[Arroyo1291]

So I have a crowntail betta named Bruce that I'm very much attached to. Lately he's been acting a bit weird. Usually he's 100% active and swimming about but for a couple of weeks now I notice he likes to sit at the bottom. Now I know this is usually a sign of sickness but when he sees me or I come to the bowl he suddenly gets very excited and begins to swim normally. He'll follow my finger or follow whichever side of his tank I'll be on and he won't even seem sick.

He isn't pale or discolored at all and he's eating normally. The only thing I notice a little differently is that for the last few weeks his bubbles have been scattered all over the surface rather than a concentrated bubble nest by his leaf hammock like usually. I haven't noticed any sign of fin rot although I'm not sure what it'd look like on a crowntail. I'll provide a picture and perhaps one of you guys will be able to see if anything is wrong.

Just some general info: he lives in a 2 1/2 gal tank that's constantly around 80 degrees and has a baffled "waterfall" filter that doesn't cause any stressful comfort. He's been living in this environment for about 4 months now just fine.

 

[TheCheese909]

Have you changed anything in his tank lately? When was the last time you did a water change?

Don't worry too much about the scattered bubbles at the top, my tanks get that way too from time to time.

Be careful with that filter you have in the tank. I'm guessing you have an Aqueon 2.5 gallon, I have two of them along with a MiniBow and a 5 gallon. I would suggest when you get the time to change the filter to this one:

http://www.pet-dog-cat-supply-store.com/shop/shop_image/product/4ecc22a5a92ccb664cbf5822b06da9c5.jpg

You can get it at WalMart for like $10, and the filter pads for it are only $3 for a pack of two. It has a light hum but works much better then the one that comes with that tank- it also seems give the aquarium so much more room.
The filter you have in there right now can rip the crowns off of his tail. It happened to my CT I had along with two of my Halfmoons, all of which got shredded terribly and I had to cut their tails for them to regrow.

 

[Arroyo1291]

The last time I did a change was about a week ago. I've been doing 100% changes every 2-3 weeks since I figured with the filter there'd be less muck in there. And thank you for the filter info I definitely will take a look into changing it. I've been fearing that very same thing.

 

[Arroyo1291]

So I did a 50-60% water change today and he's actually looking a little better. Even without looking at me now I notice him swimming around a bit more.

 

[Cattitude]

I have a couple of the 2.5 gal mini-bows and so far no problems with the filters. I put filter sponge inside the intake cage to prevent any accidents.

I do at least one 50% water change per week with these tanks, preferably two per week. Once a month or so, I do a 100% change to thoroughly clean the gravel and ornaments. I use a mini-gravel vac hose and bucket which saves a lot of time!

My main suggestion to you and Bruce would be to do partial water changes more frequently if you don't have time to do 100%. Even 25% helps.