geriatric beta fish?

Question
Hi,
I've had my beta fish Howard for close to 5 years now. He's always been active and a vibrant blue. Over the past year his color became more dull, but he was still active and normal otherwise. Nothing has changed with his diet, treats, tank, heat, etc. Within the past month he has lost some weight and become sluggish. He just sits at the bottom of the tank now, often in a vertical position. He also is a bit senile at feeding time. He still eats but it takes him much longer to find and catch the pellets. If there is anything I could do for him please let me know!
Thank you for your time,
melynda

Answer
Melynda,
You can try turning the heater from 80 degrees to 82 degrees. You have done quite well with him being over 5 years. You can also feed him more frozen blood worms and not as much of the pellets. If feeding become a problem, you can try using tweezers when feeding him. This way, the food goes right to him and he doesn't have to search for it. Other than that, there really isn't much to do for him. Make sure you are doing weekly water changes, and make sure the clean conditioned water going into his tank is the same temperature as the water he is swimming in. This will cut down on stress.