Is my betta sick??

Question
Hi Prue,

I bought a betta about a month ago and he was very lively. I've
been feeding him and changing his water properly using the
betta plus bowl conditioner. I went on vacation for 10 days and
asked my roommate to feed my betta and change his water once
while I was gone. Since I've been back... 5 days now... my betta
hasn't been himself. He lies in the bottom of the bowl, close to
the rocks, and only comes up to eat or when i jitter the bowl a
little to make sure that he moves and isn't dead. I'm scared he is
really sick. What can I do to help him? Thank you so much in
advance for your help!

Kind Regards,
Joana

Answer
Hi Joana,

While the symptoms you have described do not sound like any specific disease, they are signs of a generally unhealthy fish. Since your betta was acting fine before your vacation, we must unfortunately assume that your well-meaning roommate accidentally did something wrong.

They may have overfed the betta, not knowing how much he is used to - which would lead to a buildup of waste and illness. Or maybe they were a bit rough when changing water.

The best thing you can do for your betta is to keep him in a comfortable environment - please try not to 'jitter' the bowl as this will stress him further. Keep his water clean - every other day, do a 50% water change as you normally do. Offer him food as normal, but if he does not show interest, remove it or it will decompose and worsen the problem.

Keep him warm (78-82 degrees) and I hope he recovers!

Prue