Sick and/or Injured Betta

Question
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Followup To
Question - Thank you for your quick response, unfortunately after we transferred Jose to his own bowl he didn't make it through the night. We bought frozen bloodworms that are supposed to act as a laxative, is that true? Also I will see about getting a bigger tank. The reason it is so small is b/c I'm in college so I have to move it home from time to time and our apartment is not that big. I will for now just try to keep the water clean and not get anymore fish and hopefully that will be enough. Thank you again and I will remeber to ask you if any of my other aquatic buddies have a problem.
Lindsay
Chris,
I've had my Betta, Jose Cuervo, for about four months now and he seemed to be doing great until today. He shares the tank with 4 neon tetras and 2 african dwarf frogs. Around Thanksgiving we got them a new 3 gallon tank with a better filter. All the fish seemed to thrive in it because of the extra space and cleaner water supply. This morning I found Jose wrapped around the filter (it's a cylinder shape that stick into the water). Although none of the other smaller tank mates have been caught in the filter the current must have caught his long fins. As soon as I unplugged the filter he immediately released himself but started to swim sideways.  Now he seems to be staying mostly at the top of the tank and trys to make himself upright. His spine looks kinked and he flips from one side to the other. He doesn't seem to be obviously injured or in any pain and his colors are as lovely as ever. I have been worried about his diet b/c when I feed the other fish their flakes he tends to eat alot of them before they get to them. I thought that possibly there may be a swim bladder or constipation problem or injury related to the filter. I would really appreciate your opnion because I don't want to give up on my fish. Thank you and I hope to hear from you as soon as you are able.
Lindsay
Answer -
Hi Lindsay;

Poor Jose. It sounds like he may be constipated and it made him weak. Constipation affects the swim bladder too. The swim bladder controls buoyancy. You may have to separate him from the other fish so he can rest. If you still have the old tank it would be a good idea to set it up again. Don't put any gravel or marbles or anything on the bottom. You want to be able to see his waste to make sure he is having bowel movements. Put it in the warmest place in your house and feed him only little chunks of green peas until he is "going" normally again. Here is a link to a page about it and other options to help him;

http://tinyurl.com/9ah5d

It was great to get them a bigger tank but 3 gallons is just not big enough for all those guys permanently. A community tank of small fish like yours can have one inch of adult fish per gallon. Because they are young when you first buy them, you have to consider their adult size when you calculate the population. The neons will get to be 1.5 inches long. Just two of them alone will complete the population of a 3 gallon. Bettas get about 3 inches and frogs each about an inch. Yikes! That's a lot of critters in there! They really need about a 10 gallon tank. Make 25% water changes twice a week and don't overfeed. This will hopefully keep everyone healthy for awhile until you can get them a bigger tank again.

I hope your betta feels betta soon. ;-)

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins  

Answer
Oh, that's such a shame. Sometimes they die in spite of our best efforts.

Just keep making water changes so the other fish can do okay.
Bloodworms are usually kind of constipating because of their protein content. Cooked green peas are the best for being laxatives. Peel the round shell off and feed chunks to the fish. The fish you still have should like it too. It's really good for all of them! Feed the worms too. Just not too much and maybe 2 or 3 times a week.

Chris Robbins