Our Blue betta is sick!

Question
Hi,  we have a betta in our office - have had Blue Fish close to a year.  He has been acting rather strange for the past 10 days to two weeks.  He looks like he is breathing really hard, he will start to just sink to the bottom, and then will have a sporadic burst of energy and dart to the top of the bowl and swim in circles with his nose sticking out of the water.  Sometimes he will lodge himself on the weeds of the plant we had in the bowl (we recently removed this) so about 1/3 to 1/2 of his body is fully above the water, including his mouth.  Is he suicidal or what?  We have tried changing the water every other day, and tried distilled water also.  We always let the water sit for at least 24 hours and treat it with Aqua Safe.  He also has what appears to be a sore on top of his nose, and his left eye bulges out more than the right eye.  I don't think he is eating either.  Sometimes it looks like he tries, but he either misses the food, or just hits it woth his nose and moves it away.  Is there anything we can do?  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you!

Answer
Hi Lori;

It sounds like a combination of two different things. The most obvious symptoms (sinking, heavy breathing, darting to the top) are from failure of the swim bladder. Bettas must be able to take gulps of air from the top in order to breathe. Their gills alone cannot absorb enough oxygen for them to survive. When the swim bladder fails, the fish loses it's buoyancy and it sinks down to the bottom. They get a bit desperate in trying to get to the top so they sometimes "beach" themselves to assure they can get air.

The other problem he has is called "pop eye". There is an infection, injury or irritation inside his head and it is causing his eye to bulge outward. It may even have been caused by his efforts to swim. The pressure from what's going on inside his head could cause him to be disoriented as well.

Treatment for swim bladder disorders are not often successful because there are so many possible causes, and most are not treatable. First, lower the water level so he doesn't have to fight so hard to get air. You could try feeding him a green pea in case it is from a constipation problem. Sounds weird, but it works as a laxative. Take a frozen pea and thaw it out. Peel it and break it into chunks and feed it to him on a toothpick or a long chopstick since he is at the bottom a lot.

For the pop eye you can use one of two antibiotics to treat for a possible internal infection. "Maracyn 2" or Kanamycin are the two possibilities. They both absorb into the fish to get where infection is. Other medicines treat only the outside of the body.

Clean water is the key to treatment of any sick fish so change his water every other day. Keep him in a very warm spot too. Bettas are tropical fish and as they get older they tolerate lower temperatures less and less. Put a desk lamp on him if needed in order to let the temperature rise. Be sure that any new water you use during a water change is the same temperature as his tank water. It is so much easier to make water changes if you just use tap water and add water conditioner. Letting it sit out overnight really doesn't do anything more than AquaSafe does instantly anyway. Avoid distilled water. It is missing important minerals that your fish needs.

Hopefully he will feel better soon......

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins