Family Beta

Question
We have had our beta since Febuary and everything has been going great,until this last Sunday, I noticed he was straight up in his bowl sucking in air and his gland seemed to be swollen. I called the pet store where I purchased him and he told me to change the water again after I told him I had used soap to rinse the rocks. I did this and put him in the sunlight. Since then he has went back to his usual position and the swelling seems to have gone away, but our little guy won't eat. I am worried that he is suffering or maybe he does not want the food we are offering him anymore. Any ideas on what we could do?  

Answer
Hi Isolde,
 Give him time to recover.  You should change 20-50% of his water once a week, every week, but NEVER use any soap anywhere near a fish tank.  The soap attacks the skin and mucous coating on a fish.

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