Sluggish, bloated pale Betta Help Me!!

Question
My betta was vibrant and full of life until 3 weeks ago.  Fist he began to just sit on the bottom of his bowl, then he would sporadically whip around the bowl hitting the sides, then he began to stop eating.  I changed his water; added Aquarisol and aquarium salt.  He is now very thick looking right from his abdomen and into his tail.  He is alos losing his color.  PLeae help, I need to fix him.

Answer
Dear Elena,
Although the first thing I would assume from the description you gave me of your betta's symptoms I would say water quality could be a key factor. But it's not always the case. If you have done a good sized water change as you mentioned in your letter then the water quality couldn't be much of an issue here.
{If you can, please try to continue doing partial water changes on his aquarium/bowl everyday. This helps fish tremendously and clean water is the best thing for a fish expecially during illness}

If your betta is having a very difficult time controlling his movements or his balance, and his body seems a bit bloated in the middle region, Swim bladder disorder could certainly be his problem. The swim bladder is a special organ that helps a fish control at what level in the water collume they wish to be in and helps maintain their equilibrium. If something interferes with this special organ, the poor fish loses total equilibrium and can either float miserably on his side at the top (unable to swim down at all) or he may sink to the bottom on the bowl and not be able to rise up without a huge amount of energy. Oftentimes they are simply unable to.

The most common cause of this condition his related to diet. Either too much of the same kind of food everyday and not enough variety. Or sometimes a betta can get this condition from eating dry pellets as soon as they hit the surface without absorbing any water first. What can happen is the pellets will then absorb water in the betta's stomach and double in size. This can cause a blockage and can even make bettas constipated and bloated quite badly. All this interferes with the normal swim bladder and causes this odd behavior from the betta. Fortunately, this condition is usually not       and can easily be treated for the most part. But it takes plenty of patience and care.

Since it sounds like your betta has a blockage in his system that is causing the bloating. I would stop his normal foods for now and try thawing out and deshelling a green pea. Try mashing it a little and hand feeding a bite-sized piece to his on the end of a blunt toothpick. Surprisingly, even though bettas are primarily carnivores, they most often accept peas eagerly. Of course, you'll have to be careful not to frighten him with the hand feeding but for most bettas who are on average hand-tame (not afraid of hands in the aquarium or near them) it is easy to hand fed them the peas on the blunt toothpick. I would give him a few bites and leave him be. If your betta doesn't accept the peas, do not give up on it. Many fish take a few days to finally accept peas. And treating fish with swim bladder disorder often means days, to weeks, to in some cases even months of special care until the fish is finally better. Patience is everything! ;-)

Another thing you must be sure of is that your betta's water quality is always very good and clean. And that the water temperature is quite consistantly warm at least 80F.
*There really aren't medications for swim bladder problems And by far, the best treatment is insuring perfect water conditions and laying off his normal food for a while and instead giving a green pea or two for the next few days.

Please know that I cannot leave one last thing untouched. It could be old age. Although I can never be sure. Sometimes bettas behave in the way you describe as they slow down from old age. But this is just a possibility.

Hopefully with the above treatment. Your betta may recover and be back to his old self before you know it!

I really hope this helps!
Only my very best wishes,
Karen~