Air bubble in Beta?

Question
I have a male beta in a small round fish bowl and I've had him for about 3 months.  I use Aqua Safe drops, and I feed him with BettaMin.  I was cleaning his bowl today and when I put him back in, he kept swimming on his side.  He is now floating on his back.  I left my house for about an hour and when I came back, he was on the ground.  He had jumped out of the bowl onto the floor!  I'm so scared he's giong to die.  Someone told me he might have an air bubble in him or something. He also has a huge lump that just appeared today and it is white under his head. Help Please!!!

Answer
Hi Ashlee;

He may have have swallowed an air bubble and/or was in shock after the water change.

If he is still eating, feed him tiny pieces of green peas and nothing else until he is feeling better. This will help him expel any gas that he may have. Slowly raise the water temperature by placing his bowl in a warmer place. It needs to be 78 or higher all the time. You could put a lamp close to it and let it raise the temperature even more too. Higher temps will help his appetite and help him digest properly. Bettas are tropical so they can't tolerate below 78 degrees very well.

When you change his water make sure it is exactly the same temperature as what it was before. This will help prevent shock.

Put something on top of his bowl to prevent him from jumping out again. Make sure air can still get in though. I used to use a thin cotton cloth laid over the top of mine. Other people use things like a small piece of screen or plastic crafting mesh.

Let me know how it's going......

Followups welcome

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins