Betta floater

Question
My co-worker and I share a Beta fish that he has had for 1+ years. He has been fine all this time until the past 2 weeks when He bought him a 1 gal tank with air. I must say that immediatly prior to this I noticed that he had long transparent bowl movments. After moving him into his new home, he started to float. Also he tryies to swim down in the tank and floates right back up to the top. One other co-worker said something about a swim bladder infection. What can we do to help him? how can this be fixed?

Answer
Hi Chris and Andrea;

He is constipated and gas has developed in his belly so he can't sink down in the water anymore. It might be from an internal bacterial infection or intestinal parasites. The clear stringy feces is one clue to this. The cause is sometimes from eating dry rich foods too quickly before they can absorb enough moisture. When the food goes into the fish too dry, sometimes it can't be digested properly. The best way to prevent this in the future is to soak the regular food a minute or so in some water before feeding.

Whatever the cause, he needs to get things "moving" again. Get a cooked and cooled green pea and peel the skin off of it. Break it into tiny chunks and feed this to the fish. Feed nothing else for 2 days, or longer if the fish is not "relieved".

It is also helpful to feed peas a couple of times a week as a regular part of the diet. It is very good for him.

If these measures don't help him, he might need a medication for internal infections. Try the above measures first and see if it helps.

Followups welcome

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

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