Spinning Betta

Question
I have owned Bettas for a couple of years. One Betta I have had for eight months now but he has been sick all the time. First he lost a lot of weight and had to have 4 doses of Praziquantel for fluke infestation before he seemed OK. Then he immediately got a bad fungus infection on his gills. I treated him with Wardley Fungus-Ade and Promethyasul. That was a few days ago and then he seemed OK and eager to eat. When I fed him yesterday he started arching his back so he was unstable and flopping over sideways. I thought he was dying until I read your column and found out about swim bladder trouble and unsoaked food. I just bought a packet of frozen peas (do you feed them raw or cooked?)but now he is worse and is just spinning and twisting round and round when I disturb him and he won't eat. I have put him in shallow water so he can breathe easily but he seems very distressed. What can I do? I'd hate to lose hime as he has survived all these problems but he is very underweight and his fins are still just short spine-like projections so he has few reserves of energy for yet more illness.

Answer
Hi Lynda;

I saw the question about this guy dying so I answered it first. I'm so sorry that has happened. I'll give you an answer to this first one anyway in case you ever face this again...

Sounds like he just had a very weak immune system for whatever reason. Once they are that far gone there really isn't much that can be done. He may have had internal problems too and his age will contribute to his inability to heal. Fish store bettas have a lifespan of about 2 to 3 years. They are already almost a year old, sometimes more, when we buy them.

Frozen peas are usually soft enough to feed raw. Just thaw one out in your closed hand for a couple of minutes and pull off the round skin. Break it into tiny pieces and feed. Putting a portion on the end of a toothpick is helpful if the fish can't get it before it drops to the bottom.

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins