something is wrong with my beta

Question
HELP!  i've had my beta for 6 months and stuck to the same routine of changing water every we.  ek.  i usually use bawl conditioner with faucet water but sometimes when i run out of the conditioner my fish goes without it for a day or so.  today i was changing water as always but without bawl conditioner when i noticed that my fish started behaving in a weird way. first, it was swimming really fast and then it just went to the bottom and stayed there, turned to one side.  it looked dead!  i put a heater into the water, thinking the water might have been cold. it helped a bit, sebastian started moving, but he keeps sinking to the bottom and staying very still. what can it be?  could the water be contaminated? or is it just too cold and he will get better once the water warms up?  HELP!!!

Answer
Hi Larisa;

If the new water was cooler than his old water he is suffering from shock. Keep the water warm and just wait. His swim bladder may have been damaged from it. The swim bladder controls buoyancy. When it fails from shock the fish will sink to the bottom and can't float up very easily. There isn't anything you can really do for him but keep his water clean and warm. Hopefully he will heal. Sometimes they don't heal but they live pretty normal lives otherwise. It isn't painful or anything, the fish just can't float to the top like he used to. Keeping the water level lower will help him get there easier. You may want to make more frequent water changes if you lower it because there will be less water and it will get dirty faster.

Tap water is just fine to use, but always use a conditioner. Chemicals found in municipal water systems can be almost instantly fatal to fish. If you have a well and the water is not treated, the water conditioner still helps with stress too. Be sure to always use new water that is the same temperature as the old water.

I hope he feels better soon......

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins