Betta acting weird

[Itsmemario]

My betta has been acting weird today. He frantically zooms around and then hides at the bottom under his wood and he never hides. I'm not sure if something scared him or there's something wrong.
Usually when I come in the room he's right there begging for food, he's always out and swimming around.
He looks scared more than sick but I just want to be sure.
I did a big water change just in case but what is something I can do to catch it quickly if it is an illness like maybe aquarium salt?

Also, I wasn't even going to mention this but I did just get a timer for the light so he could be freaked out/confused about the light going on by itself? That's about right when I noticed it, around 2 days ago, today he's just doing it a little more.
Any help is appreciated

 

[JuiceBox52]

It could be the light. It's best to have the room lights on for at least half an hour before the lights come on and after they go for a sunset effect. Could you post a video of him so we can see?

 

[Itsmemario]

Being in Alaska we have 20 hours of sunlight in the summer so I don't have to worry about turning the room light on first since it's constantly light lol I'll try and get a video

 

[Retired Viking]

I would try turning down the lights and see if that calms him. I have my tank lights on a timer, they go on at 10am so the tank had natural light from the windows before (sunrise) and off at 9pm and a dim lamp in the room goes off at 10ph (sunset)

 

[Retired Viking]

Being in Alaska we have 20 hours of sunlight in the summer so I don't have to worry about turning the room light on first since it's constantly light lol I'll try and get a video

That may be the problem, fish need several hours of darkness, they do not have eye lids so the darkness is important. It does not sound like he is getting that. I would cover the tank at night. That is my SWAG anyway. Good luck.

 

[vanalisa]

Viking, what is SWAG?
The way you carry on like a youngster is beginning to concern me.

 

[Itsmemario]

That may be the problem, fish need several hours of darkness, they do not have eye lids so the darkness is important. It does not sound like he is getting that. I would cover the tank at night. That is my SWAG anyway. Good luck.

Yeah, I do keep a blanket on the window but light still shows through, it's dark from about 12am-4am. I'll definitely start covering the tank!

 

[Retired Viking]

I hope it helps, sounds like your betta is pretty stressed.

 

[Retired Viking]

Viking, what is SWAG?
The way you carry on like a youngster is beginning to concern me.

Sophisticated wild ass guess-it comes from the 70s when I was in the army.

 

[Itsmemario]

Here's a video, of course right after I stopped recording he did the zooming thing but you can see he looks a bit 'twitchy'?
Also how he keeps going in his plants, he never used to do that.

 

[Fishmanic]

In the video, he appears pretty healthy and normal to me.

 

[Itsmemario]

This morning I went to feed him, I wiggled my fingers at the top of the tank and he freaked out and started crashing into things and hid at the bottom. I'm thinking something scared him, my next guess was to ask my 4 year old niece what she did haha. I'm really paranoid with her near the tank and always teach her how to be with it but she is 4 lol
I asked her and she said she tapped the glass
What can I do to get him back to normal, keep it dark?
If I feed him and walk away he'll come out to eat.
I set the camera up to see if he's normal when I leave and he was

 

[JuiceBox52]

Maybe try dimming the lights. Bright light might be stressing him and making him jumpy?

 

[vanalisa]

Sophisticated wild ass guess-it comes from the 70s when I was in the army.

For your service

 

[Retired Viking]

Thank you