[Rose of sharon]

I agree with @Feanor's assessment as well. He is a cute little boy, too!!!

You can try soaking his pellets in garlic juice to give him an immune system boost, if he will go for it. Garlic juice and garlic laced foods are used for picky eaters, too.

Just cut up some garlic, soak it in some water for a while, and then soak his pellets in the garlic juice to soften them up. If you have garlic in a jar already in your kitchen, you can use the liquid from that.

And frozen daphnia would be a good frozen food, too. It helps keep the digestive system in order.

Hope this helps a little!!!

 

[Rose of sharon]

So many bettas are now very genetically weak from over breeding. Unless a person gets one from an actual breeder, then the buyer is most likely buying one that has been mass bred from fish that have an inferior genetic make up. It's a very sad, unfortunate truth in this hobby.

Since you have owned him for almost 2 years, you can pretty much rule out things like parasites, and if you have kept his water very clean and heated, then your husbandry is good. And since you have owned him for almost 2 years, realize that he was probably anywhere from 6 months to a year old when you got him. The average betta from a pet store lives around 2.5 to 3 years on average, even with the best care.

The only other thing that I might guess is some kind of kidney failure, but that really seems unlikely based on what he looks like now. If this is the case, then the fluid will continue to build up, and his body will swell, not just the towards the end where you see the protusions right now. And that doesn't take long to happen. So if you aren't seeing more swelling in the next few days, then it is most likely an internal tumor on his swim bladder. Tumors are very common with bettas now, too.

Really good food, super clean water, and a tannin-rich environment are what I would provide for him if he were mine.

Hope this helps!