Female Beta swimming nose down

Question
QUESTION: I have a female beta in a 1 1/2 gal filtered tank.  She was eating healthy and very playful.  I was gone for 4 days and came home to find her nose down in some of the grass in her tank.  She came up with coaxing but still swan nose down and very agitated. I've now moved her to a smaller bowl but her fins are moving very fast.

ANSWER: Hi Susan,
 Do you normally do regular partial water changes on her tank?  You need to change 25% of the water once a week, every week to keep a fish happy.  By the way, 1 and 1/2 gallons is very small for a fish to live in.  Strongly consider getting something of at least 5 or 10 gallons for your fish.

-- Ron C.
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I've done a complete water change now but she just swims at the top of the tank.  If I get her to move and she goes towards the bottom of the tank she starts swimming nose down until she gets back to the top of the tank. Do you recommend a bigger tank?  She is in a desk top tank (filtered) in my office and I thought it was a good size for her - considering the small cups the pet stores keep them in.  She just doesn't seem happy these days and I don't know what to do next.

Answer
Hi Susan,
  Doing a complete water change is not better than doing a 25% water change, in fact, it can be much worse. Doing a complete water change upsets the balance of the tank.  Please keep this in mind in the future.

  The cups are ridiculously small for a fish and are only suitable as a very short-term home for a fish. They can survive in there, but it is not a good home.  That said, I doubt if a larger tank is going to solve her problem at this point.  It sounds like she has some sort of internal balance problem.  This could be caused by an infection in her swim bladder (for which there is nothing you can do sadly).  It could also be caused by a problem in her intestine. One remedy for this is to feed her thawed frozen peas.  That sometimes helps clear out the intestine, and can't hurt. You might give it a try.

-- Ron C.
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>