Beta sits on bottom of bowl

Question
We have had our beta for about 3 months.  He is in a gallon size tank and lives alone (no other fish).  All we do to treat the water is with a de-clorine solution.  

When we first got our beta (Buddy), he was very active and was always swimming around.  Then, for the past month or so, he frequently sits at the bottom of the tank.  He swims to the top every couple of minutes, but then falls back to the bottom of the tank.  He is eating normally and we change the water every 5-7 days.  Can you tell me what is wrong?  Or is this just typical behavior?

Answer
Hi Adam;

Unfortunately he has a failed swim bladder. The swim bladder is an organ inside fish below the spine that controls buoyancy. When the fish wants to go up in the water, the swim bladder fills with blood gasses. If the fish wants to sink down, the blood gasses dissipate into the bloodstream again. When it fails, it can no longer hold the blood gasses so the fish sinks to the bottom. It can fail from many different causes. Genetic deformity, dirty water, infection. The most common are temperature issues. Bettas in bowls are often too cool. They are tropical fish that require 75 minimum or up to 85 degrees 24 hours a day. Their swim bladder can also be affected by temperature shock. If the new water during a water change is cooler than the old water they can experience temperature shock. This can cause the swim bladder to fail or the fish to even die.

There really is no "cure" for a failed swim bladder. You just have to wait and see if it will heal on it's own. Sometimes treating with an antibiotic will help, but only if the cause was infection. There is just no way to tell for sure what the cause is, so it is tried just to be sure. But, even if it was caused by infection the swim bladder itself still has to heal in order to work properly. So the infection and failure really are two separate issues. The two antibiotics that have the possibility to work are "Maracyn 2" and "Kanacyn". Use whichever one of the two are readily available to you. We use these for internal infections because they absorb inside the fish where the infection could be. Others treat only the outside.

Also get him to a very warm place in your house. Put a light on him if you need to in order to get the water temperature up. It will have to be on 24 hours a day. He also needs to have his water level lowered. Struggling so hard to get to the top for his periodic gulps of air is very hard on him and he needs to rest. Get it down to 3" or so and change his water more often. You are doing great with water changes already, but with less water it will get dirty faster.

I hope he feels better soon...

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Chris Robbins

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