betta fish acting weird

Question
Hello Chris,
  Hi, my betta fish lives in a 1 gallon tank with a a UGF and air stone. Lately,
he
has been very lethargic and stays at the bottom of the tank. He also cant
swim
straight to.He still eats though and the temperature of the fish tank is around
75-81 degrees. I feed him a variety of foods including freeze dried blood
worms,
freeze dried brine shrimp, pellets, and flakes. He also likes hiss daily pea to.
He
is a crown tail betta and has all the colors a betta fish could have on his fins
and
body. he is also kind of fat around his stomach area and vertabral column. He
is
also not flaring at his reflection but is not losing his color. Please help
because
he is only 11 months old and i can not let him die.  

Answer
Hi Robert;

Poor little guy. There are a few possibilities for his symptoms. Digestive problems are the most common. Even if he eats peas and a well-rounded diet bettas can still develop digestive issues. I would stop feeding for 3 days to clear his gut and then feed only peas for 3 more days. If it clears up, it was digestive.

Keep his tank very clean too. All tanks need a 25% water change and gravel vacuuming once a week. Even 50% weekly or twice weekly isn't too much for bettas. A one gallon is pretty small so it might help him to do more changes. Fresh clean water can help a sick fish recover from illness too. Just be sure the new water is the same temperature as the old water and use a water conditioner.

Look at his scales and see if they are poking out a bit like a pinecone. If so, it's dropsy. Here are web pages with info about it;

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article24.html

http://www.nippyfish.net/dropsy.html

I hope he feels better soon...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins