Betta Fish Swim Bladder Issues

[SentientRoomba]

My 1 year old betta fish, Caboose, recently started showing signs of a swimbladder issue, floating nose down with his tail fin up high with a slight curve in his back and is hanging out near the bottom of his tank. Caboose is eating like a champ as well if I hold him up to his food with a net. As soon as I noticed these changes I tested his water with my API master water testing kit and the only thing off was the PH was too low, which I was able to fix. I also did a couple small water changes and added some aquarium salt to be safe.
Despite his water being fixed he is still having issues with his swimbladder. Its been almost a week since I stabilized his water. His scales aren't pine-coning so I'm hoping its not dropsy. He is alone in a 5 Gal tank with a Fluval heater that keeps his tank between 75-78 degrees along with good filtration and an airstone to help keep the water moving. If there is anything else I can do to help him or if I'm doing anything wrong since I am new to the hobby I would love to hear it.

 

[TheTenthDoctor]

Okay so what always worked for me when debloating bettas is, frozen peas, thawed completely in hot water, then you REMOVE THE SKIN. (This is important because the skin is too thick for the bettas) then after they are skinned I mashed them up into small tiny betta edible pieces and drop it into the tank. You can soak it in garlic juice or make a garlic juice-pea-fish food mash if the betta wont eat it, but I haven't had this problem in a long time. Just make sure its skinned and in small enough pieces. The peas will help flush out the betta and relieve the bloat. If you have snails they will eat any left overs.

 

[Colin_T]

What is the pH?
Bettas come from soft acid water with a GH below 150ppm and a pH below 7.0. If you pH is between 6.0 & 7.0 it is fine for him.

You should check the pH of your tap water too. get a glass of tap water and test the pH. Then put the glass of water on a shelf for 24-48 hours and test it again 24 hours later. See what the pH is then.

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If you are feeding the fish dry food, stop the dry food for a week and feed it frozen or live foods instead. If the fish can swim normally after that, then it had air in its intestines. They swallow air when feeding and when breathing from the surface. When they fart the air out, they can usually swim normally.

If the fish can't swim properly after it has been without dry food for a week, then it has a swim bladder problem and there is no cure for that.

Reducing the water level can help and minimising water movement can reduce the stress on the fish during this time.

 

[SentientRoomba]

Okay so what always worked for me when debloating bettas is, frozen peas, thawed completely in hot water, then you REMOVE THE SKIN. (This is important because the skin is too thick for the bettas) then after they are skinned I mashed them up into small tiny betta edible pieces and drop it into the tank. You can soak it in garlic juice or make a garlic juice-pea-fish food mash if the betta wont eat it, but I haven't had this problem in a long time. Just make sure its skinned and in small enough pieces. The peas will help flush out the betta and relieve the bloat. If you have snails they will eat any left overs.

I will definitely try this! Thank you for your advice! I'll get some peas ASAP.

What is the pH?
Bettas come from soft acid water with a GH below 150ppm and a pH below 7.0. If you pH is between 6.0 & 7.0 it is fine for him.

You should check the pH of your tap water too. get a glass of tap water and test the pH. Then put the glass of water on a shelf for 24-48 hours and test it again 24 hours later. See what the pH is then.

-------------------
If you are feeding the fish dry food, stop the dry food for a week and feed it frozen or live foods instead. If the fish can swim normally after that, then it had air in its intestines. They swallow air when feeding and when breathing from the surface. When they fart the air out, they can usually swim normally.

If the fish can't swim properly after it has been without dry food for a week, then it has a swim bladder problem and there is no cure for that.

Reducing the water level can help and minimising water movement can reduce the stress on the fish during this time.

The Ph of the tank was 6.0, but I raised it to a 6.5. I was under the impression that 6 was too low thank you for the information! I'll reduce the waters movement also. I will definitely test my tap water after this since I actually never thought to test it. I'll stop with the dry food for now. Is bloodworms a good staple food for bettas or should I go for something else?

 

[Colin_T]

Bloodworms is ok once or twice a week but brineshrimp, daphnia, mysis shrimp and prawn are better.

 

[SentientRoomba]

Bloodworms is ok once or twice a week but brineshrimp, daphnia, mysis shrimp and prawn are better.

Alrighty, so bloodworms is more of a treat food, got it! I'll try to find frozen brineshrimp at my local petstore. Fingers crossed they have at least one of the options.

 

[Colin_T]

If they have marine mix, that is quite a good food too. It contains prawn, fish & squid.

If you can't find much at the pet shop, go to a fishing store and look at the bait in their freezer. Or go to a supermarket and have a look in their freezer for frozen prawn. You can also buy fresh prawn and freeze them at home.

When using prawn for food, use cooked prawn if you have shrimp in the tank.

Get a prawn from the freezer and defrost it. Remove the head, shell and gut (thin black tube in body) and throw these bits away. Use a pr of scissors to cut the remaining prawn tail into little bits and offer 1 or 2 pieces at a time. Let the fish eat it and then offer a bit more.

One Betta won't eat much so you can probably cut the prawn into segments and freeze them so you don't waste as much.