Betta and sludgy water

[GuppyLover]

My sister has a veiltail betta in a 1 gallon fish bowl (I know I know) with no filter. She cleans his tank out ounce a week/every other week and uses 'Betta H2O' for his water. But lately is has been getting sludgy and gross. It looks like there is oil on top of his water and it has bubbles in it. I have actually scraped it off the top with a piece of cardboard. She just cleaned out his bowl and refilled it and it has sludge on it again and now he is swimming in circles on his side. Shes hoping to treat it but I think its to late for him..

 

[Fishies86]

If it's a 1gallon bowl without a filter, she should be doing a pwc every day, not once a week. Ammonia and other nasties are going to build up pretty quickly in a bowl that size :/

 

[Fishies86]

How much water does she change at a time? Changing a lot of water right now will give the betta more time, even if it doesn't cure the problem.

 

[TraceyB4602]

How is the inside of the bowl? Is it slimy? If so use hit water and wash it down with your fingers. If not, she should be doing 50% PWC each day.

Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium

 

[ChelseaLake]

Aww, poor fish (and sister).

It's probably an accumulation of waste. The oily stuff is probably protein. Animals excrete extra protein in their urine (including humans..ew!).

 

[JoyFunWow]

Could it be a bubblenest? In any case, it seems that more frequent water changes would be your best bet...