Betta fish may have air pocket/bubble?

Question
QUESTION: We have a beta in our office. He was moved into a new 2 gallon tank last Thursday and has not acted the same since. Monday he started floating on his side and now is floating to the top of the tank. He has spurts of activity but then seems to rise to the top. He has not eaten anything since last Friday. Is there anything we can do?

ANSWER: Hi Beth,
   A possible problem could be that the water temperature is too cold.  Do you have a heater in the tank?  The water should be around 80oF.  However, if that was the problem, he would tend to sit on the bottom, not rise to the top.
   I assume that you properly treated the new water for chlorine, right?

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


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

QUESTION: Water was treated for chlorine and Betta H2o was added. We have never used this product before. We are leaving the office for the day and we will get a heater. What about an air bubble? He just seems to float around the top of the tank? This is so odd for him as he has always been very animated, he has quite the personality. Thanks for getting back so quickly, hopefully we haven't lost him.
Beth

Answer
Hi Beth,
  When you say "What about an air bubble" do you mean that he might have an air bubble inside?  Fish like bettas have a swim bladder that they can fill with air to help them regulate their buoyancy.  Sometimes a fish will get an infection of the swim bladder which will make it so the fish cannot regulate the air in the bladder and this can cause them to float.  Unfortunately, treating such infections is really difficult with low success rate.  There are various medications that claim to treat this sort of thing but I have had little success with them.

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