Betta looks sluggish, trouble swimming

[Tfat91]

Hello everyone,

Over the past day or so my Betta fish has been struggling to swim normally. He is spending most of his time lying on the bottom of the tank on his side or upside down. I've tested pH (7.4), nitrite (0), nitrates (20-40ppm) and ammonia (0-0.25ppm). Temperature has been steady at 78F. He isn't interested in eating either. Some quick research tells me swim bladder disease or bloating. Does anyone have any input?

Thank you for the help.

 

[Colin_T]

Pictures and video of the fish?
You can upload videos to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.

What does the fish's poop look like?
Are the scales sticking out from the body?
Have you added anything to the tank in the last 2 weeks?
What do you normally feed him?

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Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week or until the problem is identified. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.

 

[Andy Sager]

Hello everyone,

Over the past day or so my Betta fish has been struggling to swim normally. He is spending most of his time lying on the bottom of the tank on his side or upside down. I've tested pH (7.4), nitrite (0), nitrates (20-40ppm) and ammonia (0-0.25ppm). Temperature has been steady at 78F. He isn't interested in eating either. Some quick research tells me swim bladder disease or bloating. Does anyone have any input?

Thank you for the help.

A few questions first:
1) How long have you had the fish?

2) What size tank is he in?

3) What kind of Betta is it? ( i.e. crown tail, veiltail, etc.)

4) What do you regularly feed the fish?

5) Does the fish have any new abnormalities? ( i.e. swollen belly, tumors, etc.)