What's wrong with my Crown Tail Betta?

[32blownhemi]

1) Crown Tail Betta. I'll post pictures of his body. Color changed on his body.
Spends a lot of time just sitting on his plastic plants or on bottom. He didn't
use to...
2) Tank Parameters; PH is lighter then 7.6 but not as light as 7.2...
Ammonia over 0 ppm not .25 ppm
Nitrite is 0 ppm
Nitrate is between 5.0 ppm & 10.0 ppm
3) A 3 1/2 Gallon Top Fin tank but because of the round cylinder filter in the center the actual volume of water is 2 3/4 gallon. It was set-up 8 weeks as of yesterday...
4) Type of filter; I'll post pic's of filter. The filters are made for Petsmart by Marineland (ie Perfecto). This is what I got by Googling but can't find it...
5) One Crown Tail Betta. He looks large to me. At least 2 1/2 inches long... He's huge compared to what I see at fish stores...
6) I changed 1 gallon of water day before last. A couple of days before that I changed out 3 quarts... I haven't had any luck vacuuming tank. Can't get anything out of the large gravel. Next tank which I'll get soon will have sand...
7) Had him 8 weeks & 2 days. Didn't acclimate at all. Didn't know anything about it. He came right out of one of those really small containers that the pet stores keep them in to a 2 3/4 gallon tank. Oh I put in Nuetral Regulator 7.0 at first but have since switched to Prime...
8)Nothing new added...
9)From the start I've fed him Tetra Pro Betta Crisps. He loves them! He eats as much as a small horse! For variety I got him Betta Small Pellets, he swallowed one, spit it out & now won't even touch them. i got him dried blood worms, he ate them a few times but now won't touch them. I got him some kind of frozen worms & he wouldn't touch them. A couple of times I've given him live worms (not sure what they really are). He loves them! But I was told not to feed him these to often...

 

[32blownhemi]

Picture of my filter & replacement filter

I didn't change the filter for the first 4-5 weeks. Since then I've changed it 2 times.... I try to keep his tank between 78-80 degrees. But it gets as low as 77 & as high as 82... I'm reluctant to use a heater. There's not one heater where at least a few reviews didn't say "I got up in the morning & my fish were cooked"...

 

[Angellove78]

Bloat? Stop feeding for a day or 2. Then try a pea. Small pieces of a soft skinless pea. Cooked or canned as long as it's soft and skinless. Only one pea a day till he's better. Just make sure he poops. Easy on the feeding. And when you can start feeding him pellets again make sure you soak them till soft before feeding. Hope he gets better.

 

[V227]

Changing out the filter cartridges every few weeks is a bad idea. Consider changing the cartridge once every few months. Rinse the filter cartridge in old tank water, squeezing out the individual chambers once a month. You're losing a very large percentage of the beneficial bacteria when changing out the cartridge.
The filter manufacturers benifet greatly from accelerated cartridge change outs, not fish.
When the fiber mesh begins to unravel, thats the time for a change out.

 

[32blownhemi]

Thank You Angel & V227! So the weird color & raw like look under his chin is Bloat? If not, how do I tell when he's not bloated anymore? Oh, is this pic I posted of him pooping? Thanks again! Bill

 

[Angellove78]

You'll know bloat. Huge belly, and not moving much. The white area is either age or stress.

 

[V227]

I think changing out the filter pads in rapid succession likely resulted in mini spikes in your water parameters, causing the unhealthy symptoms your Betta is exhibiting.
Probably a good idea not to feed for a few days, then resume, only feeding in very small amounts.

 

[32blownhemi]

Thank You Angel & V227! Ok, so no food for a couple of days. And I bought pee's at the market.... Bill

 

[32blownhemi]

Angellove78, Thank You! Ok, I didn't feed him for a day & a half. Then fed him a skinless canned pea. Swished it up & dropped in pieces. He ate a piece & then spit it up. Put another whole one in (skinned) & he wouldn't touch it. Then soaked a 2 Tetra Small Pellets in water, dropped them in one at a time but he wouldn't touch them. He wouldn't eat them either when I gave them to him a month ago. Then a Tetra Small Shrimp, wouldn't touch that either. Then a very small amount of Tetra Pro Betta Crisps. He attacked them. These along with the live worms is all he'd ever eat before being Bloated... What should I do? How do I tell if he's pooped? Thank You! Bill

 

[32blownhemi]

I think changing out the filter pads in rapid succession likely resulted in mini spikes in your water parameters, causing the unhealthy symptoms your Betta is exhibiting.
Probably a good idea not to feed for a few days, then resume, only feeding in very small amounts.

Thank You V227! They don't mention this when your buying filters from them! Bill

 

[Angellove78]

You can try soaking the pea in garlic juice. But usually they stop eating if it's bloat. It's probably just his age catching up with him. Is he still swimming around? Did you check the flow of the filter. Could be too strong for him.

 

[32blownhemi]

Thank You Angel! It's not bloat if they quit eating. My guys a gluten... And he's swimming around now too... The filter doesn't look like it has all that much flow... But, I'll try the garlic juice on the peas... Bill

 

[Angellove78]

And if your talking about his over all size (body) then he was probably a type of king breed. Google it. You'll see what I'm talking about. I have a female that's about 2-3" and she's bigger than the rest of mine. All betta's are different in their own way too. Some get stressed out easy. As others are just happy to not be in a cup.