this has been going on. - This is not good; sounds like he has something going on. Both of these symptoms can mean a lot of things; bad water quality, poor diet, disease such as TB. His behavior depends on the day. yesterday he spent most of the time laying at the bottom of the tank, today he has been swimming around and greets me whenever i walk in the room. - Do you notice his activity level go up after he's had a water change? I have never treated him for anything. I add epsom salt to the water sometimes. - Epsom salt or really any salt shouldn't be used unless you are specifically treating for something. Salt does not dissipate from the water, the only way to remove it is through water changes. I would discontinue using Epsom Salts unless he's bloated or something. I don't know how old he is. we have had him since september, and he was full grown when we got him.

I would start with upping the frequency of water changes & feed a better quality diet. If this makes no difference within a few days then you may need to go the medication route depending on what signs & symptoms you see at that time. I'm sure other with voice their ideas as well, you'll have to take in all of the information & decide the best course of action. Keep us posted.

 

Okay, what brand of pellets, and are the blood worms frozen or dried? I'd stop with the peas, they're alright for a one-time treatment but they can cause damage long-term. Frozen blood worms are a good treat, but you will still want a high quality pellet as a staple- NLS or Omega One are the most recommended. Freeze-dried blood worms on the other hand, are about as nutritious as potato chips and can cause bloating easily. Since he looks skinny to me, I'm guessing he isn't getting enough nutrition. Start feeding him lots of small meals with a good pellet and see if that helps him at all.

Make sure you also do a large change once or twice a week in addition to the gallon a day, which is great by the way, so that nothing bad builds up. Even if you don't change the water use Prime daily when cycling, to make sure the ammonia is detoxified.

Does he have any other injuries on his body, or is any part of his fins turning gray?

 

The pellets are aqeon. And the bloodworms are freeze dried. I only just started with the peas today. what kind of small meals should i give him? I will continue with the daily change and a big change every week. He doesn't have any other injuries. The tips of his fins are kinda black bu ti suspect that is because of the rot. He did get sucked to the intake stariner last week. He was swimming really close to it and was on it. I reached in and got him off of it. That has been the only thing i can think of that would injur him. I just recently put a baffle on the outflow because the current was so strong. He had a really hard time swimming before.
I feel bad that he is like this because i wasn't feeding him enough. But when i would feed him every day his belly got really distended and would start floating sideways. Even then i was only giving him 3 pellets.

 

Aqueon isn't a terrible brand, so that's okay. Feed him two or three pellets at a time, twice a day. Try soaking them in water first, or breaking them into smaller pieces. They probably swelled up in his stomach, which is common, so you want them to be full-sized before he eats them. That will probably lessen his floating problems, but with him being so skinny a full stomach is going to look overly-full anyway so don't worry about that. Hold off on the bloodworms for a few weeks, or pick up some frozen ones if you can. Daphnia is a natural laxative, if you want to grab some of that as well.

Did his spine bend and his color fade before or after his injury? You can put some sponge or an empty filter bag around the intake and that should prevent him from getting stuck to it again.

It sounds like he does not have TB, which is great since that's a really nasty disease.

 

Ok i will stop the bloodworms and do the smaller feedings of pellets. I think he was like this before the intake incident. I think what happened was he was already weakened and just got too close to the intake. On another forum site someone suggested the sponge thing as well so i am going to do that. How long should i keep up with the small feedings? And when can i expect to notice improvement?

 

That would make sense, healthy adults can usually avoid the intakes no problem. Covering it up is a good idea if it's happened once already.

I would just make this his new feeding schedule, honestly. He sounds like he's prone to bloating, which can be made worse by a single large feeding per day. Feeding twice isn't really any more work, and it'll help him get stronger.

If underfeeding/malnutrition was the cause of his spine problem, he should start to fatten up and straighten out in a week or two. He might always keep that bend though, but if he gets stronger then it shouldn't affect him too much.

 

Okie dokie will do. I wanted to ask another quick question, i am wanting to re-do the tank. Put different substrate in and also live plants. Should i wait until he is better before doing this? I don't want to stress him out more than he already is.

 

depends on the fish really. is he the sort to get freaked out easily over small things or does he adore change and poking his face into everything?

If hes the former best to wait, if the latter change things but do it a bit at a time- for instance gravel first and when hes bored of it swap something else.

 

I don't think he will freak out. I tend to move stuff around in his tank alot and he seems fine. I want to get a live plant back in because he really enjoyed that. I saw his laying in it quite a bit, and he won't lay in the silk plant i have in there now. He'll lay at the base but not in it. He goes in is submarine alot so i might keep that in there and just hide it in the plants so he can still go in it.