Help me save my Betta?!?!? PLEASE

Hi,

I have a betta fish that I received as a going away present a year and a half ago. I have fallen in love with him, his name is Alfred. Over the past two weeks he has become less and less active. He now just lays on the bottom of the tank almost lifeless. When he does try and swim it takes everything he has to get to the top of the tank and then takes a breath and sinks back down. I have tried feeding him a pea thinking it is a swim bladder disorder but he won't eat it.

He lives in a two gallon tank with a filter and live plants. His has a heater which he seems to really like.

Please, any advice would help!

Thank you

It does sound like he might have swim bladder.

I have a betta that went through a bout of swim bladder...his had him floating on his side and unable to swim down in the tank. I tried the pea too but was unable to get him to eat it either. I finally chopped the pea up very small and put it in one hand and propped our betta (Bob) in my other hand and he was able to get a little bit down. It still took weeks for the swim bladder to clear up but he did and is fine now. I had been feeding him freeze dried brine shrimp...now I feed live bloodworms about once a week and sparsely feed flake inbetween. Bob seems to be doing great now.

Here's an article on swim bladder that has some useful information:

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Keep us informed and good luck

bli_23 wrote:Hi,

I have a betta fish that I received as a going away present a year and a half ago. I have fallen in love with him, his name is Alfred. Over the past two weeks he has become less and less active. He now just lays on the bottom of the tank almost lifeless. When he does try and swim it takes everything he has to get to the top of the tank and then takes a breath and sinks back down. I have tried feeding him a pea thinking it is a swim bladder disorder but he won't eat it.

He lives in a two gallon tank with a filter and live plants. His has a heater which he seems to really like.

Please, any advice would help!

Thank you

first of yay for having a filtered heated tank!

few questions.

how much do you feed him? ( and what)
how often do you do water changes ( and how much)
what temp is the tank set at?...and was he full grown when you got him?

When i first smashed up the pea and put it in his bowl he went at it, chewed it up and ate it, i thought, then he spit it out
I tried putting him in a smaller bowl to have a better chance to give it to him but he just panicked and wouldn't eat or move so i put him back in his tank.

I don't know the exact temperature at the moment, i think its in the mid to upper 70's

I feed him a pinch of beta food flakes that i got from the pet store every morning. come to think of it, i have NEVER seen him poop

I try to do water changes once a week but a few weeks ago i had did a whole tank change.

hmm i would say keep up the water changes..dont feed him for a few days..and a little salt and bump up the temp to 80 ish and see how he does.

He seems to be getting worse. I did another 50% water change with spring water because i do not trust what is in our water here. We are on a military base. I have tried withholding food with no luck. I tried giving him a Pea but he wouldn't take it. I'm going to try again tomorrow, maybe if he is hungry enough.

At this point i'm not sure its just swim bladder, if it was at all. I have noticed his body looks raw or a bit burned up by his head and there are dark spots on his tail fin.

I took out 1/2 of the water to make it easier to get to the top because he is still gulping for air occasionally but then I was told the less water the higher the toxins so i have put it back in. I'm just not sure what to do anymore. Nothing seems to be helping.

This is hearbreaking.