circles - betta is definately sick

[cerulean]

The betta swimming in circles is definately sick - he keeps falling over on his side now, swims erratically bumping into everything and floats upside down. Seems to have no control over anything. I don't think he's just getting used to the tank.

Is it possible he got ammonia or some kind of poisoning from the cup he was in? Can anything help that? Tests still show 0 and ph is not quite 7 today. He's in a 5 gallon cycled tank w/filter and heater on 78. I've removed the live plants etc since his fins are terribly torn. He doesn't respond to light or anything near him, seems to be breathing very heavy. Stays at the top of the tank or flips upside down then floats to the bottom. There isn't anything on his body like patches, dust or fuzzy stuff.

 

[f250fisherman]

If it was me.. I'd put him in clean water that was lowered to maybe 3 inches. Treat him with tetracyline. The tetracyline will not treat parasites, but will work on finrot and other bacterial infections. With damaged fins like he has, it makes it hard to swim. This might be part of the problem. If he starts getting better, I'd keep that treatment up. If he doesn't respond, I'd switch to quickcure for the parasites. It's so hard to tell for sure, without watching the fish. If you don't treat with something..it will die. Change the water everyday and re treat with med.

 

[Danno]

Well it sounds like swim bladder to me. Lower his tank water height to 2 1/2 inches with out substraite. Feed him frozen peas NOT canned. Microwave the peas for 3 minutes and peal off the skin. Then chop it up with a spoon. Feed it to your sick betta slowly. The peas sink. Also add a little bit of aquarium salt to his tank if you havent already. Keep his tank a little bit wammer too. It will take some time to cure this sick betta so be patient. It might even tank as long as 2 weeks to cure

Hope he feels better soon

 

[cerulean]

switched him to a 2 1/2 gallon tank and have it empty except for the heater, water is about 2 1/2-3 inches deep (about a gallon) i'd use something smaller but the house is chilly and this way i can monitor the temp. went to the pet shop and picked up tetracyline and they also suggested adding aquarium salt to the tank at the same time. i also picked up some frozen peas and will try that too
tetracyline says to do two 24 hour doses then do a 25% water change then repeat, i'll keep it going until he hopefully gets better. since he doesn't have a filter would it be better to do 100% water changes? thanks.