Betta not well

Question
Karen,
A couple months ago, my son's betta was having issues with a bloated belly, floating on his side, and ultimately staying submerged.  I wrote in once before and it was recommended I try peas!  It seemed to work like a charm.  However, we are now finding he is lying on his side at the bottom of the tank.  He will up and swim from time to time but then sinks at a rapid pace to the bottom.  We scooped him out of his larger bowl, placed him in something smaller so he wouldn't hurt himself, and attempted to feed him peas again since we were told this may help with swim bladder issues. He's not receptive to anything right now.  Any suggestions?  Please let us know as soon as possible.
Thank you!  Kristen and Colin

Answer
Dear Kristen,
I'm sorry to hear about your poor betta. Swim bladder disorder is most frequently caused by overfeeding or not enough variety in the diet. It can also be triggered by feeding dry pellets which swell up inside the betta and can create blockages.

There must be something that you repeated that caused his swim bladder to come right back. Has he been getting the same diet as before or have you made any changes to it? When was his last water change? It's probably good that you moved him into a smaller container to help him reach atmospheric air better, but please make sure his water stays clean with daily 50% water changes, making sure the replacement water is equal in temperature to that of his container and properly dechlorinated of course.
Also make sure his water temperature is warm. Nothing seems to make bettas sicker than water than is too cold. Although many sources say bettas "thrive at room temperature" they certainly do not and will tend to become sickly if the temperature falls below 75F. An ideal temperature is about 78-80F.

Have you tried fasting (not feeding) the poor guy for at least 1 day? Sometimes fish can recover from this on their own but pea feedings really help (as you know) but I also know that Frozen Daphnia or Brine shrimp may help. But I cannot guarantee anything... :( Swim bladder disorder can also be caused by severe injury or even rupture to the swim bladder itself (by injury while cleaning, pouring water too fast..ect..) and something like this would probably be extremely difficult for the betta to recover from. But there is also the possibility that he could have an internal problem like a bacterial infection to his swim bladder. It is said that if the betta does not respond to fasting then treating with an anti-bacterial medication can sometimes help fix the problem.

But please know that I cannot offer guarantees on anything. Diagnosing and treating fish illnesses is the most difficult thing to attempt. What I'd do if he were my fish is-
*Insure his water quality isn't bad by carefully doing daily water changes, adding ammonia neutralizing water conditoner, ect...
*Make sure his water temperature is warm, if you have to--place a table lamp over his bowl so it's heat will keep the water warm up to 80F. You'll have to leave the lamp on through even nighttime though.
*If you haven't already, try fasting him at least for a day and offer some daphnia or brine shrimp with an eyedropper.
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A bloated belly can mean constipation, so that is probably why your betta recovered before with the pea feeding. It's very odd that he recovered but then went straight down-hill again. Can you think of anything that would have been done different to him or his bowl?

Also I know this is hard to take but bettas do have a short lifespan, at most 2 years being most common. I'm just letting you know that bettas that are nearing their end will lay on the bottom sadly and occasionally make a mad dash up for air. I really hope this isn't the real problem with your betta. But if it is, there isn't anything you can do about it obviously. And I'm really sorry...

I am willing to follow up with you on your betta's illness and hopefully a recovery. So feel free to write with anymore concerns!

Only my very best wishes to you and your Betta!!
Karen~