Betta Fish Swim Bladder Disease
My betta fish only floats and hes kinda out of the water?? whats wrong?
like he cant swim to the bottom he floats up he hasnt eaten anything in like 3 days, and when hes floating, the top fin is out of the water, he doesnt move unless i put the net in there and when i changed the water and i had him in a seperate glass with water from the bowl before i cleaned it he started flippin on his side a lil bit like against the glass, and before that i had bought him a plastic skull and he would sit on it all day long is that swim bladder disease or is my fish dying??
i put him in a bowl temporarily i looked up constipation and SBD, i tried feeding him peas he wont eat and i tried aquarium salt i bought him a 5 gallon tank yesterday i dont know what to do i tried everything, he still laying on his side but hes alive.
Don’t add aquarium salt, it does nothing for swim bladder and though it does have beneficical properties that amount you’d have to add to see any benefit for a freshwater betta would kill him.
It’s swim bladder (SB), which shows itself as the inability to swim down, difficulty swimming up, swimming or laying on its side or appearing to be “pulled up” to the top of the tank. It’s not fatal, but it can be an indicator or cold water or poor water quality, though the causes vary. However, he needs a heater, regular water changes and an appropriate-size tank.
1) Heater: His water needs to be a steady 78 degrees. Bettas are tropical fish and need to keep their bodies at least at 78-80 degrees in order to digest their food properly. Not eating can mean he’s too cold to digest his food. The heater size you need has to do with what size tank you have. If he’s in a 5-10 gallon, you need a 50 watt, if it’s 2.5-5 gallons, a 25 watt and if it’s smaller than that a 7.5 or 10-watt heater usually does the trick. You can get heaters online or from most pet stores.
2) Water changes: For uncycled 100% water change tanks, you need to change it at this approximate rate: 1 gallon: change 100% every 2-3 days; 2.5-3 gallons 2-3 times/week; 5 gallons 1-2 x’s/week.
3) Tank size: Nothing >2.5-3 gallons (and some say nothing >5 gallons) is ok for a betta. Check Craigslist, backpage.com or online fish forums, as people often sell them cheaply, trade for them or give them away. Also, you can get acrylic kritter keepers. They scratch easily, but are lighter, cheaper, hold up well, and you can use filters and heater in them.
If you’ve got those things, then these are possible causes for his SB:
Overfeeding/constipation: They key is not to overfeed (2-3 pieces of food/day) as they’re stomach is only the size of their eye. To tell if this is the cause, get a frozen pea (check ingredients for salt-get one without salt as it will make him retain more water), but it in some water in a cup, heat the cup of water with the pea in the microwave for 2 minutes. Take it out, deshell it and feed some of the innards of it to your fish, easiest way is on the end of a toothpick. If he’s better in a few hours then this was the cause.
Air: sometimes they’ll just accidentally gulp too much air when eating or surfacing.
Water changes: sometimes they’ll be poured/put back in their tanks too quickly and they’ll inget air that way.
Food:Some bettas devlop problems with pellets or flakes as they have a lot of things that thei’r body doesn’t digest, so feeding frozen food can help (PetCo and PetSmart have it. It’s more easily digestible and much more nutritious).
Surface temperature: Make sure the top is slotted or has some other way to allow oxygen to get in and out because a drastic water temp. difference at the surface has been said to cause the issue.
Old age: some just develop it as they reach the end of their lifespan.
If you all his basics covered and none of the above are working, you can try medicating. The best med is Kanaplex/Kanamycin (online only), as it’s best for any range of infections and easiest on the fish, so I’d order it, but you need meds ASAP so for now pick up Jungle Fungus Eliminator or Clear. You can find it at PetCo/PetSmart. He needs a broad-spectrum antibiotic, so if you can’t find either of those pick up Maracyn 1 and 2 (yes, you must have both, since each only treats one type of infection). They’re at Petco, PetSmart, most local pet stores. Maracyn is recommended least of the three because it’s been around a lot longer and sometimes doesn’t treat current infections and because it’s not as potent. If he’s in a cycled tank, take out the carbon or it removes the med. With any of the above meds, you can treat daily for 3 days (doing the appropriate water changes needed for your tank size, 100% each day if his tank isn’t cycled) and retreat if necessary for another 3 days.
FYI, it can be permanent. If it is know he isn’t in pain or suffering even if seeing him like that really bothers you. And sometimes it comes and goes: one day it was just gone, others have it intermittently, some have a few good days/week or a few good hours/day, others lived their whole lives with it.
